A month ago we were lauding Yellowstone National Park for setting a new attendance record for the month of June, when 694,000 people dropped by America's oldest national park. It seems that Yellowstone's allure didn't diminish any in July either, as the park has set yet another record for visitors, this time shattering all previous records for any month.

According to the Park Service, more than 957,000 people visited Yellowstone last month, which is 60,000 more than in July of 2009. That number also marks the most visitors in any single month since the park first opened back in 1872. So far, 2010 has been a good year in general, as it is also the first time in the park's history that it has recorded over 2 million visitors in the first seven months of any year.

This increased number of visitors has made for a very busy summer on the roads in Yellowstone, and the campsites and surrounding resorts have been sold out nearly every night too. This has, at times, caused delays in getting in and out of the area and has made booking a place to stay a bit of a challenge. Park officials recommend that you book your stay well in advance of your visit if you intend to camp anywhere near the place.

Visitors have had one thing to cheer about though, as they have been treated to some rare animal sightings throughout the summer. Park spokesperson Al Nash says "This has been an extraordinarily good year for wildlife viewing,"

It seems that economic conditions continue to fuel these increased attendance numbers in Yellowstone and other national parks. A lot of travelers are looking to keep their budgets at a modest level this year, and national parks offer a relatively good bargain for many. There has also been an increasing number of Americans that have been going outside more regularly in recent years, as hiking and camping have both become more popular activities as well.

[Photo credit: National Park Service]
Dearest hive mind,

My girlfriend and myself plan to go on a bicycle trip without a particular destination. The first direction will be somewhere in south Florida in order to escape the cold. After (and if) we'll arrive we will decide on our next course of action.
Our plan to cover 30-60 miles a day. Carrying the bare essentials in order to curb our weight.

Issues:

- Winter. We plan to leave after our lease is up in the end of October. Meaning that we are going to be out there in the midst of the cold. Florida hopefully will provide some warmth but till we get there its going to be chilly.

- Money. We think we might save about 750$ each, and we assume our biggest cost is going to be food. The money will drain fairly quickly and we are looking for some creative on-the-road-money-making ideas.

*** Some ideas we bounced around are:

-Posting/Looking for gigs on Craigslist. As general labor, landscape services, whatever we can get. It might work but I think that the smaller towns don't have their own Craigslist section, or have insufficient interest and demand.

-Day labor centers. Could also work but again, a lot of the smaller towns lack any type of day labor centers.
Standing with a sign with something like "Strong back, hard labor, no handouts". The police might harass us. Anyone tried that?

-Places to stay. We will try to reduce any shelter costs to minimum. We do not plan using motels frequently.

- Camping in random forests, camping sites, state parks and such.

- Wwoofing. We are both very interested in organic farming and would love to check out and work in some farms.

- Couch surfing. On a limited capacity. We don't really want to exploit this system for free lodging but want to hand select a few interesting folks to host us.





So, dear folks,

Any comments or nuggets of wisdom regarding the issues above?

What kind of gear would you take with you? Sleeping bags, small tent, versatile stove, warm clothes, bicycle fixing tools, food. What else?

Any words of caution? Did you try it and gave up after a week? Things you would do differently? Success and failure stories?

Any forums, books about the subject, online resources?

Thank you in advance and have a fantastic day!