161.9/29–10/06 Wyoming Through the Windshield

This is the last blog of our memorable Octogenarian Odyssey. It shows how we got from Colorado to California on I-80 through Wyoming. Most of the pictures were taken through the windshield, therefore not up to our usual quality. At the end I will reveal some of the statistics of this 5 ½ month journey. If you have unanswered questions, feel free to e-mail us at bjpawek@comcast.net.

We left Estes Park with a rainbow at our back
and headed for Laramie, Wyoming.

There are some mighty big critters in Wyoming!

Instead of cows,
wildlife is commonly seem under the big sky.

Wyoming is noted for its pronghorn antelope
along the roadside.

Can you count the number of boxcars in this train?

Whoops! After an overnight at the Wal*Mart in Laramie,
we woke up to snow!
We had no chains and the Interstate was closed,
but our trusty GPS navigator, Millie,
found us a detour around the ice and snow
through the town of Medicine Bow.

The truckers apparently either had their own Millie
or already knew about the clear detour.

There is a lot of Wyoming!

Wow! We’re back on I-80 after the 12 mile detour.

Last stop in Wyoming…
Little America for a pit stop and free ice cream cone.

Down the verdant Ogden valley into Utah.

Through Salt Lake City and by Tooele,
our old stamping ground when we were in the Army.

Past the Morton Salt Works —
“When it rains, it pours.”…

And out into the hot, dry Utah desert.

Soon we are driving through the shimmering white vista
of Utah’s Great Salt Desert.

A greatly anticipated oasis on the barren salt fields—
& a famous rest stop…

Through Wendover UT/NV and across Nevada.

Ominous skies
welcomed us to the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Reno.

Falling snow, icy pavement, and near zero visibility
frustrated our attempt
to squeak through Donner Pass on the I-80.
We had to turn back and spend the night at Truckee

That about caps it!

TO SUM UP OUR 5 ½ MONTH AND 11,000 MILE OCTOGENARIAN ODYSSEY…

• 11,000 miles in 161 days @ 68 miles/day from April 29 to October 6, 2007
• $2,200 for gas: 679 gal gasoline @ an average of $3.24 per gallon
• Gas prices: max $4.04 in CA and Montreal, Canada,
  min $2.70 in Midwest & West, excluding CA
• Mileage: over all average 16.1 miles/gallon varying from 14 to 20 mi/gal.
  
• Best in FL, Northeast, & Canada, worst in CA, AZ, & Midwest.
• Lodging: total for 161 nights $1,846
  
• 63 days (39%) free at friends, Wal*Marts, truck stops, etc.,
• 98 days (61%) commercial or government parks, average cost $19 per night.
  
• Max $40 at a Florida KOA & in Canada.
• Generator for air conditioning: 487 hours @ 4 gal/hr ≈ 122 gal gasoline or $395.
• Tolls and entrance fees: $384.
• Roughest interstate highways LA, noisiest TX, smoothest FL & Northeast.
• 36 states and 2 Canadian provinces—combined with our 2004 trip, we have hit all the lower 48 states and with our 1998 trip to Alaska, we can add AK and 4 more provinces and territories in Canada. (I am sure the RV will never reach Hawaii for number 50.)

•••

With this last blog of The Trip, we start a new era.

Our standard procedure is to take off on the morning of the third Sunday of the month and return on Saturday evening. This year's trips so far include February: Death Valley National park, March: Pinnacles National Monument, April: Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, May: Yosemite National Park, and June will be Mono Lake area on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The blogs for Death Valley, “Poster Peaks of Death Valley” & “Fancy Flowers of Death Valley” are done and will be on the net within a week or so… promise.

I’ll end this blog with an image from one of my favorite places on the trip, the Antelope Slot Canyon in Page, Arizona. [See blog May 30, 2007 — “a photographer’s dream”]

152.9/26 The Trail to Dream Lake

Our last blog from Rocky Mountain National Park describes some of the many sparkling mountain lakes to be found in this most vertical park on the nation’s backbone. We start at 8,700 feet with sunrise at Sprague Lake and then go up as far Dream Lake at 10,000 feet.

Flattop Mountain at over 12,300 feet watches over
Sprague Lake at sunrise.

The warm light of sunrise
enhances the fall color around the lake.

A sleepy Mallard tries not to wake up.

Jean gets to work:
Hoary Aster, Machaeranthera canescens.

Hoary Alyssum, Barteroa incana

Common Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia

Thistle, Cirsium sp.

Shuttle bus station at Bear Lake trailhead

On the trail

At 9,500 feet, Bear Lake and Flattop Mountain.

Bill on the trail climbing towards Dream Lake

At 9,700 feet we come upon beautiful Nymph Lake—
one of the special photographs of the day.

The fall color show
for which the Rockies are so famous is just beginning.

Mountain Ash, Sorbus scopulina

Night-flowering Campion, Silene noctiflora

Mullein, Verbascum thapsus

The trail follows a small stream
as we climb toward Dream Lake.

In the trees, Jean spots
a Rocky Mountain (or Gray) Jay on Limber Pine.

You will find the Stellar Jay
wherever there are people.

This little Douglas Squirrel is gathering grass
for a nice warm nest for winter.

Mr. Chipmunk already has his winter coat on.

Dream Lake at 10,000 feet—
a photographer’s dream subject—
too bad for us it was starting to rain (and/or snow!).

The end of a wonder-filled day!

If you are still wondering if we ever got home, the next blog will get us there through snow and sleet etc. to our cozy nest.

151.9/26 The Road to the Top of the World

The Trail Ridge Road (US 34) traverses 42 panoramic miles over the North American continent’s backbone from Estes Park on the east through Iceberg Pass over 12,000 feet elevation down to Grand Lake at the foot of the Never Summer Mountains on the west. It is an easy way to see the vistas of the “back country” from your car. Rocky Mountain National Park was created in 1915 (a year before the National Park Service was formed) and Estes Park has been a favorite destination for Easterners and Midwesterners for over a hundred years (See appendix.).

Trail Ridge Road

Longs Peak & the Continental Divide

Longs Peak, 14,259 ft.

Longs Peak is the highest of the 72 named peaks that are above 12,000 feet elevation in the National Park.

From Rainbow Curve overlook:
Horseshoe Park toward Estes Park

One of the grandest views on the Trail Ridge Road is from Rainbow Curve looking over the road of “many curves,” the Beaver Ponds, Sheep Lake, and the Fall River in West Horseshoe Park.

Mr. Marmot surveys his kingdom

The Yellow-bellied Marmot enjoys basking in the sun on rocky outcroppings.

On top of the world at 11,875 ft,
eleven satellites are visible to Millie
at the Tundra Trailhead

Millie is our GPS navigator; besides finding addresses in city jungles, she tells us the elevations in the mountain wilds. Usually, she “sees” only 6 or 7 satellites.

Jean explores the Tundra Communities

At this late date, October 23, most of the plants have succumbed to the freezing winds and rain. But as usual, Jean did not come back empty-handed.

“Belly flowers,” Arctic Sandwort, Arenaria obtusiloba

Alpine avens, Acomastylis rossii

From 12,183 ft at the highest point
on the highest major road in the U.S.
near Iceberg Pass

Comfort stations at 11,800 ft.

Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale
at the Visitor Center

Dandelions are found from below sea level to above tree-line (Alpine).

Grass in the snow

At this elevation snow is present for most of the year.

View West from Visitor Center
toward the Never Summer Mountains

Penny-cress, Thalaspi arvensis

Appendix

This is an edited excerpt from my mother’s biography of her father, Henry Field of Shenandoah, Iowa, about two trips he took from Iowa to Estes Park in 1911 and 1912 on the old transcontinental Lincoln Highway (approx. US 40, today).

“The trip home was without incident until we were near Holbrook, Nebraska. We came upon a bad mud hole where a heavy rain had washed across the road leaving it a muddy lake. Henry raced the engine of our EMF Touring Car, trying to make a fast run through the spot. The car plunged in and began to sink in the soft, soupy mire, rocking from side to side, straining for traction. Suddenly the car tipped toward the right and came to a stop. When Henry stepped gingerly out into the knee-deep mud, he found the right rear wheel lying flat on the ground, broken off at the axle.


“Everyone piled out onto the high and dry roadside bank and set up camp in a conveniently near tree-shaded farmyard. Henry got a ride to town, telegraphed Omaha for parts and arranged for a man to pull him out of the mud hole. Within two days the new axle was shipped from Omaha and installed by the local mechanic. The axle cost $6.00 and the mechanic charged $6.00 more. There had been only two days delay and Henry proceeded homeward without further trouble. The trip took us seventeen days in all.

“The next year, he bought a new 1912 Everett car—quite similar to the EMF, but larger. When he first got the Everett he put it up to fifty miles an hour, but half a mile of that was enough. Fifteen or twenty miles an hour and one hundred miles a day were enough for anyone, he decided. He took all six of us children for the trip to Colorado this time. We camped longer at Estes Park and took a different route home.”


What’s coming up? I am so glad you asked:
1. 153.09/27 Some of the trails and lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park
2. 161.10/06 Struggling through the snow to get home (with complete stats of the trip)
3. 3.02/19 /08 Fancy flowers of Death Valley National Park
4. 5.02/21/08 The poster peaks of Death Valley

Bill & Jean.