Visiting a boomtown

We had a leisurely drive over to Pinedale today. The climb over the pass was uneventful. We were delighted to see that Farson is open once again. A lawyer has bought the "town" and is making major changes including opening the "ice cream" store again. Stopping at Farson for their wonderful ice cream was always a tradition to our family on our yearly treks back to Oregon. Arrived in Pinedale and dumped the pickup to explore. Man, this place is booming. Talk about impact; this town is having it. We ate lunch then toured around. They have the coolest "sculpture" out in front of the school. The schools here are in one complex. And quite a complex it is! Then we went up to Jo's. She is on top of the hill behind town. Great place. We got TB setup by her garage. Ken went out between the garage and TB and there was a fawn laying there. He got up and wandered away into the garage and waited us out. We went to the Park for the Fireants Concert. This was sponsored by the Pinedale Fine Arts Council. A little music; a little dancing; a little ice cream and a nice reclinging lawn chair. My friend Dana was dancing to the music with some of her friends. Now that is the life! It was a great summer (going into fall) evening. It was dark as we headed up the hill. What a sight. Looking out over the valley we saw the lights of all the drilling rigs that are set up - 10 of them. It looks like a city around each. As we got out the pickup we realized that the noise we had heard this afternoon was the sound of all the rigs working. The beautiful full moon made for a great view over the valley.

On the Road Again

What a week we have had. Whitney brought the boys with her to Lander and Grandad watched them while we were in meetings. Then Thursday afternoon we took them to the Children's Museum in Lander. KaCe particularly had a great time. We leave this morning to start the second half of the Wyoming tour. We are going to Pinedale, stopping in Atlantic City on the way. This evening we will go to a Fireants free concert to kickoff the Pinedale Fine Arts Council's season. We will stay there until after meeting with town folk Monday. We have also been able to follow the Olympics. Since we have both east and west feed with Directv we get to watch two hours earlier; thus being able to go to bed earlier. Michael Phelps is a great role model for those with ADHD.
It has been cool and rainy here in Lander the last three days. Ahhhhh August in Wyoming!

Lander is a great little town

We came to Lander on Thursday. We are staying at the Pioneer RV Park. Phyllis (the owner) has done a great job in just a very few years. The spots are level gravel, with a nice picnic table and a beautiful bucket o'flowers in each area. There are no trees to mess with your roof or with sap to drip on your roof. (I just found out I now Care about these things.) There are two Workampers here helping her out. I made calls on Friday and spent the weekend working on the computer and helping Ken install a "surround sound" system in TB. We are sick and tired of having the TV up so loud it shakes the earth underneath us. Of course now Ken has the subwoofer up to hear the bass. OMG! What has he turned into. Oh well, we went to Riverton Friday to look for some doodads for Ken. Lander didn't have them. On the way back we stopped at the local Farmer's Market and got some fresh veggies. Tomorrow Whitney, KaCe and Ethan come. Whit and I have meetings and Grandad will watch the boys. On Thursday afternoon I want to take them to the Children's Museum here. (Prolbably only KaCe.) We will be here through Friday and there won't be any site seeing so probably won't have anything to say. :) We DID watch the opening to the Olympics. It was so awesome that we watched parts of it twice. Once on the East Coast feed and once on the West Coast feed. Just watched the US swim team win and silence the French boys that were pretty mouthy before the swim.

Great, great neice is a cutie; but so small

We made it to Rawlins. Stopped and got a tour of the Saratoga Community Center. The theater seats 400 and is beautiful. They, however, do not book events in the usual way. They are only working about 60 days out. It works for them as artists want to perform in Saratoga so contact them.

When we got to the Interstate at Walcott Junction I unhooked the pkp and headed out to talk with folks in Hanna, Elmo, Medicine Bow and Rock River with a nod at Arlington McFadden and Elk Mountain as I completed the circle, hooked up and headed on to Rawlins. My great neice, CeeJae, lives here with her husband and brand new baby, Kendall. Kendall is three weeks old weighing in at about 5# 8oz. Cute, petite girl. Bro Ron and wife Bev will be over the moon to see her for the first time this weekend as CeeJae/Chuck take her to Campbell County to show her off. We had a great visit and I sent the CJ Box book with her to Ronnie.(Will attempt a picture here.)

Not feeling well on Tuesday morning I stayed in bed; but got up and out at 1 pm. Meet 2 good prospects and met with three more today, including going to Wamsutter. Wamsutter is a town, in progress. Their population has exploded with much more growth predicted. They are creating a "town" now instead of waiting like other communities in Wyoming did. They have learned from others and do not want to play the "let's catch up" game. We will leave for Lander tomorrow. I need to input several folks into the system; do more research on relevant Arts Advocacy sites and prepare for the WyAA Board Retreat next week.

Friday before I lost cyber signal, I noticed an email from Trend Micro - concerning a virus email from Americans for the Arts.............hmmmmmmmmmm this is strange........hmmmmmmmm forward email to whitney for clarification..........pushed s for send and had forgotten about it by the time we were back into cyberland. Bad, bad me! Long story short, email stuck in outbox (unsent); Whitney opened it wrongly at 2am Monday (up with cranky, teething child) and watched her Quickbooks program get eaten in front of her eyes................ By the time I got online I saw the UNSENT email. She had already called AFTA - It had come from Americansforthearts DOT NET not org!! Ho Hum! We now have more security measures in place about the company books. Learning turns; learning turns.

As we're leaving tomorrow I had to get TB clean. Don't take dirt with you is our moto so I spent some time doing the dust bunny dance along with the bathroom bop. Have I mentioned HOW much I'm appreciate NOT having carpet everywhere? Dust it; mop it; shine it and wa-la a clean floor.

It rained intermittently throughout the afternoon so Ken couldn't do a little project he had in mind about hooking up Satellite TV. It quit about 7 pm so he is now in the middle of it taking up parts and place throughout. Oh well, like we have anything else to do tonight. I usually watch tv at night while I'm at the computer; turning the tv just so , so that I can watch the reflection through the office window. (The office window is the dining room window which is the same window as KaCe's bedroom window when he stays over. Multi-talented vehicle, TB.

I will work on finding those bleeding pictures and posting them this weekend. Well, let's see if there is a picture!

Picture Cyberspace & Laundry

Well, all the photos are probably being seen on Pluto cause they sure as the devil aren't where I can find'em!! So that job will have to be for tomorrow night as the laundry is done and I'm heading back to TB so won't have internet to figure this thing out. Oh, well; tell me something that really matters. OKOK I think I got it figured out. Sometimes technology sucks!

Are we ever glad we chose Route B!

Saturday, August 2, 2008 What a great night’s sleep. We were both up by 7:15. I usually close the BR door when I get up and putter of a morning. However, one of the side effects of VIBEing is that as Ken isn’t fighting pain he is ready to get up around 7-7:30 instead of 9-10. Well, we ate, I did some computer input and we headed out about 10. As we got in the pkp I asked Ken if he brought the maps? Nope. I should have known that would prove to be a problem. We went back up toward Woods Landing. We wanted to take some pictures from up there. There is a beautiful ranch setting called Big Creek Ranch. It appears to be quite an operation. It made a great picture with the Sierra Madre Mountains behind it. Pictures done it was time to go to the book signing. Of course I gave the author’s my shpeel while I got the books signed. I also was able to leave material with the president of the Museum Board. I even told her I would help her this winter with some ideas. She told us the Market in town made a mean deli sandwich so we whipped it up there to get one. The market has had lots of tender loving care. So bright and clean and Penny was right – the sandwich was divine.
We then headed to Centennial, Wyoming. It didn’t take long for us to be grateful we had bypassed this road with TB. There was 10 miles of a 7% climb and over 10 miles of 7% going down to Centennial. What an awesome drive. We kept pointing out places to stop and take pictures. We turned on the cell phone to see if we had service as we entered Centennial. We did so I called Ronnie to tall him we got a book signed for him. He told us where he & Bev lived in Saratoga and where Bev’s folks lived. He also told us how they used to go “celebrate” at the Ten Mile Inn. We made sure we got pictures of that to give him. We couldn’t remember of the Saratoga Muesum closed at 4 or 5 so hurried down the mountain just in case it was 4. We slid into the parking lot at 3:45. Yup, they closed at 4. I did my thing and I headed to the store for AAA batteries. When I came out Ken was studying a map and wanted to navigate back to Riverside the “scenic” route when the map assured us we would see “wildlife”. However, said map didn’t have any road numbers on it. (We vowed to tell Carbon County that was a mistake.) We would come to a fork in the road and kind of “flip” to decide on a direction. We figured we couldn’t get shot for trespassing if we stayed on a “county” road. Ken studied the map and we went in the “general” direction we wanted to go. We figured, what the heck we’d eventually come out onto Hwy 230 – even if it was tomorrow. The road kept deteriorating as we wandered through the foothills. Heh, heh, heh! Ken said, “You know, I’ve got to look under this pkp to make sure we have a spare.” OGAG!! You’re just thinking of this now? I sure hope Onstar works if we need it! It didn’t work all the time last night. We drove 27 miles to make it back to Riverside. (On the highway it would have been 17 miles.) Did we see wildlife? Well, two sand cranes, three deer, a red digger and 5 antelope. So the trip wasn’t a bust in that category. Yes, we have a spare tire. Will go to church in the morning, do computer work so it will be ready to send or publish when we get internet and do laundry. We will probably take a drive up toward Baggs to the Edison Memorial. This is where Thomas Edison came up the the light bulb idea when he was fishing. Need to check this out. Note to self: Get CJ Box’s first book and put it on the mp3 player to listen to as we drive. Ronnie said to NOT read them out of order. Yes siree, Bro!

Learning Turns and other life lessons

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.

O Where, O Where did the missing pictures go?

Drat the pictures disappeared! Working on it; working on it..................

Ahhh! Found them and figured it out.

Laramie and Worms

Thursday, July 31, 2008: Made to the KOA in Laramie (the only campground there) and made several calls and contacts. Laramie has a new “art walk” or drive so Ken and I drove to see the great public art in Laramie. It has been several years since we have been in Laramie and the changes are quite noticeable. UW has perked itself up (grass, flowers, art) and it is becoming a pretty little town. My sense of humor went a little sideways when I saw the art at the entrance to the greenbelt so I thought I would email some friends in Gillette with a headline that said, “Enormous Worms in Laramie stump UW Scientists”. Then I decided that with my luck someone may take it for truth, forward it on to somebody that would forward it, yada, yada, with the upshot of my @#$ being grass and someone with great influence would be the Briggs and Stratton – so to speak. Anyway, Here are the pictures that WOULD have accompanied that GF (great fiasco).

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Ken is still feeling pretty good. He is still drinking vibed water – image that him voluntarily drinking water and not tea or Pepsi. I wonder how long this will last. I was listening to Good Morning America this morning and the next thing I know he is standing in the doorway guffawing at something that he saw on TV. What a delightful sight that was! I had forgotten what his laugh sounded like, so I had to tear up a little. A few minutes later I asked him if he realized what he had done – he hadn’t; but then grinned and made a smart comment – just like he used to do. He is somewhat stiff from time to time; but he remains pain free.