We found our boondocking spot, a place the locals call "Freebie Hill" and got set up in time to head out for a local drive followed by a stop for dinner at a little cafe we passed just down the road from us. The local drive ended up on an unpaved National Forest Service Road before looping us back to the main highway and back to our camp site.
The cafe was part of a little resort with cabins to rent as well as horse trail rides, fly fishing and snowmobile trips. The food was good and priced right, the service was excellent. We knew we'd be back.
Over the next five days we took multiple trips into the Grand Teton National Park and the town of Jackson, WY. We spent a full day in Yellowstone National Park as well. The weather continued to be perfect and we really hated to leave.
Oh, we did our random act of kindness while riding up Signal Mountain in the Grand Tetons. A long ride upwards, beautiful views, tons of wildflowers and then the long ride down. We pulled over so I could snap some wildflower photos and a young guy on roller blades pulled in, too. Seems he had nothing to do for two hours....LOL! He looked hot (it WAS hot but still in the mid-80's) and we offered him some water. We gave him the bottle, he thanked us and took on off up the hill!
We saw buffalo in the parks, elk (on the river right below our campsite), elk in the parks, buffalo on the outskirts of Jackson and moose on the outskirts of Jackson (a bull and later a mama moose with her baby). Toss ins lots of birds and our first marmot wandering in the thermal areas of Yellowstone.
Early Saturday morning (okay, so 9 am isn't early for the rest of the world but it is for us...LOL!) we headed east towards Casper, WY where we planned to spend the night. Originally we planned to Wally World it but temps in the 90's changed our minds and we booked one night at Ft. Casper Campground, a Passport America park.
While staying in Moran we had to deal with a lot of road construction...right in front of our access road. In the parks there was construction as well, including a long wait where they were building a new bridge.
But nothing compared to what we hit on US 26 heading towards Dubois, WY. Oh my...first time I've ever seen multiple pilot cars running both directions....and on a dirt road. So much dirt that it looked like they were re-engineering the highway for miles. One hill gave us pause...but we managed to not get stuck. LOL!
Dubois looked to be an interesting little town but unfortunately we didn't have time to stop and visit....maybe next time. The scenery just got prettier. After we entered the Wind River Indian Reservation we pulled over for lunch at a scenic photo stop. Oh my....was it ever!
Unfortunately the scenery soon passed into flatter lands, not many houses, nor cattle, nor horses...but we did see quite a few Pronghorn Antelope. LOL! We arrived at Sam's Club (next door to a Super Wally World) around 3 pm. We restocked our pantry, filled up Freddie with diesel at Flying J and then headed to the campground.
Wouldn't you know it....the road into the campground was....yup, you guessed it....under construction! LOL! We got settled into a nice long and wide 50 amp spot, fired up the bedroom A/C and I got started on laundry. Phew!
Tomorrow we have another 300 miles to Blackhawk, SD and once again, the temps are going to be HOT!!! Hope they can fix our main A/C unit quickly on Monday.
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu
Here are our photo albums from the last week:
(where we plan to be for two weeks).