View (with Terry) looking north towards Albany and Centennial from FS 517 before it heads down to HW 11

  Lake Owen.  The old UP railroad runs right past here.
Later at about 5 PM today Terry is going fishing with Bob and then we will settle in for the night night. Will be headign back to Laramie to fuel up and get supplies as we will be heading west again on Wednesday. 
Four big trailers just pulled into the RV park which has a total of 10 spaces. They are from Texas and are staying for a month working on pipe line. The office, is in a tizzy, since they also have a group coming this weekend for a wedding. So it will help that we are not extending our stay. When we got here we were the only ons except for Sandy and Bob. But they don't count as workampers. We will be sorry to say good by to Sandy and Bob but we will see them in Quartzsite later this fall. 

 Dave, Donna (sis), John, Shirley (mom) and Sandy (on the right) with her family. 
 who shared breakfast together at Woods Landing today.

 Tuesday  Aug. 21
by your roving reporter Terry
(intro sentence by Ron)

Terry and Bob have been going fishing late in the afternoon the last two days and Bob took a couple of pictures of Terry. Oh and yes they have been catching some nice trout.  The Laraime river runs through Woods landing, and has a number of public access points.
At the town of Jelm there are a couple of miles of public access to the stream.  The river is not stocked, and you will be fishing for Wild  Brown Trout.  The fish we have been catching have been in the ten inch and smaller range.  Its not a very big stream, but there are lots of areas with knee deep water.

Went with our neighbor Bob and his son Justin to the North Platte river on Saturday.  Justin did well fishing,  and we are not talking about the rest of us.  It was quite a drive to get there,  west from Woods landing on HW 230 and about 27 miles of  forest service road  FS 512 to get to the river at Pike Pole, and the closer we got to the river the worse the road,  The final sections of road were quite steep with numerous very tight switch backs.  There is a campground at the River and there were a number of RVs in the campground.  I had to wonder how they ever got them in, and how they would get out.

As we were leaving the North Platte River it started to rain, and rained for the next hour, while we were trying to get to the highway. 
Towards the end of our drive the roads were getting quite greasy.  Luckily Justin had 4wd in his pick up and would engage the 4wd when the going got tough.

Drove into  Laraime yesterday to explore town, and pick up supplies for the next few days.  Laraime is a nice little town, with a decided college town feel to it.  The population is listed at 27,000 with the student population almost doubling the size.  We visited Laraime on one of the final days before the College starts,  still plenty of parking, and light traffic.  We did notice a lot of people shopping for college dorm and apartment supplies. 

Had planned on visiting the local rock shop to see what was available locally, but the store is closed on Sunday and Monday.  I had been told that they had some nice Wyoming Jade, but its not worth a second trip into town to browse.  Will have to see what is down the road.  May even try to see if I can find any in the wild.

Planning on going to the Woods Landing Cafe for supper tonight with Bob and Sandy.  Then we will head out tomorrow morning going to Encampement/Saratoga.  Planning on camping on the North Platte for a few days in a forest service campground.  Will have to learn how the live off the grid again.  Have had shore power all summer, and is now time to see how the solar panels and batteries will do.

Wednesday  Aug. 22

.We got up and packed it all up and headed out of Woods landing at about 9 AM with a sorrowful good by to Bob and Sandy who we will see again in Quartzsite later on.  We made it over to Six Mile Gap Access about noon and found the best of only three site that would hold a trailer. Only one other camper in here of nine sites.     When I turned on the 2000 W inverter I found NO AC POWER in the 5er. Panic was the word of the day... Terry went to the fuse box and flipped back and forth the switches and the inverter power came to life inside the 5er.  WOW.  We never test the inverter as stand alone, before we took off and we lucked out it was just a sticky ckt breaker. 
So we go set up and went for a drive up to Riverside and back in to Bennett Peak access. A long 20 mile gravel road. Mostly good but some of it we decided we would not try to pull our 5er over. On the way out at the last stop before the HW. I noticed the brake peddle was very soft. We found a small general store in Riverside (Encampment on the map) pop. 59 and low and behold they had brake fluid. Added 1/2 a pint and it didn't help much. I have brakes but have to push almost all the way to the floor.

We have no cell service anywhere out here, even in that the little berg of Riverside (Encampment). So we came back to camp and I emailed the Chevy dealer in Saratoga and asked for a appointment for Friday AM and to please email me back ASAP. So we shall see what happens. 
The road to Bennett Peak was rough at times and I think a rock might have bounched up and got a break line. Or the master cylinder is going out. Guess we shall find out. 

What fun each day is with new adventures.  The best part is we didn't even yell at each other today and we even had a 45 min road construction wait to deal with.

Our campsite at Six Mile Gap

The trail down to the Platte river. 

It has turned overcast and might have that afternoon shower in the mountains.  So will have to get out the Honda 2000i later for power.
 

UPDATE  6 PM: On the brake problem.   Terry got under the truck and on the right rear side he found a nut loose on the brake line to the wheel leaking. He tightened it and we shall see if that is the fix. We will add the last half of the brake fluid from the can. And also stop at the dealer to make sure it is torqued right, and if this is the only thing we should worry about.  You don't want to be starting down a 7% grade mountain road and have brake troubles pulling a 14k lb. 5er behind you.  NEVER, NEVER, NEVER...

But aren't we lucky to be able to see a problem, this time, before it caused us major headaches? 

So now that we are feeling better about things and the sun has come back out, Terry has wandered off down the hill to the river to do his thing, and battle the trout (as in fish) of this world.

It has turned out to be another great late afternoon heading to a nice sunset. No wind and broken clouds. It is great to be alive in the Wyoming outback in a great campsite, being close to nature.  With a Jim Beam in my hand....
 

Thursday  Aug. 23
by your roving reporter Terry

It was a cold nasty day.  The outside temps only got into the mid 50's today and there was a regular progression of rain showers and thunderstorms through the area.  A great day to stay inside and do nothing. 

Early this morning with the first of the rain coming in the only other group in the campground packed up and headed out.  Do not know if they intended to leave or were getting out ahead of the rain.  Then about mid morning we had company,  Bob and Sandy currently of Woods landing pulled into our drive.  They both had the day off and came over to see us.  I think Bob wanted to fish the North Platte, but it was raining while they were here and no one was brave enough to suggest going to the river. 

After they left I decided to bake a batch of dinner rolls as a treat on a foul weather day.  Set the rolls to rise about 4:30 and the weather had somewhat cleared so I went fishing.  There were a couple of other people on the river that came in shortly before I went, and there was another who showed up after 6 when I was walking back to the trailer,  No crowds to contend with.

Fishing was good. in the short time I was there I caught 4 medium sized fish,  (10" class)  and hooked a couple more.  one fish when hooked dove to the bottom of the river, and wedged into the rocks.  by the time I was abel to get into position to work the fish out of the rocks, the fish had thrown the hook.  If I didn't know any better I would have credited that fish with an extra bit of Intellengce, but was probably just the way the situation worked out.  The smart fish was the last of the fishing,  the sky was getting dark again and I slowly made my way up the hill and back to the trailer.  The climb up the hill is much harder the the walk down, hate getting acclimated to the high altitudes. 

Did not get a picture of the rolls as they came out of the oven,  they disappeared to fast for that.  They smelled so good and the taste of a roll fresh from the oven was just to much for us.  Pictures next time.

The solar panels did suprisingly well today even with the overcast,  but we are currently running the generator to top up the batteries.  Would hate to run out of power tonight while we need the furnace to keep from freezing.  Will also have to put the geranium in the basement tonight,  I caught enough heck last spring when I partly froze it,  do not want a repeat.
 

 Friday  Aug. 24
by your roving reporter Terry

Day ten of our fall travels, will be remembered for a long time.  One of those days noted for all the little annoyances.

We knew we had brake troubles, but we assumed all would be taken care of when we reached Saratoga and the Chevrolet dealer, (Riverside Chevrolet).  We were mistaken!  Ron had e-mailed them on Wednesday to tell  them of our needs, and that we would be there early on Friday morning,  (we used e-mail as there was no cell service at Six mile gap campground).  When we got there the Dealer informed us that he had not received our e-mail (more likely he had not bothered to check his e-mail) and that there was no way he could get to us till some time next week,  and that we could take it or leave it and he did not much care one way or another. .  No amount of pleading or cajoling would help.  Disgusted we went across the street, picked up another pint of brake fluid, checked the brake fluid reservoir to see that it was still up  and headed down the road to The Dugway Recreation area just 6 miles north of Sinclair,off of I-80 northwest corner of the map. And let's not forget this great campground right on the Platte River is FREE.
And did I mention Trout fishing for Terry.

We arrivied mid morning and got the trailer set up,  then discovered that the hitch lock we put on the trailer king pin is missing its lock.  Recriminations all around for failing to keep track of that important piece of equipment. 

Took off for Rawlins (6 miles to the west on I-80 and the Chevrolet dealer there where they were able to look at the brakes, and diagnose the problem as air entering the brake lines when the fitting was lose.  They did that on their lunch hour for free and not on the clock. On tech used art of his lunch time to help us. WOW. That was the good news, the bad news they would not be able to fix it till Monday,  but they told us there was a GoodYear tire dealer in town that could bleed the brake lines,  and failing that the mechanic gave us directions to do it ourselves.  Kudos for at least being proactive.

Off we went to the GoodYear dealer who told us to come back at 3:00 and Scott the owner would try to fit us in..  We then went to lunch at a Chineese restaurant on the east side of town for another overpriced disappointment.  $8.95 each plus drinks for a very skimpy buffet.  I would almost call it a rip off.  No hot and sour soup,  limited number of entrees, a very heavy emphasis on vegetarian dishes,  and pork rib lets that were very very tough. We didn't ask the price and just sat down and when Ron gave them a $20 he got back 5 cents in change for a LUNCH buffet.

After that went to the local rock shop that we saw across the street form the GoodYear dealer,  when we were at the Goodyear dealer the sign said out to lunch till 1:00.  Got to the rock shop at 1:00 walked to the door and by then the out till sign had been moved to 2:00. 

Drove around Rawlins for a bit, picked up a pc of 3/8" pipe to wedge through the hitch lock,  to be used to bush up the padlocks shank and went back to the rock shop at 2:00  and promptly waited till 2:30 for him to open.  Was looking for the good apple green jade, but found only a bit of dark green and a pc of black Jade,  will have to keep looking on down the road.

GoodYear was able to get us in about 3:30 and it only took them a few minutes to bleed the brakes all for a very reasonable charge of $16.00.  Our luck had finally turned for the better. Now when we push the break it doesn't try to find the floor!

Stopped for a few groceries and diesel fuel then off to the camper.  With all the sun today the batteries are topped up and all is well.  Might even have a bit of tv tonight,  our favorite HBO show will be returning from summer break,  Real Time With Bill Mahr.  The guide on the computer says ten o'clock,  but we may want to turn the tv on at nine just to be sure we do not miss it,  some times the schedules get confused when you move from one time zone to another.

Currently making a small batch of potato salad, which will be part of a supper of cole slaw, brats, and potato salad.

We rushed off to Rawlins to get the brakes worked on and forgot the camera in the trailer.   With the weekend here we will probably stay here in Dugway,  not wanting to fight the crowds of weekenders for the few available camping spots left on a Saturday night.  Come Sunday or Monday we will be on the road again,  unless we get the urge sooner.

When we got back we took a couple of pics of the campsite. 

The Platt River is in the background in both pics below the bulffs

Notice the Geranium on the picnic table is the same one we had in Quartzsite last fall. We tried to freese it out at Navajo Dam in northern NM in the spring on our travles. BUT it survived.
The weather is great, sunny and about 75 degrees.  Slight breese. Much nicer than the wind and rain yesterday in extreme south Wyoming at Six Mile gap.   A real big thank you to the Rawlins Chevy dealer and the Rawlins GoodYear dealer. They know how to treat people. And don't let me get started about the Chevy dealer in Saratoga, WY ... What a ass hole.

About time for happy hour and to send Terry off fishing.  (see me, Ron does get the last word)

Saturday  Aug. 25

We rose to clear skies and about 41 degrees outside. After a ham and egg omelet we headed off about 10 AM on a drive north on the Seminoe/Alcove Backcountry Byway.

Seminoe Reservoir and State park. 

Panorama of the Seminoe Reservoir and State park headed up and over to the dam lookout area. 

Kortes Reservoir/Miracle Mile Area, Wyoming Kortes Reservoir is located, to the north of Seminoe State Park.  Rainbow trout are stocked in the Miracle Mile, and fishing for them is some of the best in the state. The Miracle Mile streches about 5.5 miles from Kortes Dam to the Pathfinder National Wildlife Refuge. 11 primitive camping areas, and an accessible pier and restroom on the Miracle Mile.
The road from Seminoe Res. to Miracle Mile area is not fit for pulling a trailer. 15% or better grades and washboaded to the max. 
The Senic drive is paved from Sinclar to Seminoe Res. But after that look out. It did turn to blacktop at the Miracle Mile and not sure if it stays paved all the way to Alcova.

Terry loves to shoe pictures of wild game. There were many antelope right alone the road.