Thursday, August 17, 2017

August 15, 2017 Bighorn National Forest

August 15, 2017

I tried to go outside the big house that moves and my paws got wet.  I had to clean them so I came back inside.  It was like, really wet out there.

I had all sorts of grand ideas about a morning walk, but they were all quashed by the fact that it was raining.  And it was cold.  We waited a wee bit and got Hannah ready, but the rain persisted, so we decided to go.

There is nothing like pushing one of Hannah’s buttons to raise or lower her and hearing that sickening sound…  Something wasn’t right.  We raised her high enough to get her attached to the truck, but it looks like she only has one good leg.  Crap!  We can’t even lower her manually as the crank isn’t connecting.  We jacked her up so we could get the log out from under the leg so we could lower her.  But the bottom line is we cannot disconnect until we get this fixed.  The nearest RV repair that does this type of stuff is 90 miles north in Billings, Montana.  Totally out of our way.  Maybe we can make it to Rapid City.  We shall see. 



Draining Hannah’s tanks is usually a mundane task.  You connect the sewer hose, pull this lever, then that lever and the miracle occurs.  Putting the hose back in place is a methodical process.  You stuff it back in the holder, then place the cover on, and secure the cover with a rod and a cotter pin.  You must be careful not to drop anything as you will never find it on the gravel below.  Spouse is usually very careful, but something caught his hand, and the cotter pin was dropped.  As we played ‘Where’s Waldo’ looking for the needle in the haystack, Spouse went to the drawer of death, and found another.  As he is putting it in, he sees the original one!  What a stroke of luck!

So, rain stopped my walk, and Hannah has a broken leg.  And to top it off, the stem on my orchid that the package of toilet paper so viciously attacked had to be cut off.  I will remember that wonderful fragrance and the adorable flowers.  May the inflorescence rest in peace…   What next?  Oh, the propane tank is empty.  Let’s go outside in the rain and switch it over…It is only 9 am…

We headed east on rte. 14. The rain has stopped but the sky is still threatening.   I was supposed to be looking for a friend’s bar, but I was so mesmerized by the beauty, I totally forgot. The vastness of the beautiful contoured plains conveys just how magnificent our country really is.  This is truly where the deer and the antelope play!  As we neared the town of Greybull, the farms added to the scene with the green crops and red barns.    I could imagine how this scenery would look on a patchwork quilt. 






But it gets better.  We enter the Bighorn National Forest.  We are in a narrow canyon, just the road and the Big Horn River.  Tall rocky cliffs surround us as we start to climb.  Every turn brings another eye popping view.  We climb, we ooh and ah.  Rocky cliffs with pines etched into sides dominate the view.  We see a sign for a campground.  Even though it is only noonish, we turned and followed the 2 mile dirt road to a gem of a location.   We set up Hannah at the Shell Creek Campground space 9, right along the river.  Hannah is a muddy mess.  It is 49 degrees.  It was trying to rain, and trying to stop.  It ultimately stopped, so we unloaded the bikes and rode up the road past the ranger station. 






This is the gateway to the back country.  We are already remote, and IF WE COULD ONLY DISCONNECT, we could be exploring some of these beautiful roads.  As it is, on our bikes, we pedal over the bridge and start climbing a hill.  We climb, we huff, we puff.  We climb.  We are sure it levels out just around the corner.  Ok, maybe around the next corner… or the next one.  Ok, enough.  We turned around and came back.  It is crisp but great for biking and the scenery is probably the best we have seen. 

If ONLY WE COULD DISCONNECT…

The ranger brought us lots of firewood; nice wet firewood.  Note to Spouse:  when using gasoline to start a fire, MOVE MY VODKA TONIC OUT OF THE WAY! 




No comments:

Post a Comment