2009 – Week 10



June 18, 2009, Thursday:
It rained quite a bit last night, and we found some water inside the RV. A check of the outside taping job will be necessary later today. I took Daisy for a long walk and then took the garbage out. Actually, the garbage was only an excuse to go check on the Great Horned Owlets.

There was lots of human activity, and I discovered that one of the owlets had lost its balance and fell to the ground. The Park Ornithologist was there; they had expanded the restricted area and placed the owlet on a tree stump with the hope that it would be able to climb to a safe perch. I went back to the RV, and we didn’t do much and left for the National Museum of Wildlife Art around noon. On the way we came across a herd of bison along the road. They are magnificent animals and to see them in the wild is a treat. We were at the Museum before, but the exhibits just seemed to be a bit better this time. We had a phone call from daughter Diana telling us that she had successfully defended her PhD dissertation so we can now call her Doctor Diana Hsieh. We left at 4:30pm, returning to the Gros Ventre Campground. I went back to see the owls and discovered many photographers with very sophisticated cameras. If we had been insecure, we would have thought our new camera was inadequate (which it was compared to these monsters) but we can carry ours on hikes with little difficulty and they can’t. The owlet on the ground had moved a bit, but was unable to climb a tree to a safe perch. It eventually waddled off, and we all feared for its safety tonight. The parent owls were in the trees above, but no one knew if they could protect the owlet if a predator found it.
The skies have cleared, and we are hoping for a warm day tomorrow for the raft trip.

June 19, 2009 Friday:
A beautiful and clear sky this morning as I took Daisy for her walk. We headed towards the river where the owlet had headed in the hopes of finding it, but Daisy showed no interest in anything but prairie dogs. She didn’t even want to go near the fast flowing river. We headed back to the RV. Susie woke with a sore throat and the start of a cold. She wasn’t sick all winter so this was a real downer. I returned to the owl area and saw some of the people who were there last night. < >
One lady was going to take a walk in the area where the owlet had headed. I checked on the one owlet we knew about, and it was still in the same place as last evening. Just as I was heading back to the RV, a man stopped me and said that they had found the other owlet, and it was in a tree about 20 feet off the ground. He gave me the location and darned if the owlet wasn’t there. I suspect that it didn’t fly up there, but somehow there it was, safe and sound. What a great way to start the day! We left the Campground at 11:30am to get to the rafting meeting point but were detained by a herd of bison walking along and then crossing the exit road. We eventually were through and headed north to Moose and were about 5 minutes late. We were OK, loaded up and drove10 miles north to the drop-in spot. The Snake River was full and flowing quickly, averaging more than 5 knots. To our right as we floated down were the Grand Teton Mountains rising some 7,000 feet above our heads.




As yesterday, the top of the Grand Teton was just above the few clouds in the sky. Steve, our guide, pointed out 5 bald eagles, more than 6 elk, 3 moose and indications of beavers. As you might surmise from the earlier blogs, this has been a good year for snow and rain. Steve said that as of a few days ago more than 90% of the average yearly precipitation had fallen. There were several years when the precipitation was less than normal, but the last 2 years have been above normal, a welcome change. The river water course has changed direction over the last months as more water has undermined trees, moved river rock downstream and destroyed or created new channels. We heard an eerie noise as we were traveling the river. Steve told us this was the sound of river rocks rolling down the river and crashing into other larger stationary rock. The rolling rocks fetched up against the downed trees, diverting the water and creating islands. We saw the moose near the end of the trip, and the last one was wandering around at the raft takeout point. When I went back to see Steve, I turned a corner and there it was munching on a tree. Steve confirmed what we had heard about moose being a dangerous animal. He said that they were dumb, bad tempered, strong, had numerous weapons (hoofs, antlers, etc.) and most of those type of people were in jail. We had a wonderful time, and AAA was right on when they called the trip a “Gem”. We would recommend the Barker-Ewing Company and ask for Steve as a guide. We drove north along the scenic route, passing close to Jenny Lake and checked in to the Colter Bay Campground. We had good long, but expensive, showers before moving on the restaurant at Leeks Marina for pizza. I took Daisy for a swim in Jackson Lake. We returned to the Campground, tied Daisy outside to give her a chance to rest outside the RV. All of a sudden there was a very different bark from Daisy, and Susie went outside to see what was up. About 50 feet away there was a large and very healthy coyote scouting around for food. It finally decided to go away, but we fed Daisy inside the RV just to be safe. Our guess is that it will be back later.

June 20, 2009 Saturday:
The coyote didn’t come back, but Susie awoke with a temperature, terrible head cold and headache. She spent all of the day on the couch taking DaQuil and ColdEase without much effect. Hot chicken soup wasn’t much help either, but at least it was food. I drove from Grand Teton NP up the John D. Rockefeller Highway, through the west side of Yellowstone NP and into the town of West Yellowstone MT to stay the night. I stopped to see Old Faithful, but there was so much on-going construction and so many people, I just kept moving. I saw nesting bald eagles, elk and shoulder-to-shoulder fishermen. The weather report for tonight is wet and cold.

June 21, 2009 Sunday:
The weather report was correct. It rained and the temperature in the morning was 48 degrees. The sky to the west is not dark, it is black, and so I don’t see much improvement. We’re going to push on to visit another Hotchkiss classmate, Andy Andrews, who has a ranch just outside the northeast corner of Yellowstone NP. He, Dan O’Day and I were in two different schools together from 2nd grade through 12th grade, very unusual. We saw each other briefly at our 50th Hotchkiss Reunion last fall. We drove up the west side of Yellowstone NP, and the trees fairly glistened after the rain. The rivers are flowing full, and the waterfalls are wonderful to see. We drove past steaming fumaroles. It is always interesting to see steam pouring from holes in the ground. We stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs in the northwest corner of the Park to have lunch. This area was the headquarters and barracks for the US Army troops who were responsible to protecting the Park in the early years. The original buildings are stone and are in good repair. The plan was to hike again the deposits of the Hot Springs, but Susie wasn’t feeling well enough. Off we went, heading east, towards the Northeast Entrance to the Park. We saw many elk, but unlike others, we did not stop to take pictures. However, we came to a big traffic jam and asked what was up, we were told grizzly bear. That’s worth stopping for. We parked as far off the road as we could but were told to keep the road clear. No problem, just around the corner was a pull-off, and we went there.
I took several pictures of this big dark brown grizzly. It was only about 100 yards away and laying in the grass. It rolled over, legs in the air, and proceeded to wiggle around scratching its back. Then it was up on all fours and ambled away, looking around as it went. We continued through the beautiful Lamar Valley. It is said that the wolf population resides here, but we didn’t se anything but elk and bison. We exited the Park, continued east along US212, Beartooth Highway. It is being renovated and mud splashed all over the RV. When we reached WY296, Chief Joseph Highway, we turned right and about 6 miles later, reached Andy Andrews place. It is in the middle of the Shoshone National Forest, in the valley of Crandall Creek. He has owned the place since the mid-1980’s. Most of the timber and a barn were burned in the 1988 fire that devastated Yellowstone Park.
He built a log house using timber harvested from the fire. The views to the west are inspiring, and the only structures visible are those on his property. Andy cooked lamb chops on the grill, and we went to bed early.

June 22, 2009 Monday:
I was up by 6:45am due to the sun streaming through our east facing bedroom windows. Daisy didn’t want to walk; she just wanted me to throw her the ball in the enclosed area around the house. She has been cooped up in the RV for the last few days and needed some exercise. I took a shower, and then joined Andy downstairs for coffee. We decided to visit the town of Red Lodge, and Andy drove. To get there, we returned to the Beartooth Highway (US212) and headed east.

We climbed to 11,000 feet and were able to get a marvelous view of the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone NP. There is still snow above the 9,500 feet level. This makes the views clearer and more exciting. Near the West Summit, there is a ski area, and it was still in use. Andy pointed out areas where he skied, camped and horseback rode throughout the year. As we went down from the high point to the town of Red Lodge, he pointed out areas where avalanches had destroyed sections of the road, effectively closing it for the entire summer a few years ago. The avalanched cut a v-shaped trench 30 feet wide and 10 feet deep as it roared down the mountain. Susie and I walked around Red Lodge. She sent me into a candy store with permission to buy anything I wanted. After filling a bay with 1+pounds of goodies, I emerged. We had lunch with Andy and headed back to his house, another opportunity to see the sights, such as the ‘beartooth’ (for which the mountains are named), waterfalls and scenic vistas. The trip back took almost 2 hours, and Susie and I are grateful for his efforts. It was Monday, and Andy picked up his mail. It is delivered once a week. We all took naps. Around 7:00pm we were sitting and looking out to the west as the sun set, and Andy spotted 2, then 3, Golden Eagles soaring around the valley. Three is always a crowd, so then there were 2 and finally one. I grabbed the camera and tried to take pictures, and I want you to know that I had several shots of the empty blue sky. Those devils are hard to find when the camera is at full zoom. I was lucky and have two shots of the eagle flying and another two of it sitting on the fence. The sun went down; we had dinner and talked about our youth and upbringing. All of a sudden it was after 10:00pm, late for Andy and I, so we cleaned up most of the dishes and went to bed. It was a great day, and seeing the Golden eagles was a great. They are more common here in the mountains than the Bald Eagle, but we have not been close enough until now to really identify them (with help from Andy). We’re going to extend our stay one more night, and we’ll all leave Wednesday morning: Andy to his winter home in Tucson to move his wife Lynn and dogs here for the summer and fall, and we north to Glacier NP.

June 23, 2009 Tuesday
Daisy and I threw the ball, and I fed her breakfast. When Andy and Susie awoke, we had coffee and then breakfast before going for a walk through the western part of the ranch to look at new trees, the course of the river and the horses (who wouldn’t come near, probably because of the strange dog. Daisy swam, and the rest of us got wet feet as we crossed areas that have not yet dried from all the rain and overflow from the river.
When we were back, we decided to head west to Cooke City where we had lunch, highlighted for Andy and me by root beer floats. We wandered through the one well-stocked story, and we’ll return tomorrow to see if we want to purchase anything. Susie also went into an art gallery and came back gushing with praise for the artist who works with watercolors. We returned to the ranch where we realized we had a case of sugar shock combined with too much fresh air. To bed for a power, or better, nap. Even Daisy took a nap, overwhelmed a bit by the swim and walk. Andy finally recognized that tomorrow was the day he was headed to Tucson and the house needed a bit a straightening up before he leaves at 5:00am to drive to Cody to catch his plane. The house is in great shape, but ‘his room’ where he and Lynn sleep is also his office and he says needs a bit, maybe a bit more than a bit, of straightening up. Procrastination is a wonderful thing.

June 24, 2009 Wednesday:
Daisy heard Andy leave at 5:00am, but all of us went back to sleep until 7:00am. Susie was up a bit later. We changed the sheets, took showers, had breakfast, washed the dishes and took the trash to the RV for later disposal. We said out sad goodbyes at 11:00am, drove the RV out the gate and closed it. We headed back to Yellowstone NP the reverse of the way we came to Andy’s. We stopped in Cooke City MT for a few minutes and then continued west on US212 across the section that was under repair. It was better today because of the 2 days of sunshine that dried out the dirt. The road was down to one lane at times, and we had a delay of 15 minutes, hardly an issue. We then re-entered the Lamar Valley, and it was more beautiful than ever. The amount of green vegetation was overwhelming. Our first stop was a pullover where a couple were looking up at the cliffs to the south. They had found a mountain goat and kid plus several bighorn sheep and lambs. They were all resting in the sun, safe from predators. These people had telescopes and were very generous with anyone who wanted to take a peek. We could barely find the animals with our binoculars, even knowing where they were. There was one section where a ridge of rock had closed off the valley a long time ago, but the river had cut through the rock creating a gorge that was narrow and fast flowing.

On we went, spotting occasional bison, pronghorn sheep and elk as the valley widened, allowing the river to meander. All of a sudden, the occasional bison turned in to large gatherings of bison cows and calves in separate groups from the male bison. My guess is that we saw approximately 1,500 bison before the valley ended as the road rose into the hills. At Tower Junction, we saw a chuck wagon headed towards the evening barbeque location, and 2 wagons carrying tourists. Also there was a male elk with the largest antlers I think we have ever seen.
A bit later there was a traffic jam, but the Rangers had just arrived and moved everyone on. They were looking up the hill, so our guess was a bear in the vicinity. We continued to Mammoth Springs and decided to see if there were camping sites available for the night. There were lucky. We checked in, and drove to the town to get a very late lunch. Susie had a soda, chicken soup and French fries. I had a soda, grilled chicken sandwich, French fries and a double scoop of huckleberry ice cream. We checked at the Visitor Center to see if Doug Smith, the coordinator of the Yellowstone NP wolf re-introduction program, was available. His father and Susie’s mother were neighbors on Lake Erie when Susie was there during the summers. No luck so we went back to the campground and took a rest. I pulled down the awning to protect us from the sun’s heat, as it was getting warm. Back to short sleeve shirts and shorts. The sun went down behind the hills, and I rolled up the awning. We went to the Ranger Program, as the subject was bison, and the depletion and recovery of the number of animals in the country. At one point, the only surviving wild herd was in Yellowstone NP, but there were some bison on private ranches. With an aggressive, yet controlled, breeding program, the herd in Yellowstone NP is now about 3,000 animals. A few years ago it was 4,700 animals, but there was a hard winter and about 1,700 went out of the Park, causing lots of anger amongst the ranchers. Bison can carry a disease known as brucellosis, and the ranchers around the country are scared to death of it because when a female catches it, the first birth after contacting the disease is aborted. After that all is OK. We have heard lots about this interaction, but what we heard for the first time in all our travels is that elk also carry this disease. Elk hunting is a big business out here, and no one wants to acknowledge that the many more numerous elk are much more of a brucellosis problem than the bison. Also, it turns out that brucellosis was brought into the west by imported stock in the early 1900’s. Before the talk, we heard the Ranger warn all of us to stay away from wild animals. Today a person approached a bison too closely and was tossed into the air. The rumor was that this person had been gored! Nothing like rumors to expand the scope of a story. We enjoyed the talk and returned to the RV for a good night sleep.

2009 – Week 9




June 11, 2009, Thursday:
It was overcast this morning, and we were fearful that the sun would never come out. However, when I took Daisy for her 2nd walk, there was blue sky to the west. The plan for the day was to hike the Navaho Trail loop from Sunset Point, a distance of 1.3 miles with a vertical drop and climb of 550 feet. After that we would take the bus to Bryce Point from where we would take the Rim Trail 2.2 miles north, returning to Sunset Point. It would be an easier day than yesterday and leaves us a 13-mile drive south to Rainbow Point tomorrow. The trip on Navaho Trail was the one that Susie really wanted to do because it took us through deep and narrow slots between tall and narrow rock fins that she remembered from 2003.



The Park suggested that we take the loop in a clockwise direction and so we did. The walls are deep red, and the area between the fins is covered with sand from the eroded sandstone. As we traveled in the bottom of the Bryce Amphitheatre, we noticed the areas of runoff from the heavy but infrequent rainstorms and snowmelt. We also noticed, because we were close to the rock, the mud drippings from the eroding soft rock above. In a way, some of these rock fins looked like sand castles that we made on the ocean beaches years ago.



When we finished the Navaho Trail, we jumped on the shuttle bus and went to Bryce Point. We were lucky enough to be able to talk with a Park Volunteer, a young man who with his girl friend are touring the country and volunteering at as many parks as possible. Susie had the opportunity to ask and get responses to several questions that have bothering her for the last few days. We parted company at Bryce Point, and we headed north along the Rim Trail. We saw a dead tree we had photographed in 2003 and re-photographed it this year. We also saw the small overlook where Susie and I sat in 2003 while another park visitor took our picture. I have to check, but I think the stone has eroded considerably in the 6 years. Neither of us wanted to go out there this time even if there was someone who was willing to take a picture. During the hike we looked out to the west and noticed another area of red cliffs and when we looked through the binoculars, the rock formations were the same as in Bryce Canyon. Looking east, the view reminded me of an ocean storm. The green trees and white sandstone cliffs were breaking waves. I took several pictures; maybe one will come out well.
We completed the hike, and Susie wanted to go to the Visitor Center in the hope of finding a knowledgeable tree person. I stayed at Sunset Point. On the bus, she saw the same Park Volunteer as before, and he took her into the Visitor Center and introduced her to the right person. The chemistry between them must have been perfect because Susie came back to get me at Sunset Point with a bigger than big smile on her face. Lots of answers and explanations. It will be good to leave the Park with such remembrances. The skies were partly cloudy all day and into the evening. The winds were blowing from the west, and the humidity was low.

June 12, 2009 Friday:
At 8:30am this morning were headed out and turned south to Rainbow Point, the far end of the Park, or at least as far as the road took us (13 miles all uphill). The views were different, but wonderful. The amount of erosion that caused the development of the hoodoos at the Bryce Amphitheatre was not as great here, but we could see hoodoos in the making. We had breakfast at Rainbow Point and then headed north stopping at each of the 8 overlooks.
We met a couple from Virginia, they had also driven out here, and at every stop there they were. Finally we had to stop talking otherwise we would still be there. They were headed to Moab UT, a trip of about 270 miles, in the afternoon. We finished the trip and stopped to dump waste and fill with water before heading to the showers. We scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed and rinsed before the timers shut off the water. My ten minutes was shorter than Susie’s ten minutes. We continued north and stopped at Ruby’s Inn, just outside the Park. Before the park was a Park, one family had moved to the area and bought a ranch. They didn’t know anything about the hoodoos, but when they found out, they built a small Inn and the business grew. When the park became the Park, the Inn was inside the Park boundary, so they built another, and have created a vast business complex including motels, restaurants, general store, auto and truck repair facilities and so forth. The Park Service runs its shuttle busses through the area to collect passengers. This is same procedure that was used at Zion NP. We had lunch there before heading east on UT12 into the northeastern portion of the Grand Staircase-Escalante NM. UT12 is the first America’s Scenic Byway in the State of Utah. We were able to see many of the features that we had seen from Bryce Canyon NP, but from the eastern edge. The name John Wesley Powell popped up again. He was the first person to successfully traverse the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Here, he has a very visible peak at the bluff of south end of a mesa named after him. It tops out at 10,000+ feet and was very visible from all of Zion NP. We continued through the Grand Staircase-Escalante NP seeing farming aided by irrigation, sheer cliffs of different colors and shapes and cottonwood trees along stream edges. We stopped by a road sign information panel, and it identified 2 storage bins that the Fremont Indians had used during the 1050AD to 1200AD period. We started looking for campgrounds and found the Calf Creek Campground run by the BLM. It was full, but the volunteer Host put us in a spot, and said we could stay for 2 nights. We took Daisy for a swim in the cold Calf Creek until she decided she wanted food more than cold water. We had dinner and went to bed early.
It has been a pretty intense couple of weeks. Even though we have been most of these places before, we are digging deeper for information. I think we’ll try to have a relaxed day tomorrow before heading out Sunday morning. We have a pretty full schedule until the first week in July; then it eases off.

June 13, 2009 Saturday:
W decided to leave this morning due to heavy fire pit smoke and late night noise from the younger set. This Campsite is a very busy place, probably because of Calf Creek, the 126-foot waterfall and all the other hiking trails in the area. I took Daisy for another swim, and Susie went to identify some flowers she had seen last night. For some reason, Calf Creek seemed much colder this morning than last night, so it was a short swim. We left the Campground at 10:00am and headed north on UT12 towards Price UT. We didn’t expect to make it in one day, as there is wonderful scenery along the way. As a side note, we try to hold up traffic as we travel, but today I drove into what I thought was a pulloff, but it was a short abandoned piece of road with no turnaround. Pulling out on to the new road was problem due to a blind corner. I’ll be more careful and less accommodating in the future. UT12 follows the top of a very narrow ridge, just enough to a 2 lane road. It was aptly named ‘Hogback Ridge’ and was turned into a road by the CCC in the 1930’s. Completion of the road enabled the town of Boulder Town to have year around mail service by automobile.

Boulder is in a valley and is very productive farming due to the availability of water. We left Boulder and started climbing through the mountains with a top road elevation of 9,600 feet. As we reached the top, we saw lush green meadows and the Henry Mountains to the east. When we rounded a corner we saw Capital Reef NP. The view from the top is awesome with all the different bright colors of rock. We had been through the Park in 2003, but the view from the outside and top said to us that we didn’t need to go through again. We passed through the town of Fremont UT and saw a herd of cattle with unusual markings, or at least they were unusual to us. The cows were all black with a band of white around its belly. We climbed again up to about 8,800 feet before going through Hogan Pass. On the way down, we saw what we thought was a lake, but it was dry. I found out later that is was Paradise Lake, only full in the spring when there is snowmelt water is available. We eventually reached I-70, headed east about 5 miles and then headed north on UT10. UT10 was straight as an arrow for 11+ miles before taking a slight bend to go through the town of Emery, then it ran straight again for another 3+ miles. Not much to avoid out here. We continued to Ferron where we headed west to the Millsite SP. We stopped at 2:45pm after traveling 134 miles. The campsite was full, but for the second night in a row we were allowed to park in ‘overflow’ area. There were four RV’s there. We took Daisy for a swim because she wanted to plus we wanted her to sleep well during the night.
There have been intermittent storms in the area, and we had to pull all the furniture inside because of high winds and rain. All evening the winds blew, the clouds raced across the sky and every so often it rained. I remember reading an article in Sailing World about racing on the Great Salt Lake. If I remember correctly, the winds blew more than 25 knots all the time. I can believe it. When we went to bed it was still blowing.

June 14, 2009 Sunday:
I took Daisy out at 7:00am, and she took another swim. The water temperature was 50 degrees, and she didn’t stay in long. We had an early breakfast and Susie took Daisy for her second walk, and Daisy went in the water again. Before we had a chance to head out, a large RV pulling a flatbed trailer with 5 ATV’s fully loaded with camping gear pulled in. We guessed that they were headed into the hills for an overnight. We left the Campground at 9:30am and continued north along UT10 towards Price, the home of the College of Eastern Utah and its Prehistoric Museum. It bears repeating (in case I didn’t mention it before) that 90 million years ago, the Mancos Sea existed from what is now the Gulf of Mexico to the Artic Ocean. It eventually evaporated, leaving fossils, dinosaur bones, coal deposits and oil shale. This area of UT is a treasure-trove of dinosaur bones and other fossils, and many of the recovered skeletons are found in major museums around the country. While this is a relatively small exhibit, it is well done, and the exhibits are continually updated as new information is uncovered. I remember a few years ago paleontologists decided that they had mismatched a dinosaur head with a dinosaur skeleton. The proper head was discovered by the College of Eastern Utah. We spent 2 hours there and then continued our drive up US191 and US40 to the Dinosaur National Monument. We pulled into the NM and headed to the Green River Campground. The river is full and certainly not green; it is very brown! The Green River starts in the Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains to the east of Jackson WY and ends by joining the Colorado River in Canyonlands NP in NE UT. The usual storms came roaring through. We tried to eat supper outside, but the showers kept on coming. Finally we caught enough of a break. The Campground has some of the largest cottonwood trees we have seen.
It is not full or noisy so we should have a good night sleep before continuing north to Rock Springs WY.

June 16, 2009 Monday:
We took our time this morning, letting Susie take photos of her drawings. She now has 139 drawings to be posted on her blog. Daisy and I took a walk and she want to swim in the fast flowing Green River but that would be too dirty and dangerous. We left around 11:00am and stopped at the temporary Visitor Center. I had some trouble with the engine shutting down for what seemed no good reason as we tried to leave. Eventually it seemed to recover. The original Visitor Center was built on expansive clay, and after 50 years the structural damage requires demo and re-build. We took a bus to the top of the hill and walked down, looking for fossils. Luckily for us, the staff had marked some fossils, but it still took time to identify the pieces.


We also think we saw some pieces of petrified trees based on the colors of the material. There is a quarry at the site where excavation work is proceeding but it was closed to visitors. The walk took about an hour and off we went, heading towards Rock Springs WY where I wanted a shop to look at the front end that shimmied when we applied the brakes. We were at this shop in 2006 when we had tire trouble and the warranted a return trip based on the work they done previously. We started the climb out of Vernal on US191, and the engine shutdown once again but restarted immediately. Hearts in our throats! We continued on, and everything seemed OK. We climbed to elevation 8,260 feet through numerous switchbacks and were passed by several empty, I assume, 18-wheelers on the way up. We noticed that off to the west of us, there was serious snow on the peaks of the Uinta Mountains which top out at 13,528 feet. We passed along the east side of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area after crossing over the dam and finally stopped for lunch. The RV wouldn’t start; everything electrical was dead. We were 60 miles from anything, anywhere, but at least we had cell phone service. I opened the hood, jiggled the battery wires for a lack of anything else to do. Lo and behold it started. We continued along, but it was nerve racking. We finally came to Rock Springs and checked into the RV Park. The engine wouldn’t start again. Opened the hood, jiggled the cables and off we went to our spot. I immediately opened the toolbox, found some wrenches and tried to tighten everything, but I was missing the one I needed. I used an adjustable, but that’s not the best. I’ll try to buy one tomorrow. I don’t understand why the terminal loosened, maybe too much vibration. We cleaned the RV, washed clothes and then ourselves before accessing the internet to see what was new. I downloaded the 8th week blog. We have an appointment at 7:00am tomorrow for the front-end investigation.


June 15, 2009 Tuesday
There are no mountains to the east of us, and the sun came with a bang. I walked Daisy, and we drove to the tire/brake place, arriving at 7:10am. They took us right in and found that the rotors had been subject to heat stress and were warped. At least they found something! Now if I can just solve the electrical problem. On top of the 2 front rotors, we had to buy 2 new tires so we had a matched set on front. Off to the auto parts store for a proper-sized wrench to tighten the battery lugs. We also stopped at the vet’s to get more special dog food for Daisy. Finally, on to breakfast/lunch at 11:30am: great omelet for me, and poached eggs for Susie. Three more items to get before we headed north: gas we got, 1/2 & 1/2 unsuccessful and propane unsuccessful. Oh, well, off we went to the north with the Wind River Range to the east and the Wyoming and Commissary Ranges to the west. The Wind River Range was much more impressive with the snow line estimated to be 9,000 feet. The peaks are on the Continental Divide and top out around 13,800 feet. We stopped in the town of Pinedale and went into the USFS Fremont Lake Campground.
he Lake is at elevation 7,420 feet, and we are a bit above that. The water is clear and cold, but Daisy has been swimming twice, She was a wild woman. We camped among the aspen trees with dark clouds to the southwest.


June 17, 2009 Wednesday:
Susie said that it rained last night after I went to bed, and it was still raining intermittently in the morning when I got up to walk Daisy. We left the campsite 10:45am and noticed that everyone else had jumped into their cars or trucks and left, probably for town. The RV started without a problem, and off we went into town to buy milk and a few other minor things. When we tried to start the RV, it wouldn’t until I wiggled the battery cables. We went to the Library for internet services, and the RV had a bit of trouble starting but it made it. We were driving out of Pinedale and just about the last building was an auto repair facility. We turned around and asked for help. They were braver than I and really tightened the stud. I was told that the double cable setup we have is prone to loosening, and I will probably have the problem forever. Thanks GM! We drove north along WY191, joining WY189 towards Jackson WY. On the east side were the snow-capped mountains of the Wind River Range and on the west were the snow-capped mountains of the Wyoming Range.

The valley narrowed as we went north, and the views became more intense. We followed the Hogback River until it ended at the Snake River and turned north towards Jackson following the Snake River. The Hogback River was in a narrow and twisting valley. By then the snow-capped mountains had disappeared, but soon the Teton Range came into view with its snow-capped and cloud obscured peaks. We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant and talked them into giving us a small container of raw cashew nuts for Susie. We continued north through Jackson and went to the Gros Ventre Campground. This campground gets its name from the nearby river that at this time due to all the rain is flowing so full that they have half of the spaces closed. It’s not too long to the July 4th weekend so there are some who are wishing for sunny skies. We can see the Tetons from our campsite, and as I said before, the tops are snow-capped and partially obscured by the clouds. The rainsqualls keep coming and the humidity is the highest we have seen in a long time, maybe since the start of the trip. We made reservations to take a 10-mile raft trip down the Snake River on Friday. A special treat tonight: there is a family of great horned owls living in the Campground, and the NPS has taken the step of closing off the campsites nearby with yellow tape to protect the 2 young birds.
They are almost ready to fledge, and we hope to see that. As the sun set, the mother flew off to hunt. She came through the Campground at a height of about 20 feet off the ground. All the campers with small designer dogs should be careful!