Sunday Aug.
19
Still
in Woods Landing....
by Ron
An overall map...
For more detail...
Now for the story behind
the maps.
We went for a Sunday drive
west from Woods Landing on HW 230 to FS 517 to Lake Owen. Just before
the lake is the below view. WOW We then kept on FS 517 on down
th State HW 11 and drove back up to Albany. A little droppiing off point
to the forest with a 10 room motel and bar-cafe. Back tracked, since it
looked like rain, and went north to Centennial and into the Snowy Range
to check out the forest service campgrounds. WOW they all very
small and tight to get to them. Not for MH or trailers. Next, had to look
up the boondocking spot Tioga
George and crew found just west
of Centennial, WY on July 5 th. He sure knows how to find em. But it
turned to be a dump station in the woods that is no longer used and boy
did the whole area stink.
View (with Terry) looking
north towards Albany and Centennial from FS 517 before it heads down to
HW 11
Lake Owen.
The old UP railroad runs right past here.
Later at about 5 PM today
Terry is going fishing with Bob and then we will settle in for the night
night. Will be headign back to Laramie to fuel up and get supplies as we
will be heading west again on Wednesday.
Four big trailers just pulled
into the RV park which has a total of 10 spaces. They are from Texas and
are staying for a month working on pipe line. The office, is in a tizzy,
since they also have a group coming this weekend for a wedding. So it will
help that we are not extending our stay. When we got here we were the only
ons except for Sandy and Bob. But they don't count as workampers. We will
be sorry to say good by to Sandy and Bob but we will see them in Quartzsite
later this fall.
Dave, Donna (sis),
John, Shirley (mom) and Sandy (on the right) with her family.
who shared breakfast
together at Woods Landing today.
Tuesday Aug.
21
by
your roving reporter Terry
(intro
sentence by Ron)
Terry
and Bob have been going fishing late in the afternoon the last two days
and Bob took a couple of pictures of Terry. Oh and yes they have been catching
some nice trout. The Laraime river runs through Woods landing, and
has a number of public access points.
At
the town of Jelm there are a couple of miles of public access to the stream.
The river is not stocked, and you will be fishing for Wild Brown
Trout. The fish we have been catching have been in the ten inch and
smaller range. Its not a very big stream, but there are lots of areas
with knee deep water.
Went
with our neighbor Bob and his son Justin to the North Platte river on Saturday.
Justin did well fishing, and we are not talking about the rest of
us. It was quite a drive to get there, west from Woods landing
on HW 230 and about 27 miles of forest service road FS 512
to get to the river at Pike Pole, and the closer we got to the river the
worse the road, The final sections of road were quite steep with
numerous very tight switch backs. There is a campground at the River
and there were a number of RVs in the campground. I had to wonder
how they ever got them in, and how they would get out.
As
we were leaving the North Platte River it started to rain, and rained for
the next hour, while we were trying to get to the highway.
Towards
the end of our drive the roads were getting quite greasy. Luckily
Justin had 4wd in his pick up and would engage the 4wd when the going got
tough.
Drove
into Laraime yesterday to explore town, and pick up supplies for
the next few days. Laraime is a nice little town, with a decided
college town feel to it. The population is listed at 27,000 with
the student population almost doubling the size. We visited Laraime
on one of the final days before the College starts, still plenty
of parking, and light traffic. We did notice a lot of people shopping
for college dorm and apartment supplies.
Had
planned on visiting the local rock shop to see what was available locally,
but the store is closed on Sunday and Monday. I had been told that
they had some nice Wyoming Jade, but its not worth a second trip into town
to browse. Will have to see what is down the road. May even
try to see if I can find any in the wild.
Planning
on going to the Woods Landing Cafe for supper tonight with Bob and Sandy.
Then we will head out tomorrow morning going to Encampement/Saratoga.
Planning on camping on the North Platte for a few days in a forest service
campground. Will have to learn how the live off the grid again.
Have had shore power all summer, and is now time to see how the solar panels
and batteries will do.
Wednesday Aug. 22
.We
got up and packed it all up and headed out of Woods landing at about 9
AM with a sorrowful good by to Bob and Sandy who we will see again in Quartzsite
later on. We made it over to Six Mile Gap Access about noon and found
the best of only three site that would hold a trailer. Only one other camper
in here of nine sites. When I turned on the 2000
W inverter I found NO AC POWER in the 5er. Panic was the word of the day...
Terry went to the fuse box and flipped back and forth the switches and
the inverter power came to life inside the 5er. WOW. We never
test the inverter as stand alone, before we took off and we lucked out
it was just a sticky ckt breaker.
So
we go set up and went for a drive up to Riverside and back in to Bennett
Peak access. A long 20 mile gravel road. Mostly good but some of it we
decided we would not try to pull our 5er over. On the way out at the last
stop before the HW. I noticed the brake peddle was very soft. We found
a small general store in Riverside (Encampment on the map) pop. 59 and
low and behold they had brake fluid. Added 1/2 a pint and it didn't help
much. I have brakes but have to push almost all the way to the floor.
We
have no cell service anywhere out here, even in that the little berg of
Riverside (Encampment). So we came back to camp and I emailed the Chevy
dealer in Saratoga and asked for a appointment for Friday AM and to please
email me back ASAP. So we shall see what happens.
The
road to Bennett Peak was rough at times and I think a rock might have bounched
up and got a break line. Or the master cylinder is going out. Guess we
shall find out.
What
fun each day is with new adventures. The best part is we didn't even
yell at each other today and we even had a 45 min road construction wait
to deal with.
Our campsite at Six Mile
Gap
The trail down to the Platte
river.
It has turned overcast and
might have that afternoon shower in the mountains. So will have to
get out the Honda 2000i later for power.
UPDATE 6 PM: On
the brake problem. Terry got under the truck and on the right
rear side he found a nut loose on the brake line to the wheel leaking.
He tightened it and we shall see if that is the fix. We will add the last
half of the brake fluid from the can. And also stop at the dealer to make
sure it is torqued right, and if this is the only thing we should worry
about. You don't want to be starting down a 7% grade mountain road
and have brake troubles pulling a 14k lb. 5er behind you. NEVER,
NEVER, NEVER...
But aren't we lucky to be
able to see a problem, this time, before it caused us major headaches?
So now that we are feeling
better about things and the sun has come back out, Terry has wandered off
down the hill to the river to do his thing, and battle the trout (as in
fish) of this world.
It has turned out to be another
great late afternoon heading to a nice sunset. No wind and broken clouds.
It is great to be alive in the Wyoming outback in a great campsite, being
close to nature. With a Jim Beam in my hand....
Thursday Aug. 23
by
your roving reporter Terry
It was a cold nasty day.
The outside temps only got into the mid 50's today and there was a regular
progression of rain showers and thunderstorms through the area. A
great day to stay inside and do nothing.
Early this morning with the
first of the rain coming in the only other group in the campground packed
up and headed out. Do not know if they intended to leave or were
getting out ahead of the rain. Then about mid morning we had company,
Bob and Sandy currently of Woods landing pulled into our drive. They
both had the day off and came over to see us. I think Bob wanted
to fish the North Platte, but it was raining while they were here and no
one was brave enough to suggest going to the river.
After they left I decided
to bake a batch of dinner rolls as a treat on a foul weather day.
Set the rolls to rise about 4:30 and the weather had somewhat cleared so
I went fishing. There were a couple of other people on the river
that came in shortly before I went, and there was another who showed up
after 6 when I was walking back to the trailer, No crowds to contend
with.
Fishing was good. in the
short time I was there I caught 4 medium sized fish, (10" class)
and hooked a couple more. one fish when hooked dove to the bottom
of the river, and wedged into the rocks. by the time I was abel to
get into position to work the fish out of the rocks, the fish had thrown
the hook. If I didn't know any better I would have credited that
fish with an extra bit of Intellengce, but was probably just the way the
situation worked out. The smart fish was the last of the fishing,
the sky was getting dark again and I slowly made my way up the hill and
back to the trailer. The climb up the hill is much harder the the
walk down, hate getting acclimated to the high altitudes.
Did not get a picture of
the rolls as they came out of the oven, they disappeared to fast
for that. They smelled so good and the taste of a roll fresh from
the oven was just to much for us. Pictures next time.
The solar panels did suprisingly
well today even with the overcast, but we are currently running the
generator to top up the batteries. Would hate to run out of power
tonight while we need the furnace to keep from freezing. Will also
have to put the geranium in the basement tonight, I caught enough
heck last spring when I partly froze it, do not want a repeat.
Friday Aug.
24
by
your roving reporter Terry
Day ten of our fall travels,
will be remembered for a long time. One of those days noted for all
the little annoyances.
We knew we had brake troubles,
but we assumed all would be taken care of when we reached Saratoga and
the Chevrolet dealer, (Riverside Chevrolet). We were mistaken!
Ron had e-mailed them on Wednesday to tell them of our needs, and
that we would be there early on Friday morning, (we used e-mail as
there was no cell service at Six mile gap campground). When we got
there the Dealer informed us that he had not received our e-mail (more
likely he had not bothered to check his e-mail) and that there was no way
he could get to us till some time next week, and that we could take
it or leave it and he did not much care one way or another. . No
amount of pleading or cajoling would help. Disgusted we went across
the street, picked up another pint of brake fluid, checked the brake fluid
reservoir to see that it was still up and headed down the road to
The Dugway Recreation area just 6 miles north of Sinclair,off of I-80 northwest
corner of the map. And let's not forget this great campground right on
the Platte River is FREE.
And did I mention Trout
fishing for Terry.
We arrivied mid morning
and got the trailer set up, then discovered that the hitch lock we
put on the trailer king pin is missing its lock. Recriminations all
around for failing to keep track of that important piece of equipment.
Took off for Rawlins (6 miles
to the west on I-80 and the Chevrolet dealer there where they were able
to look at the brakes, and diagnose the problem as air entering the brake
lines when the fitting was lose. They did that on their lunch hour
for free and not on the clock. On tech used art of his lunch time to help
us. WOW. That was the good news, the bad news they would not be able to
fix it till Monday, but they told us there was a GoodYear tire dealer
in town that could bleed the brake lines, and failing that the mechanic
gave us directions to do it ourselves. Kudos for at least being proactive.
Off we went to the GoodYear
dealer who told us to come back at 3:00 and Scott the owner would try to
fit us in.. We then went to lunch at a Chineese restaurant on the
east side of town for another overpriced disappointment. $8.95 each
plus drinks for a very skimpy buffet. I would almost call it a rip
off. No hot and sour soup, limited number of entrees, a very
heavy emphasis on vegetarian dishes, and pork rib lets that were
very very tough. We didn't ask the price and just sat down and when Ron
gave them a $20 he got back 5 cents in change for a LUNCH buffet.
After that went to the local
rock shop that we saw across the street form the GoodYear dealer,
when we were at the Goodyear dealer the sign said out to lunch till 1:00.
Got to the rock shop at 1:00 walked to the door and by then the out till
sign had been moved to 2:00.
Drove around Rawlins for
a bit, picked up a pc of 3/8" pipe to wedge through the hitch lock,
to be used to bush up the padlocks shank and went back to the rock shop
at 2:00 and promptly waited till 2:30 for him to open. Was
looking for the good apple green jade, but found only a bit of dark green
and a pc of black Jade, will have to keep looking on down the road.
GoodYear was able to get
us in about 3:30 and it only took them a few minutes to bleed the brakes
all for a very reasonable charge of $16.00. Our luck had finally
turned for the better. Now when we push the break it doesn't try to find
the floor!
Stopped for a few groceries
and diesel fuel then off to the camper. With all the sun today the
batteries are topped up and all is well. Might even have a bit of
tv tonight, our favorite HBO show will be returning from summer break,
Real Time With Bill Mahr. The guide on the computer says ten o'clock,
but we may want to turn the tv on at nine just to be sure we do not miss
it, some times the schedules get confused when you move from one
time zone to another.
Currently making a small
batch of potato salad, which will be part of a supper of cole slaw, brats,
and potato salad.
We rushed off to Rawlins
to get the brakes worked on and forgot the camera in the trailer.
With the weekend here we will probably stay here in Dugway, not wanting
to fight the crowds of weekenders for the few available camping spots left
on a Saturday night. Come Sunday or Monday we will be on the road
again, unless we get the urge sooner.
When we got back we took
a couple of pics of the campsite.
The Platt River is in the
background in both pics below the bulffs
Notice the Geranium on the
picnic table is the same one we had in Quartzsite last fall. We tried to
freese it out at Navajo Dam in northern NM in the spring on our travles.
BUT it survived.
The weather is great, sunny
and about 75 degrees. Slight breese. Much nicer than the wind and
rain yesterday in extreme south Wyoming at Six Mile gap. A
real big thank you to the Rawlins Chevy dealer and the Rawlins GoodYear
dealer. They know how to treat people. And don't let me get started about
the Chevy dealer in Saratoga, WY ... What a ass hole.
About time for happy hour
and to send Terry off fishing. (see me, Ron does get the last word)
Saturday Aug. 25
We
rose to clear skies and about 41 degrees outside. After a ham and egg omelet
we headed off about 10 AM on a drive north on the Seminoe/Alcove Backcountry
Byway.
Seminoe
Reservoir and State park.
Panorama
of the Seminoe Reservoir and State park headed up and over to the dam lookout
area.
Kortes
Reservoir/Miracle Mile Area, Wyoming Kortes Reservoir is located, to the
north of Seminoe State Park. Rainbow trout are stocked in the Miracle
Mile, and fishing for them is some of the best in the state. The Miracle
Mile streches about 5.5 miles from Kortes Dam to the Pathfinder National
Wildlife Refuge. 11 primitive camping areas, and an accessible pier and
restroom on the Miracle Mile.
The
road from Seminoe Res. to Miracle Mile area is not fit for pulling a trailer.
15% or better grades and washboaded to the max.
The
Senic drive is paved from Sinclar to Seminoe Res. But after that look out.
It did turn to blacktop at the Miracle Mile and not sure if it stays paved
all the way to Alcova.
Terry loves to shoe pictures
of wild game. There were many antelope right alone the road.
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