[Week 2/52]: Exploring 1,800 Miles of the USA out West with my London Friends 🇺🇸🇬🇧
1,800 miles driven in 10 days, with 3 friends, and 8 cabins!
Dec 09, 2025
[Preview]
From Surviving a Dog Attack to Thriving in a National Park!
Imagine being attacked by two doberman dogs, going to the emergency room, then 3 days later having to embark on a 10 day adventure in Yellowstone, with 3 friends, and a cast on your hand…
Well you no longer need to imagine!
Because that reality happened to me.
I’ll skip over the gruesome dog attack details I endured (thank you neighbor)!! And instead, we’ll shift straight to the beauty of an 1,800 mile trip by car across Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah.
We drove about 1,100 miles around the exterior, and then another 700 miles while inside of it. Here we go!
Scroll down to read the full story in today’s blog. But first…
A word from our author in a Harry Potter style talking-painting
“Hey! Welcome to my blog, Don’s Daily!”
Hey, I’m Don! I’ve been building career memories for a decade. Over the last three years I’ve been reinvesting my own capital and time back it into my business. All the while learning and growing my net worth via public markets and crypto.
Over that same period, I also hosted 50+ virtual events with some of the world’s best VC investors and founders for our CEO group. Prior to all that, aside from my first job at Meta, I was lucky enough to raise $10 million in my twenties; doing my best to learn business, investor relations, and the startup mindset all at the same time. Maybe some of you can relate.
All that’s to say, I love business, I love money, I love to try and leverage my time.
This year, I set the goal to publish a thoughtful blog every Monday.. 52 of them! Don’ Daily is a recap of the entrepreneurship adventures I collect, as well as the new lessons I’m constantly learning from doing. My hope is that this entertains, inspires, and influences new creative ideas for you. Every Monday. If you need anything at all, or if you want to work together, let me know!
Landing in Idaho Falls at 8 PM on a Wednesday.. we were about to embark on an 1,800 mile adventure like never before!
Hopping off the plane, I was immediately face to face with my biggest fear. Seeing a bear. This one seemed friendly… but still, and omen for what was to come!
Exhausted after a full day of travel, I pulled it together for the selfie.
Time to Head into Yellowstone, Where Our Neighbor was a Moose
The Yellowstone sights are astonishingly gorgeous, and singularly beautiful. Combined with seeing my friends after such a long time it was a treat!
Yes, we had a giant Moose wandering our campsite all night long. For being so many looking.. they have an extremely high-pitched mating call. It sounds like nails on a chalkboard meeting bloody murder. It was not comforting hearing that noise at 1 AM outside of our cabin!
(videos are only available inside of the Substack App, sadly)
Here we are on top of the world. Where the sun looks like your equal, and the clouds are so dense you can’t even see past the edge of the cliff.
We traveled to so many cool spots. Driving 100’s of miles within Yellowstone itself. It’s really a remarkable feat by the US Government. The lands are so well kept, and Park Rangers do a wonderful job of ensuring people feel safe.
Some photo dumps of the one-off scenarios you can experience here! Walking next to bison, exploring rivers at daybreak, checking out the salt holes, and pulling your car over to see a momma bear walk her cubs across the street.
Gorgeous lands!
Oh did I mention I had a broken wrist this whole time? Anyways.
Trekking Yellowstone with a broken wrist!
Our first bear sighting happened on day 3! Ah. I made sure to stand behind the person who I anointed the ‘slowest runner’ in the group. But that was just the start, as we soon after that saw our first Grizzly. We spent about 2 hours watching the grizzly as he ran around the field, and even chased down a Coyote. Or, maybe the Coyote chased him down. They were both fearless. How cool is this video of them fighting….
There’s my buddy Andy. And his wonderful GF Eliane, and my Irish buddy, Jarleth.
The crew!
And, there’s Andy denting the hood of our rented car. Yes, he dented it doing this. And insurance had to cover it. Thankfully Amex included insurance coverage by default, and thankfully he used Amex.
After denting the car hood, it was time for some sit ups on a dock next to a basin lake of Grand Teton!
(Below I share more about how we got stuck at 11,000 feet of elevation in the middle of a snow storm at 7:30 AM… made it to our campgrounds where I cooked a massively well deserved BBQ, and then ended with partying in Salt Lake City.)
As we left Yellowstone, things got sketchy! And Icy!
Leaving Yellowstone was no big deal! We drove for 90 minutes through winding roads. Scaling elevations of up to 11,000 feet. Ears popping, oxygen dropping.
But, when we had to take this same route the next morning at 7 AM…we realized that Temperatures at the top of mountains drop to freezing. Despite it being 80 degrees the day before, the top of the mountain was sub 32. We ended up in such a sketchy situation that we had to drive below 5 MPH just to make it over the very peak. Here’s some timelapse of the snowy scenes before a downpour of snow began, and we had to get serious about making it out safely. Note, this is the same path we drove in the previous video with no snow…
My view from out the back window, as things got icy…
Luckily, we made it down to our campsite. And in a moment of poetic justice I started the bonfire for everyone, and cooked a hearty meal.
A Bonfire and Meal Solves All
I took it on myself to ensure we had the finest finale meal before heading to party in civilization. So we took a trip to Walmart, poured red wine in coffee glasses, and I grilled all the steak, brats, and veggies you can imagine. Laughing until late at night around the campfire, it was a successful wilderness adventure.
Goodbye Dinner in a Salt Lake City Skyscraper
Ended with some dignity and civitlity (and a shower) in Utah’s Salt Lake City. Nice bars, pool halls, and more. We explored the city for a weekend, enjoying beer and food along the way.
We said our goodbyes, they got on a plane back to London, and I flew back to Florida.
Just like I did with my friends at that Salt Lake City rooftop bar… I sign off with a cheers.
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You should leave each newsletter feeling inspired, motivated, and having learned something cool. My most successful readers have an endless desire for learning, and they are able to find lessons in just about everything around them. This is what I hope to deliver for you; a skimmable newsletter where you leave feeling inspired by the daily ideas and lessons.
