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.