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.
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