Wednesday - June 3
We are on Highway 80 now. It changed from 84 to 80, near the town of Morgan, Utah. We entered Wyoming at the town of Evanston. We stopped at a rest stop where we all sat fascinated with what I thought was a display of Prairie Dogs, but turned out to be ground squirrels. What do I know, I have not spent much time on the prairie. They were cute anyway, and their antics prompted Quest to talk to them as they went about their busy activities, in and out of holes in the ground.
Because my dad loved Western History and cowboys, I was drawn to the town of Laramie. I recalled an old movie starring Jimmy Stewart as The Man From Laramie.. I hoped to find a nice campground in Laramie.
The trails are calling to us. What pretty country!
Pirate posing on a rock.
Our days drive took us past some strange looking mountains and plateau formations with interesting colors. I believe the colors are from mines, as I saw what looked like a lot of mining equipment strewn around. There were slanting wooden fences all over, at odd angles to the road. I suspect they are to deflect blowing snow from covering the highway in the winter. Every so often there were big gates to close the highway.
As we crossed the state the country became dryer with no trees. Occasionally we saw sheep. One that had lost it's mom and was crying, made Quest very sad. He cried with it for a while and that worried Pirate. We cut that rest stop a little short as it was making all of us sad. My big macho dog Questy is such a softy when it comes to little critters.
In what seemed to be a very short period of time, big black clouds moved over us and we started going through areas of heavy downpour. I missed some of the real great storm photos because I needed both hands on the wheel to steady the RV in the wind. It was wild and awesome to watch. We arrived at our chosen campground at about 7:30 PM, in the middle of a rainstorm with lightening, etc. I am becoming fairly familiar with big storms after several days of them. Unfortunately they had been doing a lot of excavation work in the campground. The campground road was a sorry mess of huge pot holes that were overflowing with muddy water. The Man from Laramie would have needed his slicker and a sure-footed horse.
We parked for the night and after a muddy walk, we finally got dried off and secured inside for the night. One of my most important rules is to always have a nice stack of old towels for the dogs in case we have a situation like this. Well, we did have the picnic table I was wishing for, but it only served as a place to stand the dogs as I toweled them off before they got back in the RV. Except for the storm, it was quiet - no trucks hissing and chugging all night. We all slept well.
Thursday, June 4 I did not take any pictures at this campground because I did not want my camera out in the mud. It was awful. Our walk was like navigating a maze. Occasionally I would find a patch of gravel where we could sort of wash and scrape the mud off, as we walked along on our morning walk. It was truly awful and the only thing that really kept up my spirits was the thought of the nice long shower I was going to have as soon as the dogs were walked, fed, dried and safely inside the RV. Sadly it was not to be. There were some men working near the shower rooms. When the water did not go on in the shower, I went back outside and asked when it might be turned back on. No such luck! I don't know why it was off, but they did not expect to have it back on for hours.
I had water in the RV, so I did take a shower, but I could have done that in a rest stop, without paying for a campground. Oh well, a new day and maybe this evening I will find that wonderful campground that I had in mind.
Quest & Spirit sharing the passenger seat.
Nebraska Pony Express stop. .
Sunny and hot, but beautifully green everywhere, and so many deer! We are headed for Gothenburg, Nebraska. My campground book shows what looks like a wonderful campground located on the Platt River. They tell me the Platt River is a mile wide and a foot deep.
Sometimes it feels as if we are the only travelers in Nebraska.
On this trip I have been stopping at rest stops often. For one thing, it has been very hot, which makes me sleepy. Occasionally I stop for a nap. Then as it gets a little cooler, I keep driving instead of looking for a campground. By the time I am ready to stop it is often 9:00 or 9:30 PM and it seems a waste of money to pay for a campground when we are just going to sleep and get right back on the highway. Since I am driving every day, the batteries stay charged and we don't really need electricity or any hookups. You can usually stay at least 8 to 12 hours in a rest stop and it is free. So I save the money for RV parks when we have the time to enjoy them.
Here we are and we have our choice of spots. We will take this shady one.
Spirit is taking a nice nap in front of the screen door.
The kids, Pirate and Quest are outside on the lawn. Smile kids!
This is a nice place, guess I will read for a while - then maybe a walk by the Platt River, before dinner. I like it here. I just wish we could turn down the heat a bit. Tomorrow we will explore a little more and then will be off, heading for Iowa.
