Author: livingthedreamwithsallyandvic

One day we took Horse Creek Road hoping to see a bear. Eric, the man of many hats, had said we would see some wildlife but he didn’t guarantee bears. We saw some interesting stuff and almost got stuck in slick mud on the unpaved road. 4-wheel drive got us going.

Fun fact: the American Kestrel is the smallest raptor.

We are staying at the Wind River Casino parking lot in Riverton WY for just overnight. Tomorrow we go to Cody, WY. We have an appointment to have our slide out looked at. It works, but when it’s put in (so we can get on the road) it makes a knocking noise. It might just need lubrication. We’ll see.

A couple of photos from our last day there.

These are from DuBois WY

We are taking it easy here for a couple of days.

We enjoyed our stay here even without decent internet and cell service. I could text but nothing else unless we came down off the mountain and went into Jackson Hole.

We stopped to look at a herd of bison as they moved toward the road. Vic was closest to the action and was shooting pictures. This one looked hard at him and it sure seemed like he was going to charge the truck.

We were without cell service and barely any internet for several days in the Grand Tetons National Park, WY. We camped in the same spot we had last year but this time we had different phone and internet service and even the Weeboost didn’t help. Vic is just now editing our pictures so this post is about today.

The forecast for the Tetons was rain and more rain so we high tailed it out of there this morning early and came to DuBois. We planned on boondocking at the military museum but got set up and found out we had no internet at all there. We moved to an RV park called Solitude. Driving on a newly created road within the park and just feet away from our spot this happened.

My phone didn’t really capture how precariously close to rolling off the hill we were.

The manager of the park (who is also the Sheriff, that’s how small this town is) advised us to call a wrecker. Mike the wrecker showed up quickly and called in reinforcements. Four guys and two trucks worked their magic and got our camper up and out. It was amazing how they did it.

These guys were so professional they had it all done in an hour. I was guessing the bill would be $900, Vic thought more than a thousand. Mike said come down to the station and we’ll write you up a ticket and we can settle up. Vic went down there after we set up. Mike says do you want an itemized bill or can I just give you a number? Vic says just a number will be fine. Mike thinks for a minute and says how about $500? What a gift! All that equipment and 4 guys? Wow.

The road was poorly done. Vic probably should have swung wider but there was plenty of gravel showing on our left. The problem was the material under the gravel was too soft. The manager, Eric, tried to say the recent rain was the problem but that wasn’t it.

Anyways we are all fine, no damage was done (except to our wallet) and we have internet. Yay!

We stopped two days in Provo, Utah at an Elks Lodge with a beautiful dog park.

Somebody with a green thumb put in very attractive landscaping around the lodge. We grocery shopped and got our laundry done. We actually dropped it off and picked it up the next day. What a luxury that was! After 10 days in the desert the whole camper needed a wipe down inside. So we got all that done and moved this morning. Utah was having a marathon this morning so we had to zig zag around trying to find the way out. There weren’t enough detour signs so it was interesting to say the least.

We are boondocking at the Hideout Motel across from the Gold Buckle Grill where I got lunch. (chicken/cheese quesadillas and a Reuben).

A young couple with two children took the motel over a couple of years ago. You would not believe the playground, there’s more stuff in it than some city parks. Sandbox, swings, slide, glider, tire swing shaped like a pony, tether ball, trampoline, hand made seesaw.

Driving around we saw a sign for Petroglyphs.

There was a boardwalk so I walked on down there.

These markings are about the crops, the family, other aspects of their culture.

This is a national Park. Vic keeps wanting to call it Capital Gains haha. We are camping out in a dispersed camping area (boondocking). There are a few other campers but we have tons of room.

We are humbled by how beautiful the landscape around here is.

We drove around the first day through the town and then out to the actual park. Our plan was to scope out the Gifford House because we had been told they sell many varieties of pie and you need to get there early before they sell out. Turns out there was a great supply so we got 4 pies: cherry, apple, strawberry rhubarb and peach. Yes we are being pigs but these are smallish pies, not the normal 9 inch size. By the way the Gifford House was home to a family of pioneers who planted the orchards and other crops. The house changed hands a few times and is named after the Gifford who owned it last. The house was sold to the Park Service in 1969. The grounds around the home have become some lush grassy areas with picnic tables and a campground suitable for small campers and tents. The orchards are still tended and in season visitors can pick the fruit.

The apple was my favorite but this one was pretty darn tasty!

This is a well known arch and I really wanted to see it. The only way is to hike in but I was game. The difficulty is supposed to be moderately strenuous. Yeah right. After hiking up steep paths and across rocks where you better have good balance then more steep paths finally I could see the Arch but wait that’s not the end of the hiking. Now there’s a 50 foot steep cliff face with a chain link “grab on” and a few widely spaced apart toe holds carved into the rock face. People were scrambling up and coming down backwards. I looked at that and thought I might be able to get up but coming down?? Uh, no, a hard pass. Still got some great pictures and didn’t break a leg. I call that success. After the hike Vic went into City Market and did the grocery shopping while Zoe and I waited in the air conditioned truck.

Before we got to the trail there was a sign “Petroglyphs” so we stopped to see. So interesting.

Tomorrow we leave for Capitol Reef, another national park in Utah.

As I mentioned, we drove through Arches after 4 pm. What a place! Well see for yourself. I hope each of you gets to visit this place sometime. It really is incredible. Lots of foreign nationals, whenever I got out of the truck I heard languages other than English. Some arches have names but they seemed so arbitrary I didn’t try to keep track. I had more fun imaging something. It took us several hours to complete the tour.

I keep wanting to call it Candyland haha.

With a funny name like Canyonland I didn’t expect a lot. Happily I expected wrong 😊. It’s gorgeous anywhere you look. Before you look at all the scenery, there were some young people next to us in tents and of course Zoe had to meet them and charm them.