they melt into a dream
Thursday, August 10
We turned another 2.5 hour drive in 6 hour affair. We stopped for propane, cheap in Idaho. We needed groceries, so we shopped at Smith’s in South Jackson. It’s always busy there, but today took the cake. We found parking a half-mile away. Unhooked the Jeep and went to the market. Too busy at Smith’s gas bar, so we headed north and found gas in north Jackson 20 cents higher. Arg. I hate to get screwed like that.
Jackson is exactly on the eclipse path and folks are already congregating there. Motel rooms are $300+ for a four-day minimum. Jackson has the second highest per capita income in the US. HRC beat Trump by 25% there. It’s the bluest town not on the ocean or with a major university in the country.
We stopped at Turpin Meadows. We were hoping for more. It’s a campground for the horseset to take the trails from here into south Yellowstone. There must be three dozen stock trailers in the campground and the adjacent outfitter ranch. Glenda took us on a short cut to the campground, five miles on a decent gravel road. She could have taken us six miles “out of the way” on the paved road.
The smoke is much less here just east of the Tetons. But the granite spires are still not all that visible.
Just Lovely Huh?
Friday, August 11
South though the sage brush country of Wyoming to Landers. We stayed at their city park beside a babbling stream. We got our chicken fix at Safeway. Really glad they do not have Safeway in Alabama as we would eat their fried chicken every week.
Saturday, August 12
Another 3 hour drive we turned in five. The big delay was shopping at Walmart. We came through some misting rain just north of town and could see blue skies to the SW. We decided to have lunch and surf until the blue skies came to us. These were the first clear skies we have seen in weeks.
I was beginning to feel like Joe Btfsplk in Little Abner.
Joe Btfsplk
We went south on US191 to Firehole Campground in Flaming Gorge. We had been in this area in 2007 and I was guessing it was the same place. It was. Nice to be back in colored rock country.
Sunday, August 13
Being Sunday, Dorothy made foule for breakfast. We only have enough pita bread left for two meals. Times are tough.
We decided to explore our environs and tripped over a narrow road that ran the spine of a ridge. I expected Dorothy to say You are not you going up there, are you? And she did not disappoint me. The Jeep crawled up two super steep sections and we were “on top” with a fantastic view down the gorge. The clouds parted and the hills were painted in a soft light. It would have made a good picture. But, all the camera’s, four of them, were back in KoKo. And so it goes.
This is our 1,800th night in KoKo. That’s 5 years of use in the 10 years we have owned her. About 104,000 miles. 58 miles a day. Guess we park in place a lot.
Monday, August 14
We continue down U191 to the south end of the Gorge. We stopped at a pullout and I saw a half dozen RV’s coming from the reservoir to 191. The field glasses showed boo-coo places to park. We decided, what’s a little more dust. So down we go 4.5 miles to the end the point. A fantastic location. You know the sun is out, the birds are singing and nothing but horizon.
Then I thought to check the weather. Weatherbug predicted 50% chance of rain and weather.com was more dismal with a 90% chance. We ate lunch and it started misting. We decided no matter how great the location being on a clay road in Utah with rain in the forecast was not prudent.
We retraced our steps and found a home in a Forest Service campground.
Tuesday, August 15
It rained.
Wednesday, August 16
Blue skies! We moved to a disbursed site we had “discovered” at Sheep Creek Bay [40.92927, 109.67950] the last time we were this way. We think it’s one of the best sites anywhere. We put the boats in and paddled around the red rock shores. This was first time the boats have been in the water since 8/2 on Clearwater Lake in WA.
Now a few pictures under clear skies
See the oval parking area in the center of the picture
Our Home And One Of The Best Views In Utah
Our collection of mussel inspection papers for the kayaks. One each from BC, WA, MT, UT and ID, plus three from WY. We can enter a lottery with the WY papers.
Since we are out of the smoke, we have decided to explore places in CO we have never been before. I am sure we will see some rain and it will be chilly in the mountains. But, we need some scenery.
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