Worthwhile Travel Day.

Our Location Today is Thermopolis, Wyoming, U.S.A.

Monday was a long travel day for us five hours road time to be exact. The reason for most of our long travel days on this trip are future commitments on the part of both couples so in order to see and do all that was planned.

Since we had to unhook at the Rapid City campground due to the size of the site and tight roadways it was closer to 9:30 by the time we hit the road.

The weather was perfect not too hot with partly cloudy skies. You could tell the long weekend was over as the construction crews were back out in full force.

We made good time so before reaching our cutoff we went to a Walmart in Spearfish, South Dakota, we spotted from the highway to picked up groceries and a few other supplies. By the time we had everything packed away in the trailer it was lunch time and there was an Applebee’s across the street so we made two stops in one trip.

Soon we were back on Interstate 90 making our way into the state of Wyoming but the sky over the Bighorn Mountains started to darken. Within a half hour we could see rain falling in the distance but were not sure of the direction of the storm, nor the curves in the road we were on. It wasn’t long before we had our answer. The rain hit with torrential force accompanied by Thunder and Lightening not only slowing traffic down but forcing travelers to the shoulder of the road with their four-way warning lights on. It lasted for nearly ten minutes with the accompanying wind gusts rocking the truck as we sat to ride out the rain.

Once we were back on the road I spotted a Flying J truck center off in the distance and thought it would be a good idea to top-off the fuel tank. This would prove to be one of the best choices I’d make for today.

Back on the road we soon took our cut-off to Highway 20 setting our course through the Badlands. On the first part of that highway the truck struggled maintaining the speed and it wasn’t until I looked in the mirrors did I realize that were constantly climbing in altitude.

There was a nature call from inside the truck so I used a roadside parking stop for everyone to answer the call. Again back on road the truck was laboring to get its load through this mountainous pass. At this point the truck had consumed a half tank of fuel.

Shortly we came to a stop due to construction. The flagman had everyone waiting until a lead car would take you through the ten mile construction zone. A half hour later emerging back onto a paved road the slow winding decent from the mountains began.

The scenery on this highway had started out simply beautiful to absolutely breathe taking. From seeing snow covered mountains in the not so far off distance to seeing snow on the canyon walls lining the road we were driving on.

By 7:00 we stopped for a roast beef sandwich at Arby’s in Worland, Wyoming. We were feeling just slightly hungry so the simple sandwich did the trick.

Coming in from a different direction then we had in our 2008 trip I almost drove past the Fountain of Youth RV Park. It was now 8:00 pm. But it did not take long with the four of us working to set-up and unhook. It also did not take long for us to change into our swimsuits and head over to the Hot-spring fed pool. That made the long travel day all worthwhile and the downhill run to our destination only used a quarter tank of fuel.  Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You might be a Redneck if

You think caviar is an imported hatchback.