Short Drive - Long Boring Day!

What a looong, boring day today.  There just isn't a whole lot to see between Douglas and Sheridan WY.  Rog said it felt like driving through Nevada as he put on his earphones and listened to his book on Audible while he drove.   I reminded him that at least in Nevada, we could see mountains across the desert. Here, no.  At least not until the last half hour or so when we could see the Bighorn Mountains off to the west.  Here's what our view looked like from the window as we progressed north in our journey.




This morning >>>>>>>>>

<<<<<< Around lunch time

Just before we landed in Sheridan >>>>>>>>>>>

See why it was a dull day.

We did find a very nice rest area for lunch about halfway along our route - Grass, trees, the picnic table was sheltered by a two sided brick structure that made a wind barrier.  There was an old Native American sitting outside the bathrooms with jewelry to sell.  He told me he was Navajo and on his way back to Arizona, that he and his wife made the jewelry, and so I felt that I had to buy something.  I picked a pair of earrings that were the most simple in design and gave the old toothless guy the $8 he asked for. 

As I mentioned we really didn't see a whole lot today, but what we did see - 

• A car with a dog sled on top and a husky in the back cargo area of a small SUV.  So, how far north do you think they were going?  Or did their weather forecast differ considerably from ours? 
• Some alfalfa fields were being irrigated by those huge sprinklers with the big arms.  Right in the middle of each were several dozen pronghorn antelope getting a free meal of alfalfa and a bath at the same time.  
• A Jackalope statue on top of a hill outside of Douglas.  
• The city of Casper - oh, so ugly.  Oil refineries, power plants, dusty, dirty and spread out.  
• The ranches either had horses, sheep, cattle, or oil rigs on them - or all of the above.  
• Dozens of trucks pulling horse trailers.  

Last night we stayed in a KOA that also catered to travelers with horses.  We just happened to be in the last row of spaces and our back window faced the corral and the couple of stalls that were available.  It was nice seeing the horses but not smelling them.  Maggie loved the smells of the horses - so much, in fact, that at 0600 today she insisted on going out and checking on them.  

We are again in a KOA  - in Sheridan - it's a bit nicer, a bit bigger, but still a KOA.  Most of the park is fairly well groomed, but where we, are the sites are in pretty bad shape.  No maintenance has been done for a long time.  We did luck out though - I was expecting a horrible set up, as last night's was for Roger, but we ended up on the end site with trees on the western side which shaded the utility side of the RV.  It was still hot - about 93 - but Roger was at least in the shade doing his chores.  He wasn't so wiped out as he was yesterday.  And, I bungeed the cupboard doors so no mishaps as I opened the sliders today!

I spent about an hour tonight "closing the books" and paying end of month bills.  Then I spent about two hours trying to find campgrounds for us to make reservations for the rest of the trip.  We will be in Boise on the 12th and 13th to visit with our grandson, Tony.  I wanted to make sure we had a route planned and reservations made to get us there.  August is NOT a good time to try and find a place on the fly - everyone and their half brother are on vacation and the places are full.  First we have to decide where we want to be, then I have to check the mileage from the previous location, then check for rv parks, then check rv park reviews, then call or go on line to see if there are any vacancies. I got turned away from a couple of what looked like very nice places up by Flathead Lake near Glacier NP.  But, I persevered and as of this minute I have all but two nights confirmed - I've got a call in for them to call me back.  I had to back track from Boise to where we will be tomorrow and Tuesday so I knew how many driving days we need and how long we could stay in each place.  It takes a bit of organizing and being flexible.  My problem is making sure I have the right days.  The calendar had so many scratched through locations that it is totally unusable for August!

Speaking of our next place:  I will probably be taking two days off from the journal.  The campground reviews and website say that there is wifi but it's iffy and there is absolutely no cell reception.  It is a small campground outside of Big Timber, MT. We stayed there on one of our trips and really liked the place. It's off the highway about a half mile down a dirt road and sits on a river with lots of trout.  Maybe I'll get some reading done - I've had very little time to do any.  We are hoping it won't be too hot and we can enjoy the respite from the world.  Oh, and there was a fantastic pizza place in town we hope is still there!  The best veggie pizza we've ever had.  I'll write the entries in a document and then when we find internet service again I'll paste them into the blog.   

So, until Wednesday, then!   Hope all is well with everyone.  We are doing just fine - only wishing it were a bit cooler. 

Just looked over at the dog in her day bed next to me -  you would think she's had a rough day.

We are back in Wyoming

 We only went 135 miles today out of Northwest Nebraska into Southeast Wyoming. Most of the route was still on the Oregon Trail, but then we met up with I-25 and headed north.  


We are glad we left at the usual time and had a short distance to go because it gave us a chance to stop for about an hour and a half at the Fort Laramie Historic Site.  It's a very large area surrounded on three sides by the North Platte River and it sits in a valley protected from the weather -This according to Ranger Steve who told us that they got a lot of wind, little rain, and very rare tornadoes.  Hmmm.....  The Visitor Center sign sort of dispels that statement, I think.  The site is very interesting, historically, and I could see John Wayne riding in after fighting those danged Indians.  




Unlike most National Park Service sites, this one allowed dogs to walk around the grounds.  Of course they couldn't go in the buildings, but being able to have Maggie with us allowed us to spend some time walking around the old buildings, parade grounds, and the outlying areas.  I'm sure that dogs are allowed because they want you to stop for a while and visit and it's too hot to leave the animals in the vehicles. Water was provided.



The temperature was in the mid 80s when we stopped, but we found respite from the sun and heat in a lovely shaded and grassy picnic area and had our lunch while watching the other tourists visit the site.  






Ranger Steve introduced us to the "retired government employees"  who live on site but Maggie didn't want to have anything to do with them.  She just sat right down and watched to make sure they didn't come after us. There is grass and water and lots of room to roam, so Fort Laramie is one of the park services sites to send their horses to spend their retirement.  



A few days ago we both started noticing very long trains filled with coal.  We've been trying to figure out, 1) where are they going, and 2) where are they from.   Well, today after seeing four or five trains with at least a hundred rail cars filled with coal heading in the opposite direction than we were, I had to find out.   So, as Rachel Maddow says, I pulled up the "google machine" and discovered that northeast Wyoming is coal country.  Very much coal country - they produce 3 times as much coal as West Virginia.  Now we at least know where it is coming from. As for where the 10s of thousands of tons of coal is headed, we decided coal-fired power plants were probably the destinations.  Rog wants to know how they figure out how many engines it takes to pull one of these trains.  Most we saw had 5 engines in front and one in back.

As we travel and the landscape isn't necessarily attracting my attention, my mind does have a tendency to wander and to wonder.   We've been seeing "Cheney for Wyoming" political signs. I know that they are for Liz, but my mind is thinking about her father.  From those thoughts I remembered seeing a bumper sticker on our last trip through Wyoming:  Longmire for President.  From there I decided one of the deputy's father in the Longmire series looks and is depicted to make me think of father Cheney.  Pretty scary what the mind can come up with when it is wandering!



We went through the small town of Merrill - population 240 - this morning.  It escaped me, but Roger noticed that every street corner had a barrel with flowers.  Wonder who waters them?  A very nice touch, indeed.  



We've been spoiled by mild temperatures - high 70s, low 80s - for the last few days.   Today - not so much.  We got to Douglas, WY and it was 93.  From the looks of the weather forecasts it seems we are headed into some unusually high temperatures for this far north.  We had hoped to go far enough north to avoid them, but looks like that's not going to happen.   Poor Roger had to hook up the utilities on the sunny side of the RV again and it about did him in.  He came in as red as his Detroit Red Wings shirt.  He had to recline with a bag of frozen peas on his head to cool off despite the fact he was wearing a hat outside.  It's pretty miserable when we first set up, but we have both air conditioners running, a ceiling fan, and a little desk fan, so after a few hours, we can get comfortable.  

We only gave Maggie 1/4 of a pill today.  She was so lethargic yesterday after taking 1/2 of one for two days straight.  She was her usual hyperness the first hour, but she did settle down.  I'm beginning to wonder if her anxiety is exaserbated by the drug because she feels out of it and doesn't know why.  Today I caught her sitting up with her head up and eyes closed as if she were wishing she were somewhere else.  Now that she's out of the truck and cooled off, she seems to have normal energy level this evening.


I messed up today - I thought I had checked all the cupboard doors before I opened the sliders.  Missed one - the same one that crunched a few days ago.  Took that baby right off the cupboard, hinges and all.  Of course, Roger with his traveling tool bag was able to put it back on, but he wasn't happy.  I've decided I'm going to have to go around and bungee all the doors so they don't swing open on bumpy roads.

This RV park has gravel roads, gravel sites, pretty sad, scrubby prairie grass between the sites, but the dog run is an immaculate lawn!  Lots of thick luxurious grass.  We know who rates here, don't we?

Tomorrow - Sheridan, WY and a predicted 99 degrees!  Wahoo!

I woke up this morning to the sun streaming into the bedroom window and hearing Roger going in and out and hearing clicking and popping noises.   Seems the power had gone out and he had to recycle the electric box fuses a couple of times.  He never did figure out what triggered the power loss, but it was back on line in no time and we've had no problem since.  

Sitting having our tea and reading the news on our iPads this morning, we started hearing an airplane flying low over the RV Park.  It seems we are sitting next to a big corn field and it was crop dusting. It was fun to watch it going up and down and buzzing the fields.  As you can see the sun was shining and the cotton-puff clouds made a perfect back ground for the little yellow bi-plane. The weather was perfect this morning - nice and cool.  Early afternoon was in the 80s and then the temperature dropped with the thunderstorms that we got later this afternoon.

I had an opportunity to wash a couple loads of clothes before we take off tomorrow.  It was pretty pricey here, but, a bird in the hand.....

We had lunch and then went out for some sightseeing and to pick up a couple of things at a grocery store.  Maggie didn't like us leaving at all.  She had been very lethargic all morning - hangover from two days of drugs, probably.  She didn't want to go out for a walk at all, but when she saw us getting ready to leave, she sneaked out the door and hid under the RV.  We had to coax her out with treats and she looked so sad when we left. She didn't destroy anything, but she sure was a happy puppy when we got back.  



About five miles down the road is the entrance to Scotts bluff National Monument. This landmark was a very important one - the pioneers were leaving the relative flatlands of Nebraska along the Platte River and heading westward along the river into Wyoming and the mountains. At this point in their travels, the pioneers knew it was going to be an uphill battle. The park's visitor center has a great display on the native peoples, the emigrants along the Oregon and Morman Trails, and the geology/archeology of the bluff.  It's worth a stop in your travels to see.  We also learned that that the pass through the mountains here was also the Pony Express route through the area. 

We found a display of the "RVs" that the pioneers used.  I'm not so sure there would be enough space for our "stuff" and Roger wasn't sure that the power mode was as good as his truck for pulling the RV up the hills. Besides, walking along next to the wagon behind the oxen was probably pretty unpleasant, if not downright nasty! (Maybe the wagons weren't really recreational, huh?)

We took the twisty, turny road up to the top of Scotts bluff for a magnificent view of the Nebraska farmlands below. There was a hiking trail to take you to the tippy top, but I didn't have the right shoes on - for which Roger was grateful.  The trail did look a little precipitous in spots.  The vegetation was a bit different - grasses, scrub, sagebrush, yucca, and wildflowers!  Very pretty and surprising to see them on top of the mountain. 

 

We spent an hour after our tourist mode looking for a place to get milk and eggs.  We must have been in a strange part of town because there were no grocery stores anywhere.  We ended up finding a Target that had a minuscule grocery area - but they did have eggs and milk in a small refrigerator section.  Then, after we got fuel for tomorrow's journey, we headed back home - only to find a grocery about two miles down the road from where we were staying.  Oh well, we got what we needed and got to see the "hood."  Actually, several "hoods."  Discovered huge silos with "Western Sugar" painted on the side.  Maybe those fields that were getting dusted this morning were sugar beets.

We spent the rest of the afternoon during another major thunderstorm plotting our journey from here.  (It's 7pm and still raining hard with lots of thunder.) Once the first few days of everything going wrong has passed, we are now having fun and are looking forward to seeing more unknown territory - at least unknown to us.  We promised our grandson we would visit him in Boise, so we've got a tentative plan to get us there before he goes back to school.  If we are still having fun, and the temps at home are still high, we may just head back north to the mountains in Montana.  Who knows at this point.  We are trying to learn to be more spontaneous.    

I will, unfortunately, miss my book group's meeting and I will have to reschedule a haircut, but as long as we are having fun, there's no reason to head home yet.  

P.S.   I just asked Roger to check my work and then looked out the window - to an incredibly bright double rainbow - end to end.  Amazing!  I've never taken a panorama photo with my iPhone before, but this one turned out OK, I think.

Thunderstorms and Cooler Temperatures

We only drove 175 miles today from North Platte, NE to Scottsbluff, NE in the panhandle of the state.  We left in a light rain, but within half an hour, we encountered a severe thunder-storm.  It rained hard enough we had to slow down to 45mph on the interstate, but we were not alone!  It took about half an hour to drive through it - we were going west and it was headed east.  Getting off of the interstate highway, we opted to take the road less traveled, and got onto US26 traveling the hypotenuse of the distance from point A to point B. 


We are glad we did, because the scenery was beautiful -when we could see it.  We found ourselves driving into another fierce storm that slowed us down again - we could see the storm coming.  The clouds were actually pretty awesome looking - if you didn't know what they were going to do to us!

The route we took followed the Oregon/California/Morman Trails along the North Platte River.  Lots of green grass and a river to feed the livestock.  Now there are fields of wheat and corn and lone farms in the middle of the vastness. The panhandle of Nebraska is beautiful!  We passed one of the milestones for those travelers of old - Chimney Rock.  

They probably had a certain date that they had to pass it to be able to get over the mountains before winter.  I'm sure that they looked at it as a special place and they probably stopped to rest along the river before venturing further.  


We are staying in a small city outside of Scottsbluff - Gering. The RV park is a city run park and is just lovely.  Long pull thrus, cement pads, grass, trees and lots of room between sites, and the wifi seems pretty good as I'm able to do the journal tonight without the help of our hotspot.  We are off the main road by about a mile and it is so quiet.  I've looked around and there are no lights to shine in the windows at night.  We are staying here two nights.  Since we got in early today - noon - it is giving us a day and a half to rest and to see the area.  The temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s most of the day and it's been wonderful - except I dressed inappropriately this morning and had to change into shoes from sandals and put on a lightweight jacket.  Weird.  I think it will be back in the 90s tomorrow, but that's ok - it's still much cooler than it is at home.

We are back in Mountain Time!  Yesterday we started in this zone, but ended up in Central Time in the afternoon which messed up our bedtime as we waited up to hear Obama's speech.  It's good to get that hour back.  The time zone zigzags across the western part of the state - obviously a political move when they delineated it.  Psychologically, though, it means we had gotten back into the West - yea!!

Tomorrow we will make a quick visit to the Scotts Bluff National Monument - get a bit of history about the western migration and a stamp for my national parks book!

Wahoo! We're Not in Kansas Anymore, Toto!!

We settled in last night for dinner and to watch the convention when all of a sudden we got slammed with a pretty severe thunderstorm - lots of wind, rain, lightning, and thunder. Welcome to Kansas.
After about an hour we got this >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>





This morning was lovely as we started on our journey a little further east to get to US 83 and north to our destination of North Platte, NE.   

Lots of corn fields - lots.  Flat land with a never ending sea of corn. After about an hour we'd both had enough and we were ready for a different scenery.   We ended up going a little further east than planned when we discovered US83 was closed where we wanted to catch it.  So we had to take a detour that added about 75 miles to the day, but we found our way back to where we wanted to be finally headed north.  We only went about 200 miles, but Roger said it felt like twice that much.  It took Maggie about an hour and a half to calm down this morning - don't know why as we gave her the half of her anti-anxiety pill.  Once she did, though, snooze time for the rest of the day. 

Because we were not on an interstate, we went through several small towns, saw lots of farms and beautiful homes with huge grass areas to mow!  We stopped in Oberlin, KS for lunch.  We found a large open area in front of a motel and when we pulled in the owner came over and asked if we wanted to park for the night.  He's in the middle of building a small RV parking area behind his motel.  He took Roger back there to see what he was putting in and asked him what he thought of it.  We did ask if we could sit there for lunch on his property and he welcomed us to do it.   Tired of the same stuff for lunch, I walked across the street to a Subway and got us a couple of sandwiches.  I was the only one in there and the woman who waited on me was very friendly, talkative and helpful.  She asked if we were passing through (obvious, I would think, as the town was small enough she probably knew everyone) and we started talking about how we found ourselves there in Oberlin.  When I explained about the map and the big hole in it she said "You shouldn't avoid the middle of America.  There's lots of nice people here."  

We crossed into a new state! Now we have added Nebraska to our map!  The hole in the middle is getting smaller!  We only have four states left to add:  Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.   Maybe next year on our planned long trip next spring/summer.   I was surprised that not far into Nebraska the terrain changed from flat and corn-filled to rolling hills with cows in fields and in feed lots, oil rigs, and some incredibly beautiful farms.  

We stopped for the night in North Platte, NE which is on I-80 and we are staying in a very nice RV park with lots of trees, grass, and good wifi!  Temperatures today in the low 80s make us glad we aren't further west and at home this week.  

I didn't want to make dinner tonight - not a whole lot in the fridge to come up with something good.  So, we turned the AC on, left Maggie in the RV and went out to eat and refuel both ourselves and the truck!  A quick side trip to a Wal-Mart to pick up a few grocery items and I found some short sleeved t-shirts for me.  I thought it would be cooler in Colorado and brought mostly 3/4 length sleeved shirts and it's been way too warm for them.   When we got back to the RV, Maggie was hyper as can be - running all over, back and forth, jumping on us, whining.  Don't know what happened while we were gone - maybe she saw or heard something outside that spooked her.  I took her out for a walk right away to run off some of the energy and she has now finally settled down.  

Tomorrow we head northwest to Scottsbluff, NE for a two night stay so Roger can have a day off from driving.  

A New State For Our Map

It's been at least 10 years since we added a new state to our travel map.  We left Colorado Springs this morning and headed east.  We were mostly on local highways.  We couldn't believe how far east Colorado Springs spreads out.  It is a much larger metro area than we had thought.  That being so, it took quite a while to get out of town and into the countryside.  We left the Air Force Academy at 7,000 ft altitude with pine trees and mountains.  By lunch time we were out in the fields of grasses and corn and had dropped to about 5,000 ft.  It was a gradual descent, though on long stretches of highway. The landscape just started spreading out as far as the eye could see. Wide open spaces, for sure.  





There were hundreds of wind turbines as we traveled east along I-70, but the minute we crossed the state line there were none. Kansas must not be a friend of renewable energy.



We stopped for lunch at the intersection of US24 and I-70. We pulled into a big open lot next to an Arby's.  If you are traveling along I-70 in your Tesla electric, well, be assured that in Limon, Colorado, you can get a charge - and a sandwich while you wait.


The landscape went from rolling hills to farms and grain silos.  Lots and lots of grain silos - every town along I-70 had huge ones.   



Also note that in towns east of what we consider the western states, they always have water towers - with the name of the town painted on them. 

In Nevada we just put the initial of our town on the nearest hill with rocks that have been whitewashed. I guess in the east, they need the whole name spelled out so they know where they are.  

We stopped at a KOA 19 miles into Kansas to satisfy our quest for getting a new state on the map.  It's really one of the nicer KOAs we've stayed in and we got the only site with trees! We also have WIFI that works.   We got here early as it was only a 200 or so mile trek today.  We immediately applied our state to the map.

Kansas is the Sunflower State

 


  












Tomorrow we head northeast to North Platte, NE where we will affix another state to the map!

Last Day in Colorado Springs

We spent the morning getting the propane issue put to bed - we hope.   We found someone who checked and reset the O-ring we thought was the problem.  He said it wasn't - the pigtail connection to the RV system was the problem.  We returned the pigtail we got the other day and got one that fit.  Rog put it all back together.  We think it's fixed.  Cross your fingers.

Pam and Ben came over about 1pm with pizza and spent the afternoon with us.  We really appreciate all the time they spent with us this weekend - it was fun.

We have a plan now for the next week.  We have on the side of one of the RV sliders a map of the US.  We have stickers added to that map for all the states we've been in.  There's a big hole in the middle of the map.  We decided we would try and get two of the missing states filled in on our map - Kansas and Nebraska.  The plan is to go east far enough to get into Kansas tomorrow and stay one night in Goodland, Kansas.  From there we head north to North Platte, NE where we will spend one night.  Then we head northwest to Scottsbluff, NE for two nights.  Then, back to the real west - we get back into Wyoming.  Stay tuned for maps and stories!

So, here's the pictures from today.  Pam likes "selfies."  I hate them!!!  The selfie camera on my phone apparently had something on it, thus the hazy image but it does hide the wrinkles!!!