Yes, I'm Posting Stuff We Did in June!

2012 Aug 24

When we left Green River Wyoming, we headed east and north, ending up in Casper. The drive through Wyoming was lovely; not much traffic, great scenery, and cheap gas. Since we generally don't make reservations ahead of time, we arrived in Casper, certain that we would be able to find a campsite at one of the, at least four local campgrounds. Never assume! At the first place we stopped, as we walked through the office door, we were asked if we had a reservation, to which we replied in the negative. The women working there informed us that they were filled, as were at least two of the other three campgrounds, due to the College Rodeo weekend. Oops. They did suggest that we try River's Edge CG, since they had only opened on the third of the month, and might not be full yet, on June 9th. We called from the parking lot and were assured of a place for a night, maybe two or three.

When we arrived at River's Edge, they had one space open and available for three days. We paid for two days and opted for a possible additional day, saying we would let Lois, the new manager, know by Sunday if we were planning to stay the extra day. Sunday I went to the office to pay for the third day and was told that our site wasn't available due to some oversight by the old manager, on her last day. Apparently the people who were booked for that site were scheduled to arrive Tuesday afternoon. So when we arrived on Sat, Lois, the new manager gave us the site. Since we weren't sure if we would stay until Tuesday, we paid for just two nights, with the provision that we'd let her know if we wanted night number three. Meanwhile, the people who were to arrive on Tuesday, meanwhile, called, spoke to the old manager who as one of her last acts, told them it was no problem for them to arrive a day early for their one month stay. It was a simple miscommunication between the old and new managers. They did offer us another site which meant we'd have to move for one night. That was fine with us. Things happen, right? So imagine my surprise when the new manager said, "And what we'd like to do is offer you that site at no cost since it was our error." Woohoo! A free night! How cool is that!

Later that day, we asked Lois if there were any restaurants locally that would deliver to the campground. I was craving food cooked by someone else, and since we don't have a vehicle other than our RV, delivery was needed. Unfortunately, Lois said she wasn't aware of any places that would deliver, but mentioned that The Lime Leaf Bistro had really good food.

Casper is a fairly large town, by Wyoming standards, and we decided to check out the yellow pages. Imagine our surprise when the notation in the ad for The Lime Leaf Bistro mentioned that they deliver. After some minor difficulty communicating with the folks at TLLB, and trying to be sure they had appropriate directions, I am happy to report that we received our dinner of mushroom duck, for Raymond, and General Tso's chicken for me, along with spring rolls to share. I am also happy to report that the food was excellent and abundant! In fact, we had two dinners out of it. 

We learned a couple of things while in Casper. For one thing, always be gracious, especially  if the foul up was someone else's fault. You might end up with agree night in a nice campground. If someone tells you something, it doesn't hurt to check for yourself. You might find out some information that will benefit everyone. And lastly, REAL cowboys live and work in Wyoming, not Texas. 

   

Will I Ever Get Caught Up?

2012 June 29

On June 8, 2012, I finally got to meet Kandy, from Green River, Wyoming!  We had met online some years past on a now defunct animal/pet board. We have corresponded via email and telephone over the years, as well as by snail mail. I knew a lot about her, and have always admired her intelligence, her thoughtfulness, her point of view, her love of animals, and her spunk. She has been generous to me, when she didn't really know me at all. I won't say more than that at this time, because I don't want to embarrass her.

But, because of my own demons, in the form of depression and social anxiety, I was very anxious about meeting her. Truth be told, I was anxious about returning her phone call. I mean, lots of times, I totally do not know what to say on the phone, or in person. My fallback position is to say exactly what I'm thinking, which isn't always the best thing :-/

I enjoyed finally meeting Kandy. When I asked if she brought pictures of her precious grandkids, she suggested that we go meet them in person! That was unexpected and awesome!  The twins have been on my prayers for a long time. They were preemies and had multiple health issues, so I was thrilled to finally get to meet them, too.

The babies are at that age where they are shy with newcomers, so I sat quietly. I would've taken loads of pictures of then and their beautiful Mom, but my batteries died! I'm guessing that somehow, the little christmas stockings and gift cards I sent to Kandy's son and DIL were never received, because Kristen shared the boxes of keepsakes from when the kids were in the NICU and the stockings weren't there. One mystery solved.

Kandy also introduced me to her son, Jeff and her husband, Mike. Both men were very engaged in trailer and boat upkeep, as summer had finally arrived in Wyoming and they were preparing for family times at the local lake. Let me just say this: Kandy's DH is very cute! They make an adorable couple.

Because of my dead camera batteries, I got no pictures of Kandy, Mike, Jeff, Kristen, Weston or Kylie. Bummer. I also didn't get any pictures of Kandy's Mom, who is an adorable pixie of a woman! Kandy is blessed to have such a good friend in her Mom. I am a little envious. 

Kandy graciously offered to drive us to an area where we might see some wild horses the following day and I was actually looking forward to it, as well as to relaxing a little bit and maybe being more comfortable. Unfortunately, Raymond really wanted to move on, and so I called Kandy to let her know. I think she was disappointed, but told us to stop by her house on our way out of Green River, so that I could at least meet Malone. 

We did! I was sad that I had never gotten to meet Kandy's Newfie, Hazel, who passed away over a year ago. But I had always admired photos of Malone, so I didn't want to miss this opportunity. Ray was less than thrilled with the idea, but it was his turn to suck it up :) Since we hadn't passed a store before arriving at Kandy's house, I was relying on Raymond to take photos with his camera. Oops! Sometimes, his shutter sticks and he for some reason doesn't notice. He took one picture of Kandy, Malone and me and I looked at it and asked him to take another. Unfortunately, this was when his shutter stuck! Didn't notice it until several days later when I was loading the pictures into the computer.

So, this is the only picture from this momentous occasion:

Kandy, JM, Malone

How sad is that? 

Kandy, I apologize for being so quiet, but that's how I am till I get comfortable. And I apologize for saying that I'm always uncomfortable, but to some degree, it's the truth.  I wish we could've stayed in Green River for a few days and maybe just sat around and had coffee and really talked. maybe on my next trip to Wyoming?

Slowly Catching Up

2012 June 27

Upon leaving Thousand Trails Resort in Las Vegas, we decided to head north through Nevada and east into Utah. We talked about all of the National Parks in Utah, but decided to wait to visit them. Raymond was really looking forward to getting out of desert and geologic areas. So, we headed to Cedar City, Utah  where we spent one night in a KOA Kampground. 

Sunset from the Cedar City KOA

It was oddly situated. We were at the rear of the park and beyond the chain link fence with privacy slats, were town homes. It seemed peculiar to be right next to a residential area. We met a very nice guy who was working in the area and living at the campground. He shared lots of information about the whole state of Utah and advised Raymond to avoid buying beer in the state, "it's watered down," was what he shared. R had purchased beer at CVS before leaving Las Vegas, so he was glad he hadn't waited. 

We headed out in the morning, thinking we'd figure out our next stop along the way. 

Our view from Canyon View RV Park, Spanish Fork, UT

Another view from Canyon View...

And another view...

And another...

We drove north on I-15 to Payson, where we got groceries, with our planned stop being the next exit, at Spanish Fork. We found some information online about a city park with RV accommodations that was ridiculously inexpensive, at only $12/night. It was called, Canyon View RV Park, and was basically, a parking lot with water and electric hook ups, and a dump station. There was a green zone behind each parking space which was lovely, treed, had a picnic bench and an incredible view of the mountains across the street. There was a path and also a flight of stairs giving access to Canyon View Park, which was located down the hill beyond the green spaces. It was a lovely city park, with a fishing pond, picnic areas, playground, shelters and a wonderful trail along the river. It was very nice! We stayed there four days and could've stayed longer, except that R was itching to move on.

Ray & Grey along the river trail in Spanish Fork, UT

Greyla, cooling her paws along the river trail

One of the butterflies along the river trail

As a cold front moved in

As the front moved through

(It's interesting how R & I seem to rotate this need to move on. I had it in Texas; he, in Arizona; it was mine again in Nevada, his in Utah.)

While facebooking about being in Spanish Fork, an internet friend whom I met years ago at a now defunct pet board, messaged me to say that Spanish Fork was only three hours from her and that Wyoming was certainly on the way to South Dakota, so I should plan on seeing her. I was thrilled! I-80 was the road we were traveling on through southwest Wyoming, and it would take us directly through her town! 

We saw lots of antelope in Wyoming

Since my friend works during the week, but has Fri/Sat/Sun off, we decided to head from Spanish Fork, through Green River, WY, where my friend lives, and out to Flaming Gorge National Recreation area, about 20 miles outside of town.  The plan was, to call Kandy, let her know we were at Flaming Gorge, but intended to come into a campground in town on Friday, to be available to meet up. I didn't count on the extremely inaccessible Verizon signal. Not only did we have no personal hotspot, we had no bars on the cell service. I couldn't communicate with Kandy by email, or phone. Add to that the frustration of having only electric hook ups and no showers and poor water. We expected to pay 50% of the posted rate for camping since we have our senior pass, but at this particular campsite, the discount applies first, then you get charged for electricity. All in all we were less than thrilled with the financial aspect and the public bathrooms. On the plus side, we saw lots of rabbits and antelope, and the area was beautiful and peaceful. 

Antelope at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area

Kandy tried calling us on Thursday evening and again Friday morning, but because I had no bars, I couldn't even listen to her message. Finally, I walked to the top of a hill, nearer the office and got enough of a signal to listen to messages and be able to place a spotty call to Kandy. We planned for me to call her again once we got into Green River and settled at the local campground. 

So, off we went to the campground formerly known as Tex's, in Green River, Wyoming. And I was going to finally meet up with someone I had known for several years, but only as a virtual friend. It was making me just a little nervous, but not for the reasons you might think. 

I knew that Kandy was an extremely intelligent woman with strong opinions and a kind heart. I was nervous because I was afraid she would find me boring, and old and fat and ugly. What the heck? Why do I revert to a freaked out teenager when it comes time to meet people? For heaven's sake, I'm 62! I really need to overcome this social anxiety, already!

I'll tell the rest in the next installment.