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!!
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| Headed out |
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| East it is |
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| Here it comes |
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| Out of the snow into wind river canyon |
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| Out of the canyon |
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| Our spot for the night |
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