09-29-08 Monday (We Nearly Drowned)

I know it's rare but we've had yet another MISadventure. If you remember, I made an appointment for service on the RV for today at 10am. We got up at 7am, and did all of the usual disconnections and such. It was time to retract the jacks, or so we thought. Naturally, they wouldn't register as retracted so Jim got out his handy-dandy oiling can to squirt some ATF up in the reservoir. Once again we both can't get the cap off. After fighting with it, and ATF fluid all over the place (sorry Cherry Creek State Park), we were on our way. (This isn't the MISadventure quite yet...... Read on.) We made it right on time. I checked in with the service advisor, Howard while Jim readied the Cherokee for today's adventure. The write-up process, took a half hour. I think it was due to the lame, antiquated dealership software. You would have thought that Howard needed to key in the RV paint design into his computer. My list is as follows:

1. Cruise control won't set.
2. Possible open cruise control recall.
3. Rotational squeak from front end when very hot and slow speeds. Noise stops when braking.
4. Vibration throughout RV at 70mph or more.
5. Steering feels loose.

*Side note: On my end cruise control is #1 but in preview it shows as #0. Who knows what it will read once published.

Labor rate $125.00 per hour. Cruise diag = $125.00; vibration diag = $125.00; brake squeak diag = $63.00

Jim joins me and tells Howard that the cruise control is very important. I remind Howard this is our home and we have no place to go. It needs to be done today. On the way to the Cherokee, Jim tells me that the latch to lock the fridge/freezer broke off (it's used to keep the doors from swinging opening and breaking off during travel), but no fear, he duct taped it for now. We write down the model number of the fridge and later, we'll stop at a Camping World for a possible part purchase (if lucky). Sorry, this isn't the MISadventure either.... read on....


It's time for breakfast; Jim requests donuts, I veto with McDonalds. It's now 10:30am. Jim: We won't make it in time. They stop serving breakfast at 10:30am. Garret: Why would they do that? Who wants a burger at 10:30am? I'm sure they still serve breakfast.

Off to McDonalds we go. They stopped serving breakfast.

Garret: Sorry..... Shall I find a Dunkin' Donuts. Jim: See. Yeah.

Nope, still not the MISadventure you're hoping for. I program the GPS, we arrive at what used to be a Dunkin' Donuts. DAMN. We agree on a fast food joint across the street called "Good Times". It's kind of like a Juicy Lucys with outdoor seating only which was fine since we have the dog with us.



Jim had already planned out a beautiful scenic roadtrip the night before so we set out for the journey. Along the way we see a sign "Buffalo Bill's Grave" and venture off course to visit his grave. Pretty area with lots of overlooks. We skipped the museum since we couldn't take Dasher inside. In case you're wondering, no, Dasher did not pee on his grave.... just 15 other places. Oh, you were wondering why Buffalo Bill would be buried in Colorado, instead of Wyoming. It was his wishes per the signage at the site due to it beauty. Were you expecting a stranger explanation?



We journey on towards Estes State Park and stopped so many times along the way to photograph or take in the beauty. A lot of the route was driving through canyons. The leaves are different colors, the mountains are uhhhhhhh tall, just the overall pictures are great.



It's 2:00, no call from Howard. No cell phone service either. (Too much canyon). We decide to turn around, head back toward town, and skip Estes State Park. We've seen so much already. The GPS takes us a different route, through Boulder. Great views on the way. Even tunnels. Once in Bolder I get a signal (2:35pm), I call Howard. He says it needs shocks, road force balance front tires, brake pads are new but glazed (overheated). I'm witness to the fact that Jim does a lot of downshifting to keep the brakes cool, but what can I say? I skip the brakes and tell him to proceed with the shocks, tire balancing, and cruise diag for $800.00. Parts are in stock. What about the cruise control? Recall is done, waiting on the electrical tech to check it. They are open, and techs work until 7pm.

Here IT comes:

5:14pm, almost 3 hours from authorization, Howard calls. He was bringing the parts out to the tech (3 hours later?????) and the tech is gone. He can't get any of it done today. The electrical tech went home. He suggests that we camp out in his parking lot and the electrical tech will diag at 7am. I declined. Apparently, no one else can check the cruise control.

I'm LIVID. I tell him I'm on the way and I have no intentions of paying checkout. He calls back and says the manager lowered the checkout from $180 to $120. I told him to tell his manager that if his tech makes $25 an hour, he can use his Policy Monies to write it off. I'm not paying. I now decide in advance that I will refuse to pay and will camp out there until they call the police. Soon after they make the call, I'd then pay by credit card and then dispute the charges. When I arrive, the Service Manager is ready for me and tells me to take it. I thank him, and off we go.

SO, yet again, nothing gets done... They lost out on a probable $1000 repair bill. And for Mike who texted me asking why the service contract doesn't cover it..... It's a wearable item and excluded.

Oh, and Camping World needed more numbers off the fridge to check on the damn latch, so that will have to wait since the RV was in service (busy not getting serviced) at the time.

Jim and I are thinking of a new strategy for businesses. We pay them, and they'll fix things. What do you think?

The day wasn't lost, here's some fun pictures from today.

We thought of you. We even made a U-turn to get a picture of this.

This sign was on 1 side of the road. 1st off, NO DUH. 2nd is if it's a flash flood, will I have time? 3rd is what is on the other side of the road...

A wall of very tall rocks. As pretty as they are, Jim says, "If you're going to give me a sign like that, and an escape route like this, then give me some stairs, a ladder or even some fucking rope."

09-28-08 Sunday (Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign...)

Today was lazy day, with a touch of projects. Jim woke up this morning with a stomach ache. Pretty much the entire day, he didn’t feel well. He’d clean the Banks Power Pack air filter (like a K&N air filter) and then nap. We cleaned out the refrigerator and the hot water heater exterior access panels of dirt and such. He then napped. While he napped, I played video games and surfed the web. He hooked up the Cherokee to the rig so it’s ready to go for tomorrow’s adventure to the Ford dealer. I spot cleaned the carpet and hung up some more 3M hooks in the bedroom for belts and such. In an RV, one can never have too many 3M Adhesive on Demand hooks hanging about. I also cleaned out the litter/food area in the basement. There’s probably other stuff we did that I’m forgetting. We never left the campsite today. That was fine with me for a change. I think the last time we stayed at home for the day was when it kept raining at Lumberjacks in Georgia.

I did manage to get a few pictures of a rabbit that was about 20 feet away from the RV. I snapped a picture, got closer, snapped again, got closer, etc, until he finally hopped away. I took about 10 pictures but the best is the one shown here.













Dave managed to find various links as a sarcastic reply to the handicap sign comment from Friday’s Blog post. "I was shocked" and "I about shit". (3Davisms)

I mentioned earlier that I played a video game today. I had brought a few games and other software in a ziplock bag of sorts for this trip. I'm not sure where I even got the bag. As it laid on the table, I discovered a very humorous photo on it. See what you think.

This is just plain funny.

09-27-08 Saturday (Duck Season)

The other day when we arrived, Jim put out the slide. Usually I do this. I always check to make sure nothing may have fallen from the curio and then will get squished by the slide. Jim didn’t check and a brand new loaf of bread was almost obliterated by the slide. After scolding him, I decided to keep it and use it to feed ducks here at the park. Today, we toured around Cherry Creek State park and came upon a pond with tons and tons of ducks. Here comes the funny part…. Wait ….. So Jim throws a slice of bread and all the ducks scatter. He tosses another piece as far as he could to reach them and they didn’t give a shit. We watched one swim toward the bread but then stop and swim away. Did they think it was a specially designed duck trap with the words “ACME” imprinted on it? Did they have something against Sara Lee? Maybe against wheat bread? Maybe they are boycotting it? No more bread until they enlarge the pond? Some sort of protest.

I thought it might also be my vague resemblence to Elmer Fudd?

Maybe they’re just idiots. QUACK! We took our unloved bread home.

6 Dumbass Ducks 6

We saw a trail and decided to walk it. Uneventful. 2 snakes and that’s it. No deer or fox as the nature trail indicated we might see.

The park has a “Model Airplane Field” which was neat. There, 2 guys flying awesome radio controlled planes and a 3rd controlling a helicopter entertained us for a short time.

Here’s a picture I took of a bee on a pretty flower. I was trying out some camera settings and thought I’d play “Professional Photographer”, especially since I left my Fisher Price Medical Kit at home.

We drove down to the park marina and looked into reserving a sail boat or something fun. Jim touched the creepy, dirty lake water for a quick temperature readout and stated, “Forget it, no way.”

More photos from around the park

Labels!

I've went through all the blog entries and added labels to each one. You'll see them on the left sidebar. If you click on one of them, it will show you only the entries associated with the label you selected.

If you enjoy reading blogs, take a look at this fun blog: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. It's all about professionally decorated cakes gone wrong. I submitted a birthday cake I had Publix create for Pearl that went awry, but it hasn't made it on the blog yet.



AND if you enjoy reading mine, and have never commented on an entry, take a moment to do so or add yourself as a "follower". Why?

1- It will make me happy.
2- I won't feel as though only 8 people read it.
3- It will make me happy.
4- I'll call off the assassin.
5- It will make me happy.
6- You may inspire me.
7- You were expecting #1, 3 or 5 weren't you?

09-26-08 Friday (Wheel Chair Races!)

Jim stopped at the office to register. They told him the site we were in was reserved and we had to move. It wasn’t so bad if:
1- The reserved board was updated properly.
2- If the woman wouldn’t have immediately barked out orders and said, “You have no choice, you have to move.”


Jim was pretty angry upon return to the site. We packed it up, and relocated. While Jim reconnected shore lines, he gashed his back on the corner of the slide out. It was pretty bad looking to me. It looked like it needed stitches but yet there was no blood. I guess there’s a piece of skin or something holding it together. I cleaned it out and did all that Mommy-type stuff.

Will our jacks ever get fixed? Stayed tuned…… I called a Ford Truck shop that specialized in buses, RV’s, etc. They don’t work on jacks. Argh. We set an appointment for Monday to have the vibration at 70mph looked at anyway.

We took the Cherokee to a Sears for an oil change, tire rotation and alignment. One tire outside edge is worn a little more. After check-in we headed to the mall to browse, oh and buy junk food too. Sears calls and says the alignment is within specs but the coolant is black and needs a flush. Well of course, being in the business I want to see it for myself. We headed back, and sure enough, the coolant was so dark, it was almost embarrassing. Another 45 minutes for the flush and Jim spots a sign about a special for: oil change, tire rotation, and air filter for $35.00. We return to the desk and have to drag the service advisor to the damn sign (3 were posted). She returns to her computer and says, it will only save you $3.00. Well, I think to myself, Garret, I often call myself that, it’s more than $3 savings because I also get an air filter. She says the air filter is clean. I tell her to leave the new air filter in the Cherokee for future replacement. She says OK. As she corrects her repair order, she then says they’ll have to replace the air filter because they can’t just give it to me. I said fine. She walks away and I ask the other advisor why that’s so. He says because they keep the old one as a core. A core on an air filter? Whatever! Just pitiful and perhaps some lying too.

We ordered business cards in Colorado Springs prior to Yellowstone and they awaited pickup at the Denver location. I was torn between "Making Friends Coast to Coast" and "Stimulating the Economy Coast to Coast". Often, we’ll be asked where we’re from or where we’re going which leads us into a short story of “We had the house for sale, got an offer and the same day Jim found out he’d be losing his job. 4 days later, Garret found out he’d be losing his. We sold the house and with some of the equity, here we are. Visit our blog at blah blah blah.” So now after the short story, we can hand them a card with the web address and such. Got it?




We also stopped into a Big Lots. I'm not quite sure why I was in the bra section but thought it funny that Delta Burke had/has a bra collection and it had been lowered to Big Lots standards. Her hair is terrible, maybe she should get into hair products.

Also for another humorous photo was this handicap sign at a few intersections. Is this road safe for handicap scooters? If you are in a wheelchair and need to cross, will someone come and push you or something? Instead of a bike lane, is there a wheelchair lane? It's puzzling. I'm sure Mike Gabbard can come up with some more explanations, and if not, Dave Ward can find the answer on the Internet.

All in all, I think there's so many humorous things in our day to day lives. From people we see, maybe the what they chose to wear, to signs that are mispelled or confusing, to other strange things. I'm glad that I now take my camera with me, even to the day to day normal places. Now I just need to remember to take more pictures of this goofy shit.

09-25-08 Thursday (Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

On the road again, to Denver. Actually the outskirts of Denver to Aurora. I’m happy to report that the hydraulic jacks behaved this time. I knew you’d wonder. It was a fairly uneventful day. I know, you’re disappointed. No emergency Cherokee disconnects either.

We arrived at Cherry State Park, the office was closed. We looked at the board of available spaces, chose one, and set up. Hey, it can't ALL be exciting.

09-24-08 Wednesday (3 Nuns and a Baby)

Awaking to 32 degrees yesterday, sucked. Waking to 24 degrees today royally sucked. As I reeled in the slide, a large chunk of something fell on the outside and crashed. I thought it was a sheet of ice, Jim thought it was something horrific like, I dunno, 3 nuns and a baby falling down. Upon investigation, he called me outside…. brrrrrrr, and with camera in hand, I snapped a photo of the great plate of ice that had met its demise on the ground below. We worked quickly to get on the road at a decent hour. We were so proud of ourselves. BUT THEN, the jacks wouldn’t register as being retracted. It was time to add some more ATF to the reservoir. (Remember, they leak). I have to update you to the fact that a week or so ago, we bought an oil can of sorts to reach up into the fender and squirt the fluid into the reservoir since a funnel won’t even reach it. Where was I? Oh, so Jim squirts it up in there but he needs more. He can’t get the cap off the oiler. I grab one end, he twists the other. The damn thing won’t budge. Too cold? Jim uses a cut up plastic cup to get it in, or messily get it in there. Finally! 45 minutes later, it worked. Now we can hit the road. Onward to Casper, Wyoming again.

µPictured above is the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming.

We drove through the same area again. Boysen State Park, Wind River Canyon, Thermopolis, etc. It was a pleasure driving the same route because it’s so pretty. We arrived at the same campground as the last time and even the same site number.

09-23-08 Tuesday (Slow Down Carl)

Awaking to 32 degrees sucks. Frigidly, we drove the last leg of Yellowstone and of course stopped at all the different features. There were so many more mud pots (boiling mud springs) in addition to many more hot springs. I didn’t even take any pictures. Don’t get me wrong; I was still intrigued with them but we had seen so many over the week, that I’m not sure if anyone would ever know if it was the same pictures, only recycled. Our final destination was Old Faithful again. We didn’t go to see it erupt again, but rather catch all the other stuff around, from the other direction. At this point, it was getting late and we still had roughly an hour and a half drive back to the camp site. Yes, it does take a long time. I told you that Yellowstone is big. Pay attention. I’m sure Carl could have made it back in 45 minutes but I wonder how many animals he may have displaced. We ate at the Geyser Grill. It’s kinda like a fast food joint. It did the job.

Miscellaneous

OK, I've posted like 4 days worth of blogs to catch up with the internet downtime we encountered while at Yellowstone.

Phewwww.....

09-22-08 Monday (Hot & Sweaty Springs)

There’s still another leg of the park we wanted to see so a day trip to Montana was in order. The target area is known to have bears in the area. We never saw one but the drive was still worth it. On the way out of the park in the Mammoth Hot Springs area (still within Yellowstone) was Elk O’Plenty. They were all over the place. I asked a park ranger if this was typical for them, and he said that this particular group of Elk liked to “hang out” here. It was amazing.

We skipped the Hot Springs for now; we were low on gas. We did stop to see “The Petrified Tree”. I took a photo, but we weren’t all that excited.

Once out of Yellowstone, we ventured into a small town called “Gardiner” where we stopped for fuel, then to the “Two Bit Saloon” for burgers. After lunch, we hit a souvenir shop, and a grocery store. At the grocery store was this reward sign. Read it, I thought it to be amusing.

Jim drove us up this dirt trail around a small residential neighborhood called “Jardin”. It almost became scary at times, as I felt like any minute, I’d hear dueling banjos. Some sights were pretty and some not so pretty. Here’s something you don’t see everyday; checkout the home made RV. This qualifies as one of those redneck motorhome photos similar to the one at the top of my blog that I rotate out on the title. I really thought some of this was just bogus on the internet but now I’ve seen one with my own eyes. Scary.


Back into Yellowstone we go. We stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs and toured those. Well, they rock just like the others, only this set has created terraces. This area varies on active and inactive hot springs. The white stuff in these pictures isn’t snow. Checkout the warning signs they always have posted at the various hot springs. I love the illustration of the boy getting toasted.

As usual throughout the park are many hot springs. One roadside set struck me as very unique as there wasn’t much water but rather the entire soil area bubbled and made sizzling noises.

A coyote sighting! Look below, we were so close to it but stayed inside the Cherokee. The people outside and up close to this thing are stupid.

2 Coyote videos below:







During the remainder of the drive, it began to rain. Rain then turned to snow. We pulled over to document our first snow. While I was raised in NY and dealt with snow more times than I’d care to remember, this was cool for Jim. We eventually drove out of the snowing area, so we don’t know if it stuck.



Wait! There's more!

Slideshow

Montana Drive (above)

Montana Stream (above)

Yellowstone River (above)

4 scenes from Yellowstone Mammoth Springs below

9-21-08 Sunday (Thar' She Blows)

This park goes on for miles and miles and yet every turn offers a view or trail. The park is split up into sections, almost like townships. Most sections offer campgrounds, fuel, general stores, lodging etc. On our way to Old Faithful (an hour drive), we again witnessed Bison and Deer here and there. We stopped at West Thumb Geyser Basin which was amazing. Hot springs were all over the place. Some offered clear water views and some were cloudy. Not as hard to see as the mud pots which was basically boiling mud. A lot of the springs in this section were overflowing into West Thumb Lake which connected to Yellowstone Lake. Some springs were in the middle of the lake. Some were crystal clear, other than steam. We spotted one that had coral reef type life at the bottom and I’m sure could have sustained tropical fish. Spectacular. All of it. The temperatures at most of these were about 167.

Cool picture slideshow below:

We made it to Old Faithful and decided to catch some lunch before watching the eruption. Old Faithful Inn sounded good for some burgers. After we ate we made our way toward the famous geyser; we apparently missed the eruption by 20 minutes or so. We stopped into a cafeteria for hot chocolate and soda, and parked our asses on a porch with rockers overlooking the geyser. A 45 minute wait well worth the time. Old Faithful blew and it was grand. Just as a note, there are many other small erupting geysers around Old Faithful with small eruptions. (Video Below)

By the way, while we waited for the eruption, I text messaged those of you I thought would have text messaging abilities with “Waiting on Old Faithful to erupt”. With some humorous replies mixed in from some of you, Laurie & Pearl wanted to know where we were to find us on a webcam. I called them and found that Nancy had come up with the idea. The eruption was already complete by this time but it was fun to figure out where the cam was based on what Pearl described she was seeing. Like “OK, a guy in a blue jacket just stood up…” We found the cam (Pictured on the left), which updated every 45 seconds (I think she said) and we were able to wave to them! It was so fun; I called Dave and had him look. Between everyone, here’s some pictures of Jim and I at the webcam. I think that was the most fun. Makes one really appreciate technology. Nancy says there’s one at the Grand Canyon so maybe we’ll do it again.

Below are some screen captures from the Old Faithful Webcam, compliments of Dave Ward. (We're the ones waving!)

An end to the day with some old recorded TV shows (last night we watched a DVD) and yummy hot chocolate. After all, it is about 36 degrees out!

More videos:





Kepler Cascade (above)

Geyser Basin 1 (above)

Geyser Basin 2 (above)

Geyser Basin 3 (above)

Geyser Basin 4 (above)

Thanks to Pearl for texting "Thar she blows".... it made a great title!

09-20-08 Saturday (Getting Our $ Worth)

Well, today made the visit to Yellowstone worthwhile. Apparently the old man at the rest area that Jim spoke to, was a coot. It’s very difficult to remember where we saw different things. Yellowstone is very large. We saw Yellowstone’s Mud Volcano, Canyon and Waterfall today. Along the way to each of these attractions was endless beauty. We were fortunate to watch a buffalo walking along the roadside. Bison are actually very dangerous according to various signs posted throughout the park. We spotted a Coyote and I took the best picture I could. Deer were roadside here and there. A visitor center taught us some things we never knew. I wasn’t aware that most of Yellowstone is on an active volcano. I just thought Old Faithful is. I guess that would explain why there are so many awesome attractions featuring hot springs and bubbling mud.

Slideshow below:

It's difficult to capture the beauty of a geyser, mud volcano, etc without seeing it in motion so I've included a link to today's videos. (Right click on the picture below to open a new window)

2008-09-20 Videos

Although it rained today, and even some hail, it didn’t affect our sightseeing. I’m sure tomorrow will be just as spectacular.

09-19-08 Friday (Gun Fight?)

Here’s some photos of the view from the campground in Casper, WY. I have to tell you that their dog walk was in a fenced area in sand. I felt like I was in a giant litter box, which of course it basically is. I looked to the sky for a giant cat poop scoop. Fortunately, none was found.

Should we downsize to this?

Departing Casper Wyoming was a drive chock full of beautiful scenery. The balance of mountains, trees, and streams were perfect. We stopped at a rest area and Jim took Dasher to the fenced dog run. I stood by the coach and viewed the scenery. Just then, a Wal-Mart truck pulled right beside our coach. Photo opportunity. I guess the caption is “We haven’t been to Wal-Mart lately, so they came to us.” As I snapped the photo, Jim called my cell phone for me to hurry over to the dog run with the camera. It looked like deer or something in the distance. It was hard to see and the binoculars weren’t conveniently located. Can anyone tell what they are?







Unfortunately I’m confusing the different routes and parks where we spotted different features so I’ve rewritten this entry several times and at last edit, I have left out specifics. Some of it was Boysen State Park and others were from Wind River Canyon.

We drove through Boysen State Park and marveled at its beauty. We encountered an interesting sight. In the distance, were cowboys and cowgirls, herding cattle on the side of the road. That was something I don’t see very often, or uh, never, so I scurried for the camera again.

Video Below

Even more beautiful countryside drenched our senses. (Wow, creative writing). We approached a sign that read “3 tunnels ahead”; I was able to get the camera out for the last one. Railroad tracks nestled the other side of the stream and had a tunnel of its own. Further down was a large lake which was man-made according to the sign but beautiful nonetheless. The entire view was postcard worthy. All of these roads had pull-offs for stopping or allowing people to pass or whatever. In our case, we used one as a place to stop for lunch. No Pilot gas station lunch, no moth in the mayo, just an awesome, relaxing lunch. We then drove through a tunnel, once again.

Tunnel Videos Below:

Closer to Yellowstone, was a really neat town called Thermopolis which boasted information and tours and such on the Hotsprings. Reading online I discovered the natural hotsprings provide 120 degree water which is cooled down and then provided to various spas and bathhouses in the area.

The last town before hitting Yellowstone was Cody. Cody seemed like a great place to sightsee. We’ll probably stop there on our departure from Yellowstone.


Here's a slideshow of the awesome scenery:


Before entering the Yellowstone guard gate, we saw about 6 cars parked with people looking over a guard rail with cameras and such. We figured something interesting is down below so we pulled the RV over and investigated. Apparently they were watching a Grisly that was now out of sight. We gave up and went on our way. We entered Yellowstone, paid $25 to enter. Eh gads. We were told we had 27 miles more before the campground. Internet and cell phone service at this point were non-existent except for a few spots we drove past. 27 miles of uphill climbing sure took a long time. On the way, we saw people doing a similar bear watching thing but we had no place for the RV to pull over. I was able to see a couple of beavers down below. I couldn’t take any pictures; hopefully we’ll see them again.

We reached the campsite (Fishing Bridge) and it barely fit the RV. The site isn’t really deep enough. We also have no internet and fear we might perish of boredom here. After we see Old Faithful, we’ll decide if it’s worth sticking around here. Sitting outside tonight revealed pretty scary sounds in the woods. Howling and roaring. Not very comforting. Later in the evening we heard what sounded like a gunshot. Guns are illegal here so we wondered if something has attacked and a Ranger put it down?

09-18-08 Thursday (New Holiday?)

Today is Journey-To-Wyoming-Day. While this may not be a National Holiday, it sure was a smooth going day for us. I think it may deserve to be a National Holiday.

Jim wasn’t pleased with the drive through Denver. It was 10 lanes, then 6 lanes, HOV lanes, etc. There was a lot of traffic but with it being a wide highway, vehicles were not bumper to bumper which was nice. Jim’s main bitch was that it seemed never-ending.

As we drove through Wyoming, various cut out figures were at different hilltops. One was a cowboy, another buffalo, etc. I snapped a photo of one, but it wasn’t really that interesting to get into the “Collect ‘em all” mentality.

The night before Jim had filled the fresh water tank to the top. With the weather being so cold, it’s hard to coil up the hoses. He had hoped that we’d be able to shower and such off the tank’s supply and that in the morning, we’d have one less thing to do before hitting the road. We had plenty of water, and in fact, too much. The excess water creates weight. It’s like 8.3 pounds = 1 gallon of water. We probably had 30-50 gallons too much. At the first rest area, we figured we’d dump some, but of course there was a sign prohibiting the dumping of water and/or waste. What’s the frickin’ chances? Of all the traveling we’ve done so far, this is the first time I’ve seen such a sign that specifically named water. We spent some time while smoking on the possible reasoning. It ices? Too muddy? Someone who made the sign is a crack-smoker? Dunno.

At another rest area, Jim pulled up to a dump station/water station where he removed the bugs from the windshield. He spoke with a neighboring dumper about Yellowstone. The old guy told Jim there isn’t much to do there. We’ll see once we get there. We may reorganize our schedule if 4 days is too much.





With much anticipation we arrived to the KOA in Casper, WY (Barr Nunn). In other words, there isn’t much to do there. We quickly setup the pure basics and then headed into town where we went to the mall which had the usual department stores as well as Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and some others. Jim needed to get some hiking boots. Next we were to have dinner at “On The Border”. They weren’t open yet (new place) but next door was this awesome place called “Sanford’s Grub and Pub”. They have about 8 locations. It’s mostly car themed but has so much to look at inside. The food was good too. Interesting menu of fried pickles, strange burger combinations, etc. I didn’t have my camera with me. I was glad that “On The Border” wasn’t yet opened.

Miscellaneous photos I thought were interesting:

Costco fuel pump. I loved the picture of the woman about to burst into flames!

The population count was fun.