OK, our day didn't get off to the best of starts. We were running a bit ahead of schedule, which is great however, we ran into a little snag. I won't regal you with the details, all I'll say is it was a plumbing issue. Not able to solve it before we left, hope it solves itself along the way.
If was a hazy day on the 6th of June in a land that seems so far away. Despite the haze you could still see for miles. We drove through some of the most beautiful countryside and the most desolate countryside. The thing, one was on the right and the other was on the left. It still amazes us what nature does and has done over the years...the mountain shapes and colors and rock striations. I'm so glad that we decided to drive the back roads. It hasn't always been easy, but it's always been interesting!
We arrived in the metropolis of Riverton, WY around noon. I know that it's a metropolis because there's a Wal-Mart, K-Mart, excuse me a Big K, a DQ and just about any other fast food establishment that you can name. Out here in the west that constitutes a metropolis. So we decide to pull into the Wal-Mart to get lunch and supplies needed to fix the afore mentioned plumbing problem. That done we hit the road again and no sooner make what was supposed to be the correct turn, which turned out to be the wrong turn. Now the most exciting part was turning the trailer around on a 2 lane road with no shoulders and really crappy blacktop. Dan spies a driveway and starts backing....there's broken glass and lots of potholes..yikes, he's really, really, really good at doing this. Now we're on the proper road and the next thing we see is a sign that says steep grade 21 miles...double yikes! So on we trek, just before the steep grade, there's one of those signs that says "Road Closed if Flashing, return to Riverton" thank goodness it's not flashing, 'cause that would really put a crimp in our plans. By now we can see the steep grade (wish I could show you the picture, stay tuned for that) and we're still several miles away. By the time we get there and start up the "hill" Dan has the truck floored and we're slowing loosing speed, switch to 2nd gear and it's gets a little better, then to 1st gear and we actually get up to 25mph. The poor truck is sputtering and gasping wonder what kind of torture this is. We even turned off the A/C to make it a little easier. Fortunately there weren't any cars following or I'm sure they would have been uttering some choice words. Thank goodness the down hill ride was spread out and not straight down, which was what I was envisioning.
On we went crossing the Continental Divide at 6404' which wasn't the highest we had been, but close. When we crossed it on the other side we were at 7174', now that's the highest we've been. Me, Dan, the truck and the cats DO NOT LIKE ALTITUDE! It does funny things to you, dries you out big time, makes you breath hard....no wait that's something else, makes your nose bleed and so much more. I'm sure your body will adjust over time, but we're both looking forward to tomorrow when we hit some lower elevations.
Arrived in Rawlins about 3:30pm MDT and the wind hasn't stopped since we started. It's blowing 35-40 with gusts to 50. Thank goodness there's a big Class A next to us to block some of the gusts or we really might be in Kansas tomorrow. Plumbing problem fixed in about 30 minutes...everyone relieved (no pun intended). Bought a seedless watermelon at Wal-Mart for $2.00, wish I'd bought 2 or 3. It was absolutely delicious...we had that and sandwiches for dinner...yum!
Up early tomorrow for another day of driving in the wind....heading to Sterling, CO and then Dodge City, KS. Stay tuned for more adventures....
