From Bighorn Sheep, to the Bighorn Mountains

Friday June 28th to Monday, June 30th, 2014 -   Days 29 to 31

Today's destination is Lazy R Campground in Ranchester, Wyoming. We will stay a couple of nights in order to see a lesser-known, yet magnificent, Bighorn National Forest.  It is located in North central Wyoming, and is considered the sister range to the Rocky Mountains.  Of course, we just had to check it out.

The Lazy R Campground was very small, appearing to be in someone's backyard with a feel of a motel parking lot. It offered 50 amp electrical service, sewer, water and cable.  Now that we are "experienced" RV'ers, we found it quite adequate.  The only major problem was the CONSTANT train traffic, resulting in very loud and very long train whistles that blew all night long.  These trains we assume are all coal cars servicing the mines we passed just up the highway. Why do they wait until night?

The weather in the mountains is so very strange.  One minute beautiful, then the skies will darken.  Three minutes later, the wind blows 40MPH and the rain falls in torrents!  Then the sun quickly returns. This sometimes is repeated several times during, at least for us, in the evening.  Crazy!

People had to take advantage of
these pull-offs!  You could smell
the burning breaks.  

The next morning, which was Sunday, we packed lunches, got in the car and headed out to Route 14 A, for another long day of what we heard was a really beautiful, twisting, steep and winding road, over the top and through the Bighorn Mountains.

 The weather was sunny, mild, and not very windy for once! Which is great for sightseeing - I hate the wind catching the door, yanking you out, and nearly throwing you off a mountain.

This is one of big signs stating if you were in a truck you MUST pull over and
carefully read this sign!  We could not believe the folks that still took this road.
Not us! We knew enough to take the car, and that was hard enough!

Each area we travel on this trip is more beautiful than the last.  I never thought that possible.  We have, over the past week, traveled through miles upon miles of farms or prairies, with distant mountains visible through the constant haze. As the mountains appear, and we drive roads you would never think possible to construct, wind through them treating us to unimaginable vistas. What a country we live in!

We were so fortunate to be here when the wildflowers are in bloom!

It's been a long time since we have seen snow!
Come on, Norm, toughen up!

As we drove along, taking pictures every couple of miles ( unfortunately the photographic results just don't do the view justice ) we continued to climb and climb. Each time we got out the car the air was cooler.  Vegetation changed. Snow, which was off in a distance, was now under our feet beside the road.

We decided to be adventuresome and take this little dirt side road, not knowing where it would lead other than " up".  At 10,000 feet above sea level, we felt as if we were on top of the world.

Up on The Bighorn Mountain about 9200 feet above sea level.

When we reached the top, and the road ended, we found a ranger station maned by two female interns bundled up for winter.  It certainly felt that way to us, being from Florida and all.  The wind was ferocious, and the air cold, resulting in wind chills probably in the 30's. The Rangers told us the day before they had hail the size of golf balls, and snow!  There was a 3 mile hike further up the mountain to a Tribal Sacred area called "Medicine Wheel", but we just weren't dressed appropriately, and would not get back to the RV by dark should we take the time to see what could have been very interesting.

                                 Below is a little film clip of the area. Just to give you a "taste". 

We had our lunch and headed back down the mountain eventually to Lovell, Wyoming.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center, and was told to take the time, no matter what,( this would take a couple of hours, so this was no little side trip )  to go see the "Grand Canyon" of the area.  If we were luckily, we might see the herd of wild Mustangs!  Another chance! It would be so
wonderful to see wild horses!

Since we only had to back-track a couple of miles
we decided to go for it.

Wow! This is a huge Canyon! Right in the middle of a Prairie! Who would have guessed?
 With binoculars, we could see what must be 4-5 foot fish!
We think sturgeon which is in the area.

We are so happy we took her advice, although disappointed we didn't see any horses.

So far on this trip, we have been fortunate to have been traveling where few others go.We love the solitude, and the quiet so we may listen to the birds singing. 

As we now approach the popular National Parks,  I think it is soon about to change........

Trying to get that wonderful shot!  I need to take some photography
classes when I get back to The Villages, and join the club. 

This little guy, which is so common in Florida, must
be here on vacation, too!

The drive took us about 10 hours, but it was beautiful and well worth it. This was by far the longest I have ever been driving, but with the continuous stops I found it quite enjoyable. I would never want to make it a habit, however!

Monday, June 30, 2014- Day 31

Today I managed to get my hair done, and I am thrilled with the way it came out!  It's scary to just walk in somewhere.  Often the only person that doesn't have any business is because they are terrible and lost it all.  Norm suggested that perhaps when a town has only a few hundred woman, that it may be only that there are not enough "heads" to fill her day.  He must be right - she was quite good.

 Norm relaxed and read. We both had a nice day.