DAY 2, SEPTEMBER 22, 2018

It was unexpectedly chilly this morning at 33 degrees.  Another blue sky day awaited us though it was actually still dark when we started readying to leave.  I heard JL carrying on a one-sided (from my hearing) conversation outside while he was unhooking the water.  When he came back in he told he encountered the camp cat who had jumped up on his back to see what JL was bent over doing.  I must say his measured tone of voice with the cat was much, much less restrained than I would have had the cat come over my shoulder!

About 8:30 we entered Wyoming where the landscape changed from flat prairie to cliffs (also known as escarpments) and mesas. I mention escarpments because cliffs are called that in several countries we have visited, and it’s so much more intriguing than “cliff!” We crossed the Contintental Divide which we will do a few more times I imagine.  Antelope everywhere, alive, dead on roadside, dithering on side road wanting to cross at any unexpected moment.  JL remarked, “After we see 4,328 antelope, it becomes less and less interesting!” We also saw a badger on the highway—-alive at the moment, but after we passed he became like Schroedinger’s cat:  Is he alive, is he dead?

Miles and miles of prairie—-prairie punctuated with sagebrush, antelope, and oil storage tanks. I saw this sign that said that there are 17 kinds of sagebrush in Wyoming!  Who knew! Sagebrush is vital to the antelope and other mammals of the desert prairie as a marker informed me.

We  were on the Overland trail as it turns out,and it made me think about how travel has changed between my generation and  past generations.  I am traveling with an IPhone which has instant reception and internet access frequently(if there is a signal!) and an Ipad.  I have everything in my self-contained little camper and Siri to tell me when  and where to turn to reach my destination.  My mother-in-law traveled from Missouri to Colorado in the 1930s or so in a covered wagon type vehicle.  Now in the 1930s there were telephones, cars, gas stations, and other modern conveniences.  However, my mother-in-law’s brother had been killed in a car accident, and her father had had decided(mandated) they would not travel by car anymore. (I know, you are thinking take a train, but that is expensive, and a family cannot move its belongings that way.) So they crossed the Great American Prairie in a wagon——I cannot even imagine the patience, fortitude, and foresight that called for.  No way to check on those left behind and to tell them the progress made, no way to have speedy access to health or transportation problems, and no way to escape the weather conditions that might beset you.  I often wish I had talked to her about that trip, but it never seemed to fit into the conversation.  She was a strong woman with many talents and I wonder if that trip as a teenager didn’t mold her in part.

Back in Wyoming, forest fires were breaking out along our route and we saw more helicopters with waters buckets flying over.  Smoke began filling the air even in the truck and we saw plumes from three separate locations.

 The smoke dissipated a bit as we drove through Jackson WY, and on to our campsite at Curtis Canyon Campground (National Forest Service Campground with no hookups), but a fantastic view of the Grand Tetons just a few steps from our campsite.

                                                            

                                        
      Our elderly camp host had quite a black eye when she opened her camper door and seemed to be confused most of the time, but other than that the afternoon and evening were quite calm aside from the 10 year old boy in the next campsite continuously blowing his elk bugle and the skeet shooters on the nearby hilltop!

NOTE:  We did not hear anymore about the fire since leaving Wyoming.