I had a very fitful night as every time either of us moved, I would wake up from the pain in my knee. Fortunately I did not have any chest pain. The swelling in my knee had increased and it was much hotter. The redness was increasing indicating an active bout of cellulitis. I had to get an antibiotic before it spread too far. We finally got up at 6:30. I got our morning pills together while Deb took her shower. After Deb got dressed she went up to the Snow Lodge to find out what our options were. We knew we could probably get on a snow coach back to Mammoth, but that would arrive after 6:00 and the clinic closed at 5:00 so I would have to wait another day for antibiotic. Unfortunately, she could not find her room key. She finally found it, still in the door from last night. I took my shower while she was gone.

She returned at 7:15 and said there was a Bombardier taking a couple of guests back to West Yellowstone and we could go out to the Yellowstone Family Clinic if we could get to the Snow Lodge by 7:30. I told her we would take it. I walked up to the Snow Lodge while Deb packed a few essentials, a bota bottle of water, our windbreakers, the D70 with the 18-200mm lens and the computer which has all of my medical records. I hobbled to the front desk and told the clerk we would take the Bombardier to West. She said we were ok to go and she would try to have the charges waived. She said the driver would take us to the Stage Coach Inn and explain how to get to the clinic. The clinic was 2-3 blocks away.

We got on the snow coach and were pleasantly surprised to find the interior had been refurbished and looked half way presentable. We found out later that the changes really cut down on the noise. The other passengers included a couple who had stayed at the Snow Lodge and three Xanterra employees. Our driver was Andy from Texas. Normally they would stop at Fountain Paint Pots on this trip but the other guests wanted to skip it so we headed straight to Madison. It was very foggy and at times you could not see the road. Needless to say, we did not see any animals.

We stopped at Madison for the mandatory break. I did not get out at Madison as my knee was really bothering me, but I had not had any chest pain so far today and did not want to push it. We stopped to see whether the bobcat was out, but it was not. The ranger at Madison said it had not been seen since Monday. After this we went straight to West.

We arrived in West and noticed that it was not much more than a ghost town. Many of the buildings were boarded up. The new winter regulations have really hurt the gateway communities. Andy let us out at the clinic so we would not have to walk the 2-3 blocks. He said he had to drop the other passengers off at the Stage Coach Inn and then run some errands. He would stop after he finished his errands to see whether we were ready. If not he would stop at about 12:30 on his way back to West.

Deb went into the clinic while I hobbled across the road. When I got there she had some papers for me to fill out and said we had an appointment in 45 minutes but they would try to get me in earlier. Andy stopped by to see how things were going. He said he would stop back later. I got in a little before my scheduled appointment. The technician took my history as well as blood pressure and pulse, which were good, and temperature, which showed I had a fever. He said he would talk to the person that would see me. The FNP came in and checked everything again. She said she wanted a few more tests and we should wait for the technician.

The technician came back and said he had already made preliminary plans to transfer me to the heart clinic at Idaho Falls, but the FNP did not think it would be necessary. He ran a Pro-Time test and test for diabetes since cellulitis is common among diabetics. He also did a blood oxygen test and a urinalysis. The blood oxygen was good and the urinalysis did not show anything to be concerned about.

The final test was an EKG. It looked good so the FNP came back and told me to take it easy for a few days. She said the chest pains were probably from the altitude combined with the infection. She wrote a prescription for an antibiotic to take care of the cellulitis.

When we got out to the desk, Andy was waiting for us. Deb went down to the pharmacy about two blocks away to get the prescription filled. I paid the bill and got copies of the paperwork for my doctor and the insurance company as they do not accept outside insurance at the clinic. I got into the snow coach and we went to look for Deb. Andy said he was glad to have been there when the receptionist gave directions since he did not know where the pharmacy was.

I expected to pass Deb on the way to the pharmacy, but she was nowhere to be seen. Andy said he would check to see whether she was in the pharmacy. If she was not there we would have to go looking for her. She was waiting for them to fill the prescription. She came out of the pharmacy with a clipboard and no pills. They would not give her the pills until I authorized her to pick them up. Thanks, HIPPA. She finally got back to the snow coach and we went to the Stage Coach Inn to pick up the passengers that were going back to Old Faithful. This was where we were originally supposed to be dropped off and picked up. Andy went way out of his way to help us.

We picked up the passengers for the return trip. There were two snow coaches going back and ours had a family of six – two boys age 9 and 11, their parents and grandparents. Each of the boys had their own disposable camera and we had to stop for every animal we saw. We saw three eagles between West and Madison. We stopped to look at some swans. We stopped way too many times to look at bison. Finally the youngest boy ran out of film and we did not have to stop as much. We again checked for the bobcat, which was not there.

We then went to Madison for the mandatory break. I got out of the snow coach and took some pictures of the scenery. We had not had anything to eat all day so Deb got a couple of hot ham and cheese sandwiches. The only other time Deb got hot ham and cheese sandwiches caused our departure from Madison to be delayed and the lead snow coach broke down in front of us on the Firehole Canyon Drive. We had to wait several hours for them to move the coach before we continued on to Old Faithful. We joked about what was going to happen to us this trip. We got through Firehole Canyon Drive and assumed we would be ok. There really was no “hot ham and cheese curse” . . . . or was there? We stopped at Firehole Falls and Deb took some pictures. I did not get out of the snow coach. We did not stop at Firehole Cascades.

We continued on towards Old Faithful but soon noticed some heavy black smoke ahead of us. We saw a number of people milling around on the road. When we got closer we could see that a Mattracks coach from a West Yellowstone hotel was on fire. It looked like the fire was pretty much confined to the front tracks. Deb got out and went up to the people that were milling around. They were the passengers that were on the snow coach. There were no injuries and the passengers did not lose much. Unfortunately the driver lost a Nikon D70, his wallet and other personal effects. There were also a couple of rangers present.

The driver said he had been hearing a lot of noise from the transfer case so he took the snow coach out of 4WD and put it in 2H. There was a loud bang so he stopped to check it out. There were already flames along the bottom of the snow coach so he got the passengers out. He looked for a fire extinguisher but could not find it. By then the snow coach was pretty much engulfed in flames so he could not get to his backpack. One of the fuel tanks exploded before we got there, but the second tank, which was full, had not. Just then the second tank exploded.

We waited for a while and eventually an ambulance arrived. They watched the snow coach burn until the fire engine arrived. The firemen made short work of the fire and soon all that was left was a lot of charred metal. After the fire was out, a new snow coach arrived to take care of the passengers. We waited for quite a while before they started to let traffic past the burned-out hulk. A Prinoth also arrived to help remove the debris. They let the north bound snowmobiles through first, then the north bound snow coaches and finally they let the southbound traffic through. We were there for about an hour and a half. I guess there really is a “hot ham and cheese curse”. Deb can no longer buy hot ham and cheese sandwiches at Madison.