Monday, Sept. 1
Headed out to meet Clint & Co. up at Lake Owen in the Snowies, west of Laramie. On the 336 miles from Whispering Pines to Lake Owen, a damn rock hit the windshield and put a pretty good chip in it – right where the driver looks out, of course. Not higher, not lower, not lefter, not righter, not on the passenger’s side but in the middle. ARG!
Then I got a little close to a post and nailed the right rear tail light lens. Ooops! It could have been a LOT worse so won’t complain about that one. I was distracted. There was a sign that said "Tanks take the road to the right." "Huh??" Turns out this was an Army play area.
By noon I was hungry and had an ungodly greasy meal in Guernsey. Onward - thank goodness for Tums!
Stopped in Laramie for some grocery shopping and then headed out to Centennial and the campground, about 9000 feet above sea level and 2000 feet above Laramie. The road to Lake Owen is, in places single lane and dirt/gravel for 7 miles. Sure got a lot of looks from people heading out as I was heading in. This was a pretty good size rig for that road. Dust, dust, dust. Got to the campground and tried to fit in a spot NOT designed for a big rig - duh! Dallas spotted me and took 1 hour to negotiate through the trees, which at most times were within an inch of the coach. He was even stacking rocks. First time he said he spotted and stacked rocks for a motor home.
So got out of there, found a better site, had a great meal (boiled shrimp, corn, onions, potatoes, and sausage) courtesy of Clint and then went on a night run for about 15 miles. Went to the top of a dome, saw the moon, Mars, milky way – in one word – AWESOME. Continued on the drive for a while until we came upon their old camp spot. Great time. Night runs are a kick! Clint's 600 watt airplane landing lights mounted on his Cherokee really lit up the trail when he clicked them on. Impressive!
Campsite
Lake Owen
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2003
These next few days are basically RnR. No tough trails, just exceptionally scenic and fun. We drove on a trail which paralleled an old railroad track, which has been converted into a hiking trail. Years ago we road a train on this same track from Laramie up to Foxpark. It's a shame to see the tracks gone. But I digress. We drove up to the Wyoming Infrared Observatory on Mt. Jelm (at about 10,000 feet) and had lunch and a helluva scenic view.
Clint & Co. never cease to amaze me as he pulls out a grill and
prepares another great meal. Thanks Clint!
The view was fantastic. Laramie is off in the far distance.
After lunch, we headed up to a hill that looked pretty tame but was
steeper than you'd expect towards the top. Tim, Clint and I made it
up while Dallas videoed from below.
After Mr. Jelm, we did a lot of nifty hill climbs, some surprisingly steep and challenging. Earlier in the day, Dallas observed my tires weren't flexing much, event though I was at 10 psi. So to oblige him, I ensured at least one tire would flex. On one hill he radioed my left rear was really flexing. Yes - when there is no air in the Swampers, they do indeed flex. Found a big slit in the sidewall. I did that in South Dakota, but it must have finally opened up. After poking about 5 plugs in it, we went on our merry way.
We got back to camp and ate. Not long afterwards, it started to rain so we all congregated in the motor home, cranked on the inverter and the computer and for the next many hours drank beer, tequila and listened to a bunch of oldies. Morning will come way too fast, I fear! Sure had a good time, though.
Tim, doing some "periodic maintenance."
Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003
The day started ourt magnificently. Bright sunshine, warm temperatures - maybe a little too warm! We took off for another trail. About noon the clouds came in and the thunder was rolling. This all happened where we were trying to get through a little wet area. Clint went in first and needed to be strapped out. I went in next and sunk so far down and off camber that water was within a few inches of coming in the open window (yup, I had fortunately put the doors on and the top up in anticipation of precipitation from above, not water from below!) So, after extricating myself, we found a new route around the water hole. Just then the sky opened up and it rained, hailed, thundered and lighteninged. We drove a few miles in this weather. That was a NEAT experience!
From there we drove around the Rob Roy reservoir, stopped in Albany and had a beer and made it back to camp. Clint had graciously agreed to stay an extra day to give me more time to wheel with them so that night they really had to pack up and prepare to leave the next day - sorry Clint - hope you didn't get into too much trouble. I know it was a sacrifice to stay an extra day!
So the next morning got up and found that a black bear had been in camp that night. About 2 AM Clint & Co. got up and found a bear pulling a cooler out of the back of their pickup truck. They hollered at it and it ran away. Clint was fond of telling us the preceding days that, quote, "There haven't been bears up here for 10 years." Clint's dad, Dallas, had an appropriate (and unprintable) response.
So we reluctantly said goodbye and I started the diesel. Now the diesel doesn't like cold weather nor high altitudes. It also probably didn't help that there was 50 lbs. of dust from the drive up here that had pretty much clogged up the air filter. Remember the photo of Shaddy on TBack? Well, the diesel did the same thing, except black smoke. The campground was immersed in it for about 10 minutes, along with the unique noise only a cold diesel - or warm for that matter- can make. As I left, those in the campground that waved at me so nicely the days before didn't reciprocate this time, I think they were not happy campers! Oh well, I may have a solution for this that Cummins may not have thought about. More switches on the dash and more gauges - yes!
Now on to Pocatello.
Clint, Max, Tim and Dallas. Thanks! You've been trying to get me here for 4 or 5 years and finally succeeded. (Now aren't you sorry!) At any rate this was great and I look forward to hooking up with you again. This was a LOT of fun and a unique experience!
