Monday, August 6, 2007
Pioneer RV Park, Lander, WY - Jul 29-31
We usually have a pretty good idea where we are spending the night when we head out from our last stop; we also don't like to travel more than 150 miles in a day. One side-effect of this policy is that if anything goes wrong, we have a good part of the day to recover. Our plan after Vedauwoo was to stay at Double J, a Passport park in Jeffrey City, although we were a little worried since after repeated phone calls and messages left, no one had answered nor returned our call. Still, we decided to be optimistic. Now with only half a million people in the whole state, none of Wyoming's cities can be called "large", but Jeffrey City takes this to the other extreme -- the term "ghost town" might actually be more appropriate. There were a half-dozen RVs parked at Double J, as well as "For Sale" signs at every corner. Knee-deep weeds covered most of the lot. A note stapled to the office door instructed us that parking was $20/night -- no mention of Passport America. What you have to understand is that as well as taking "small" to the extreme, Jeffrey City really takes "ugly" to the same extreme. There is a very good reason why everyone left town, and we decided to follow their good lead.
Our backup plan, 6th Crossing, was actually also listed in Jeffrey City, but our mapping software pinpointed it 20 miles west. We dutifully headed off, and spotted a group of RVs right where the campground was supposed to be. Upon turning in, however, we found that it was a former KOA that had been bought out by the LDS Church (it was a stop along the Mormon Trail from the pioneering days), who were very welcoming and encouraged us to park (for free!) without hookups which was very tempting, but it was so hot (mid-90s) that we thought A/C was in order. 
So we fell back on Plan C, Pioneer RV, a Passport park in Lander. This turned out to be a wise choice, as it is a friendly park in a nice location. We also learned that 242 miles is a lot longer than we prefer to travel in one day!
After checking out the Lander area, we decided to extend our stay to 3 nights, since there was a lot to see in Lander and also some necessities of life to catch up on. Lander is an attractive town with a nice city park with free RV parking for up to 3 nights with no hookups. This would be a very attractive alternative when we did not need hookups.
Our tourist day started with a quick visit to The Sinks State Park, where the Popo Agie River flows into a cave ("The Sinks") and actually disappears underground, reappearing a quarter-mile downhill (at "The Rise") following an unknown route. It takes over 2 hours for the water to make the journey, and more water flows out of The Rise than flows into The Sinks! This was followed by a long day drive on the Loop Road, which starts at the state park and travels quickly to over 8000 ft elevation with very scenic lakes in the Shoshone National Forest. Again, it was nice to enjoy the cool mountain air. We were glad we didn't bring the trailer up to look for potential camping spots, since there was major road reconstruction going on for the first 8-10 miles and a traffic delay of over 30 minutes at one point. There were some campsites up on top that would have been quite suitable for larger rigs, plus lots of open areas for boondocking. Coming in from the South Pass side would involve a much easier tow. We spent some time beside a lovely lake (Louis Lake) having a picnic lunch and just enjoying the scenery.
The Loop Road hits pavement again near South Pass City State Historic Site, a renovated mining town, which we viewed in passing but did not stop to visit. We continued on towards Atlantic City, a mining town that is being "rediscovered" (somewhat) and stopped on a hill overlooking town in order to get the perfect photo. When we got back into the truck, it wouldn't start. Upon investigation, we discovered the battery cable had corroded completely and was now in two pieces. 
Holding them together wouldn't make enough connection to get the truck started. So we gathered some stuff and walked the short way down the steep hill towards town. With some amazing luck, the first person we ran into was the town "mechanic" and a really nice guy to boot. He quickly jury-rigged a fix which would handily get us back to Lander and recommended a reliable local garage for the permanent fix. After a quick trip down the mountain and a short visit to the local garage, we were all set to be on our way the next day.
Our backup plan, 6th Crossing, was actually also listed in Jeffrey City, but our mapping software pinpointed it 20 miles west. We dutifully headed off, and spotted a group of RVs right where the campground was supposed to be. Upon turning in, however, we found that it was a former KOA that had been bought out by the LDS Church (it was a stop along the Mormon Trail from the pioneering days), who were very welcoming and encouraged us to park (for free!) without hookups which was very tempting, but it was so hot (mid-90s) that we thought A/C was in order. 
So we fell back on Plan C, Pioneer RV, a Passport park in Lander. This turned out to be a wise choice, as it is a friendly park in a nice location. We also learned that 242 miles is a lot longer than we prefer to travel in one day!After checking out the Lander area, we decided to extend our stay to 3 nights, since there was a lot to see in Lander and also some necessities of life to catch up on. Lander is an attractive town with a nice city park with free RV parking for up to 3 nights with no hookups. This would be a very attractive alternative when we did not need hookups.
Our tourist day started with a quick visit to The Sinks State Park, where the Popo Agie River flows into a cave ("The Sinks") and actually disappears underground, reappearing a quarter-mile downhill (at "The Rise") following an unknown route. It takes over 2 hours for the water to make the journey, and more water flows out of The Rise than flows into The Sinks! This was followed by a long day drive on the Loop Road, which starts at the state park and travels quickly to over 8000 ft elevation with very scenic lakes in the Shoshone National Forest. Again, it was nice to enjoy the cool mountain air. We were glad we didn't bring the trailer up to look for potential camping spots, since there was major road reconstruction going on for the first 8-10 miles and a traffic delay of over 30 minutes at one point. There were some campsites up on top that would have been quite suitable for larger rigs, plus lots of open areas for boondocking. Coming in from the South Pass side would involve a much easier tow. We spent some time beside a lovely lake (Louis Lake) having a picnic lunch and just enjoying the scenery.
The Loop Road hits pavement again near South Pass City State Historic Site, a renovated mining town, which we viewed in passing but did not stop to visit. We continued on towards Atlantic City, a mining town that is being "rediscovered" (somewhat) and stopped on a hill overlooking town in order to get the perfect photo. When we got back into the truck, it wouldn't start. Upon investigation, we discovered the battery cable had corroded completely and was now in two pieces. 
Holding them together wouldn't make enough connection to get the truck started. So we gathered some stuff and walked the short way down the steep hill towards town. With some amazing luck, the first person we ran into was the town "mechanic" and a really nice guy to boot. He quickly jury-rigged a fix which would handily get us back to Lander and recommended a reliable local garage for the permanent fix. After a quick trip down the mountain and a short visit to the local garage, we were all set to be on our way the next day.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:20 PM 
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