Friday, August 1, 2008: Today was a day! I had meetings all morning to finish up in Laramie. I began the day with a great talk with a young man that is in the process of revitalizing the Horse Barn Theater at the Territorial Prison. I hope we are done with the tour in time to see the show the middle of September. I think one way or another the HBT will be a force to reckon in a few years. Ken moved TB to the parking lot of the prison. By 2 pm I had rendezvoused with him, hooked up the pkp and off we went to Woods Landing en route to Riverside/Encampment. In our family we don’t take wrong turns we take learning turns and it was a giant LT afternoon. It is 27 miles to Woods Landing across and up a valley. Ken, being the navigator for the trip, had previously decided that as we are still learning just what/how TB handles in different situations that we would not go through Centennial and over the 10,000+ pass. So we motored to Woods Landing. Well, I pulled into WL which is at the foot of the mountains. Lesson #1 – we started up the mountain in the heat of the day, from a full stop. Well, things began to heat up – tranny; then water. I couldn’t get enough RPM’s up to cool down anything; was already in lowest low yada, yada. Lesson #2 – I should have stopped in front of the truck that was alongside the road (there WAS room). But we didn’t want to be in his way (like he cared; he was eating lunch while his rig cooled off). Thus I was forced to stop in a somewhat ok spot to allow OUR rig to cool down (tranny and water) somewhat. Lesson #3 – Breathe Phyllis, Breathe. We had about a mile to go to get to the top where I promptly pulled over and we listened to a book on tape while it REALLY cooled down. I really like these learning turns – it is getting me ready to pull over Powder River Pass at the end of the tour. (That road I do know and respect highly.) By then we will both understand TB better. With me driving it gave Ken a chance to really study the gauges, give me advice and he doesn’t get too rattled when he makes a not so good choice. The system is working pretty well. When we owned the brush disposal business I drove the shop and fuel trucks; while Ken drove the diesel lowboy. And driving a D-9 Caterpillar doesn’t count either. However, I am learning about heat and pressure and kumquats and such. Things probably weren’t helped as last night we read about the runaway RV into Buffalo, WY.
We motored into Riverside. The Lazy Acres RV Campground is the first thing we saw so got settled in quickly. It is in the trees, alongside the river, nothing fancy but great for our needs. After being there 15 minutes Ken pronounced, “Before we leave here, I’m finding out how much it costs to stay here a month. We’re coming back here to spend the summer; well not next summer, but the summer after.” So, I will write it down in the list of “we’re coming back here’s”. We got a bite to eat and headed out to explore. It is only .5 mile south to Encampment.
It didn’t take long to find town hall, the museum, school, market, three churches (very well kept up) and a few bars. Found the visitor center still open and did “my thing” for awhile. There is much happening in this valley. There was some kind of event listed every week through September. The author CJ Box will be at the museum tomorrow doing a book signing. Brother Ron is nuts over him so we know where we will be.
IT was 17 miles down to Saratoga so we journeyed there. Ron & Bev moved here in 1973 (think that number is correct) to log. They have always spoken well of this valley. It is indeed beautiful. The entrance sign at Saratoga says the popoulation is 1729 – and every single person must have a house. It is a big town for that population. There is a world class country club and golf course here. And we counted two more golf courses in town. We came back to the camp with a plan for Saturday. Encampment Museum, Centennial (over the Snowy Range Mtns that we avoided today)
and then down to the Museum in Saratoga as it is closed on Monday.
It didn’t take long to find town hall, the museum, school, market, three churches (very well kept up) and a few bars. Found the visitor center still open and did “my thing” for awhile. There is much happening in this valley. There was some kind of event listed every week through September. The author CJ Box will be at the museum tomorrow doing a book signing. Brother Ron is nuts over him so we know where we will be. 
IT was 17 miles down to Saratoga so we journeyed there. Ron & Bev moved here in 1973 (think that number is correct) to log. They have always spoken well of this valley. It is indeed beautiful. The entrance sign at Saratoga says the popoulation is 1729 – and every single person must have a house. It is a big town for that population. There is a world class country club and golf course here. And we counted two more golf courses in town. We came back to the camp with a plan for Saturday. Encampment Museum, Centennial (over the Snowy Range Mtns that we avoided today) 
and then down to the Museum in Saratoga as it is closed on Monday.
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