Thursday, April 27/2017

I was awake early again this morning and I wonder why.  It sure couldn't have been the beautiful sun shiney weather as it was dull and overcast and it wasn't long before the rain started falling.  There apparently is snow in the forecast for today as well.
The only good thing about all this wet is that the grass will be greener and the trees will "bud out" even quicker.  Actually, the huge big cottonwood trees here in the park are already budding out and, it won't be too long before the leaves will have fully formed and be swinging in the gentle breezes.
Even Booko is happy to lay beside the heater and have a morning snooze!!
We headed out today bound for The Home Depot.  We needed to purchase some elastomeric for the repair on the truck camper.  When John took the satellite dish off the camper it left holes in the roof and of course, those will have to be repaired before we put it up for sale.   The elastomeric will certainly do the trick.
We also had to find Sam's Club as the price of gas was certainly a lot lower there than in any of the gas stations.  Thank heavens for google and maps as the phone took us to both places without any trouble.  They were actually pretty close together so that was a good thing.
Once we were done with all this nonsense, it was time to find the highway that would take us home!!  With that being done, we stopped at Roundup, Montana to see if their sweet little campground was open.  Four years ago, the Musselshell River flooded its banks and basically destroyed the campground and fairground.  We have checked on the campground every year since then and it is only NOW that the area is open and usable.
It is such a sweet little campground and all the town asks is that we give a donation towards the upkeep of the park.  Well, we enjoy this spot so much that a donation will certainly not be an issue.
 Of course the weather is not cooperating  today and is was quite rainy when we got here so that is another day that the BBQ will not be used!!  What the hell....... who said that I had to be doing all the cooking lately!!
 

Our spot for the night

Booko checking out the Musselshell River

A gloomy day

It is oven roast chicken, potatoes and cabbage for supper tonight.  the chicken is currently in the oven and is smelling delicious.
John and I played the best out of three games of rummy and I was the victor today.   Woo hoo....the rummy Gods were looking after me today.   Tomorrow, well that may be another story!!
Oh Well.....Life is Good!!

Wednesday, April 26/2017

I was up early this morning and it was nice and warm in the trailer.  Already this day is starting out better than yesterday.   The skies are overcast and the wind is blowing but the sun is trying to shine so hopefully that will come to pass.
It will be a short day of travel today as Laurel, Montana is not too terribly far from Cody, Wyoming.
The ride was uneventful and I was able to do some final Walmart shopping before we settled into the Riverside Campground in Laurel.
This campground is one of our favorites as the grass is always green and the birds are always singing.  Today we were blessed to see a few osprey flying above the Yellowstone River.  Apparently they are a common sight around here.  They are huge birds and were awesome to see.
The weather looked threatening but we did manage to sit in the sunshine for a short while.
This park is a favorite spot for the town folk to walk their dogs and we met one fellow by the name of Ron Bailey who walks his two dogs Jenny and Chief daily.   He was familiar with Saskatchewan as he had made several fishing trips up to our Northern lakes.  He was interesting to listen to and Booko got to stretch his muscles running around like a fool with Chief.  Jenny, well she wasn't having anything to do with his nonsense!!
John got the campfire in a can out and we sat around it until the wind came up and the rain came in. It remained rainy and windy for the rest of the evening and while John was able to get the potatoes cooked on the bbq, the ribs were done in the oven.
We played cribbage while the ribs cooked and of course I lost the best out of three so decided to play the best out of three in rummy and I lost that too!!   The card Gods were definitely NOT with me tonight.
The Oilers won their opening game of hockey tonight and John was happy.
It was time to get the bed made and go to sleep.   It has been a good day but the weather for the upcoming week is looking rather bleak.  Snow and Rain....... Yuck
 Good thing Spring is on its way!!   Life is Good!!

Headed out

Last of the wyoming mountains

Our spot for the night

Yellowstone River

Booko standing guard

Tuesday, April 25.2017

Well....at some point during the night, the propane in the one tank went dry and the heater here in the camper went out.  Needless to say, it was a bit chilly in the trailer this morning!!

The weather does not look too promising again as the clouds are heavy, it is overcast and I am sure there is rain and snow in the near future.  Yikes!!  And, we have the South Pass to cross today!!

I was up early, got dressed to ward off the chill and eventually checked out Facebook as I usually do and saw a post from Marilyn wishing John and I a Happy Anniversary.  Well....Holy Buckets.....I guess today is the 25th of April and our anniversary!!  Happy Anniversary to us........36 years today!!  I quickly said "Happy Anniversary" to John relishing the fact that this year, it was I who said it first.  Both of us have had this on going competition to see who says it first (we usually forget about it) and this year......it was ME!!!!

John eventually crawled out of bed, switched the propane tank over and we soon had heat and hot water.  It started to snow soon after that and it sure didn't take too long before the ground was turning white!!  

With showers and breakfast out of the way, we broke camp and headed out.  We had to stop in Riverton, Wy at the Verizon store today but first we had to cross South Pass and I was not looking forward to that.

There is always a bit of trepidation associated with signs informing travelers that there is fog and slick spots along the pass and to drive with caution.   There were also signs noting that tire chains were mandatory when the lights were flashing.  Thankfully, they were not flashing today!!

Their was a bit of ground drifting initially, as we started our ascent and then it turned into a full blown blizzard with the snow sticking to the road in some places.   Being an awesome "back seat driver" I had a death grip on the door and John did mention a few times that he was glad that my door was certainly "not going anywhere"!!   Such a smart ass!!

For the most part, the highway remained only "wet" and the temperature stayed above freezing so we were able to traverse the pass without incident.

We arrived in Riverton, found the Verizon store and I spent an hour in there are the young man tried to figure out the issues with the phone.  As it turned out, the Facebook App was storing a ton of information for whatever reason.  He ended up deleting the app and then reinstalling it and that seemed to do the trick.  I now had a ton of storage on the phone so taking pictures should no longer be an issue.  He also updated the device and as a bonus......I got a recipe for "starter" for sourdough bread from the young fellow.   So......all in all.....it was a very good stop at the Verizon Store!!

With the phone now repaired, we continued on our way. 

The Wind River Canyon was coming up and that always provides some incredible sights.  This canyon is one of my favorite areas to drive through.  Today, the weather was threatening and before we even got into the canyon, a highway's snowplow greeted us.  He didn't have his blade down and I took that as a good omen.  The highway was wet but not slippery and that too was a good thing.  

We did see another snowplow in the canyon but it looked like he was being used to clear several "rock slides" off the highway.   Parts of the canyon are cut from loose stone and each Spring I am sure there are several slides to be dealt with.  We passed several today that has already been cleaned up and pushed to the side of the road. 

Once through the canyon, we headed towards Cody where we would stay for the night.  Of course it is an uphill climb to get to Cody (I think this whole darn state is "uphill") but we arrived in good time.  We googled the Red Lake Motorized Recreation Area just outside of Cody and decided that was as good a place as any to stay so got the directions and headed that way.

We found it without any trouble thanks to the GPS and realized that it really didn't offer much in the way of level camping areas.  The Staging area looked like our best bet so we quickly  got set up and hurried to enjoy the last of the sunshine.  Hell, we had not had any significant sunshine for the past two days!!  We had just got sitting in the lawnchairs and a quadder rode up to stop for a chat.  He informed us that we were camped on private land!!  WHAT!!   We said we didn't see any signs saying that and he said it really was OK for us to be there since he was the landowner.  He gave us permission to stay for the night.  I am thinking he looked at us, saw a couple of "old farts" and wasn't too worried that we were going to create havoc and mayhem on his property.  He stayed and we chatted about 15 minutes.  It is nice to talk to the "locals".  He is a cattle Rancher and his family was originally from Southern Alberta.  He was out herding cattle with his quad today and had seen us parked so decided to stop.  We had an interesting conversation then he left, wishing us a good evening and saying if we got "too cold" to "come on over to the house".  Well, we were working on a full tank of propane tonight so that was not going to be an issue!!

Supper was and "inside" meal again tonight.  With the wind coming up and a chill in the air, bbq was once again off the menu.  Well, I guess our anniversary supper would be hotdogs and macaroni and tomatoes.  Mmmm .... what more could one ask for??   The ribs would have to wait for yet another day.    Perhaps tomorrow!!    Life is Good!!

Headed out

East it is

Here it comes

Out of the snow into wind river canyon

Out of the canyon

Our spot for the night

Monday, April 24/2017

Headed out

Today we found our travels taking out of the State of Utah and into the State of Wyoming.  We left the quiet of McCoy Flats and continued northward towards home sweet home!!  We had to drive through Vernal, Utah and over the pass and it is always a very scenic drive.  I only hope we don't encounter any snow on the road.  This particular pass is long and high and is a constant uphill trek.  At one point along the highway there is a warning sign informing motorists of the upcoming 10 switchbacks in 4 miles!!   Some curves in the road are down to 20 mph!!  It is beautiful scenery and I would imagine this area get a ton of summer campers and quad enthusiasts.  There was a large open pit mining operation on the pass and I can't imagine the amount of snow that these miners have to deal with during the winter.  Definitely not a place I would want to be!!

Flaming Gorge Reservoir

Our scenic highlight today was the always impressive Flaming Gorge Recreation Area.  It is located in both the states of Utah and Wyoming.  Established in 1968, it is the largest reservoir in Wyoming (91 miles long) and is governed by the U.S. Forest Service.  The reservoir was formed on the Green River and the Flaming Gorge Dam holds back millions and millions and millions of gallons of water.  It garners its rather colorful name by the red sandstone cliffs that surround the area.  The water of course is the centerpiece of the gorge itself, offering all kinds of fun activities as well as being home for a variety of fish including several varieties of trout (lakers included), Kokanee salmon and small mouth bass. Hikers and campers are welcome and we did see some quad trails as well.  I imagine that there is something for everyone in this area.

Open pit mine

Who takes a picture of bug guts on the windshield??

We scooted past the southern most end of the reservoir

The arch bridge going over the damn

on the actual dam

Crossing the dam

oncoming traffic

Part of Flaming Gorge Dam

Out of Utah and into Wyoming

Our spot for the night

We camped at  Bicentennial Park in Eden, Wyoming for the night as the rain and snow started to fall and we had a high pass to cross and I sure didn't want to be doing it when it was already snowing in the lower elevations!!  I could only imagine what it was doing on the pass.
The phone has been giving us grief for a while and getting much worse since we started our journey home so tomorrow I will stop at a Verizon store and see if some tech savvy person can figure out what the issue is.  It keeps telling me I cannot take a picture because my storage is full!!  Well, we will see about that tomorrow!!
Being so miserable out, BBQ was out of the question so it was an "inside" meal tonight.  I was just glad to be out of the miserable weather.
It was a quiet evening of watching The Voice on TV and reading my Kindle.  John was working on the blog.  Man, that is an all consuming task in itself.  Who would have thought when John suggested the idea of keeping a blog that it would actually become a "chore"!!  But.....Life is Good!!

Sunday, April 23/2017

Headed out

We were up early and breakfast was served.  This was our last breakfast together as Kay was headed back to Nephi.
She got her truck packed up and got the cats into their carrier and before too long she was headed down the road.   It would be about a two hour trip for her but once she was in Nephi, she had to unwinterize her trailer and get things all settled in for the summer months.

US 191 N, UT

John and I got the trailer packed up, the coolers rearranged and the fridge cleaned and we too headed out.   Booko has gotten used to the travel and seems to not really mind being in his cage in the back seat.

We traveled through Price Canyon and started the long, steady climb to higher ground.  At the summit, the sign said we were at 9,114 feet!!  No wonder there was snow on the ground.  The highway was clean and dry so that was a very good thing!!

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Lots of curves along the canyon and we followed the Price River which was a narrow dirty river but it was sure flowing with a lot of speed.  Lots of snow run off I would imagine.

"dirty" snow along the upper elevation close to the summit

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We parked for the night along McCoy Flats.   We have camped here before and it is easily accessed and quiet.    We found a sweet spot beside a dirty old pond but that simply caught Booko's attention and before too long his paws were muddy and he was banished to the outside until his paws dried off!!

Our spot for the night

The bloody wind came up and we soon had to roll in the awning as I am sure we would have been picking it up in Vernal, Utah tomorrow morning and we retreated to the inside of the trailer.  It is a good thing the hockey playoffs are on as there is always something to entertain us on the TV.
John spent the evening catching up on the blog as there were a few hundred pictures that needed to be posted.  I buried my face in my kindle and we both listened to the wind howling outside.
It was hamburger helper for supper tonight and that was just fine with both of us!!

Marie gazing at the pond

LIfe is Good!!