Good Bye to the “Hole”

 

 

 As always the summer slipped by way to soon and we were looking again at “road time” - planning the route, making reservations, and doing any maintenance needed on the truck and 5th wheel.  We were getting itchy feet once again.  The mornings were getting cooler, the Aspen leaves were changing to a golden hue giving us the the subtle hint that fall and winter were on their way. 

But we couldn’t leave just yet, we still had some things to do, you know important stuff, like having some more fun before we left.

 Also Jackson Hole and the Elk Refuge had a few more pleasant surprises waiting for us.

 

 

Linda took a number of jaunts to various “former” dude ranches in the area.  At the Bar B C Dude Ranch she found an old shell of a car complete with bullet holes.  The Bar B C Dude Ranch was established in 1912 by Struthers Burt and Dr. Horace Carncross, thus the B and C.  As most of the guests in the early days were invited from the Philadelphia area, so were guests for this dude ranch.  At the peak of operation, the ranch could house 50 dudes and dudettes in 45 buildings.  It was a time of “Party, Party, Party” for these dudes and we have even seen pictures of one of the “dudes” on his knees with a funnel in his mouth as two others were pouring some form of liquor into the funnel.  Something like Vegas on a Friday night.  There are several cabins remaining and they are being restored – very slowly.  The Carncross Cabin and the main lodge have been stabilized and several fireplaces on the smaller cabins have been taken apart and put back together as they would have been seen in earlier times.  The Snake River runs close by and there were two swimming pools at one time – just large dry areas today.  It was great to visit the Bar B C in the evening – it gave the area a different look and the mountains, of course, had that “purple majesty” look!

 

 Ok, one more dude ranch – the 4 Lazy F Dude Ranch in the Grand Teton National Park.  This ranch was purchased by the William Frew family in 1927.  The purpose of this ranch was to be a family retreat and get away from the “party, party, party” crowd.  It had seven cabins, a lodge, barn and some smaller cabins on the bank of the Snake River.  The family allowed paying guests by invitation only – from Pittsburgh!  Beautiful setting for a lunch with friends and for viewing some wildlife – Moose, for example!  Linda wants to thank all of the volunteer friends from the Refuge that shared the hikes, snack/lunch breaks and information about these marvelous places called “dude ranches”!

 

 

  

 

 One morning as I was getting ready to go out to the shop for my volunteer stint I looked out the window through the fog and right next to our neighbors rig were a couple of young buck mule deer.  This one even let me walk up to him and take his picture.  He did have a bit of an attitude though and stuck out his tongue as I took the picture.  It kind of reminded me of my daughter, she does the same thing!

 

 

 

 

 

 Linda and I participated in a charitable fun run/walk called Old Bill’s Fun Run put on by the city of Jackson. A rather large number of the volunteers from the Refuge participated also along with a few thousand other close friends that just happened to be in the area.

 

As we finished the 5K portion and came back into town I turned around to take a picture of the flag and got quite a surprise when I saw the refraction of the sun behind it - pretty cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 We couldn’t leave the area without doing what turned out to be an absolute wonderful afternoon ride from Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons back to Jackson and the Refuge.  Good friends - Tony, Ann, and Joe joined Linda and I on a 21 mile, absolutely beautiful and scenic ride.  The two above pictures are from that ride.

 

  The photo below is from a viewpoint that Joe and I found one day as we rode up Curtis Canyon and Joe taught me what determination and stamina really is.  It was a very long uphill and I will admit that I had to stop a number of times.  The downhill part was my favorite by far.

 

  One morning, as the maintenance folks were out at the main shop, we were standing around talking when suddenly a cow moose and a calf walked out from behind the shop with the bull close behind.  I went running to the truck to get my camera and this quick shot gives you an idea how close they were to us as they walked by.  They didn’t pay a lot of attention to us as the cow and calf were only interested in eating and the bull was only interested in the cow.  It was that time of year!

 

 All of us that had our cameras followed them for awhile as they headed to the nearest pond, just a short distance from the shop.  The below pictures are some that I got as they graciously posed for us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 During our last few days at the Refuge I took the opportunity to wander a bit and take a few pictures of the projects I was involved with.  As you can see it involved hanging Elk heads in the visitor center; building bird houses; reinforcing the visitor center observation deck and offices; cleaning, rehabbing, and insulating the old blacksmith shop; along with many other projects.  It was a very busy and intensive summer, with lots of sore muscles.  I have to admit I failed when it came to taking pictures of Linda in her environment of the Miller house, Visitor Center or doing interpretive programs on the deck of the Visitor Center.  Every time I had the camera when I was around her she was surrounded with lots and lots of people either listening to her or asking her questions.  So I ended up with no (good) pictures.

 

So it was time to hit the road once again and we headed down to the interstate and then east towards the Midwest.  As we made our way through Wyoming I couldn’t help but notice the 12 foot high snow fences along the road.  I’ve seen them before on prior trips but this time the realization hit that 12 foot high snow fences would create huge snow drifts in this area.  It was indeed time to head south. 

 

 

A view of the hills surrounding Rock Springs, WY.  Nice set up and campground on a local Fairground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A nicely decorated dino near our campground in North Platte, Nebraska.  Notice the Nebraska Huskers’ football helmet – cute!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We knew when we were back in the Midwest and tornado alley when we started running into these little shelters built in the RV parks.  This one was around Woodward, OK.

 Then it was down to Texas and the Fort Worth Area for our stint as work campers for Amazon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Wisdom of OREO

 My pride member asked me what I did today.  I told him “nothing” and he said “but you did that yesterday”.  So I had to tell him that “I wasn’t finished yet”.  I’m not sure he liked that answer, maybe he thought I was supposed to be mousing or something.  Yea right!  I’m an old kitty, I like laying around – it feels good.  Anyway the mouse hair gives me gas.  Time for a nap.

 

“Oreo”

 

 So as all of our adventures from this past summer came to an end, we leave you with a sight that we will be seeing, at least four times a week - morning and evening - for the next couple of months and usually in the dark.  It’s going to be an interesting time.  We’ll let you know how it goes - if we survive dodging all the robots zipping around this place.

 

Home is where we park it!

Lee & Linda