July 3, Mosquito Hell

Jeff got out on the road around 6:30, not quite light yet, and he tried to get a pic of a deer going down the road ahead of him. The camera wouldn't cooperate with the available light. But still, a deer in town. This is remote, folks. Nothing here but 3 small towns that are all named for mining companies. They mine. There is a huge open pit coal mine just outside of town. There are fossils and all kinds of really cool minerals and rocks. But it is not very pretty, just sort of brown, with some cream color, and maybe even a green cast to some areas.

I stopped at a rock and fossil shop in Kemmerer. The old guy that owns it was quite a character. He has been picking up rocks his whole life. And he smoked like a chimney. Reminded me of an old firefighter.... but he had some gorgeous geodes, and other rocks that were polished and just awesome. Not to mention the petrified wood pieces that he had polished. He said he did all his own work, and most everything came from on top of the ground, in the area.

Outside the Rock and Fossil Shop

Rock Shop Hours

Antique fire station....

Kemmerer was an interesting town. It was bordered by Diamondville. The first thing we saw driving towards town was the county prison. But it got better. We stayed the night at that crappy little RV park that didn't have any services, including internet, but was the most expensive that we have stayed at. But the town itself was really quite cute, and pretty old. I don't remember when it was founded, but the ORIGINAL J. C. Penny store is there. 

 

And there is a really beautiful old shrub rose that is everywhere in the town, that is just the most vibrant shade of yellow. I really wished I had my grandmother's knack with roses, as she could take a cutting of one and grow a beautiful bush. Jeff thought the town was really clean and pretty well kept up. We didn't have 4G, but did spend a bit of time at the library in town. They were very nice there. And had free wi-fi. We also had lunch there, which was pretty good. We also went and talked to the local Kemmerer Gazette, to try to garner a little article in the paper. And, I did a load of laundry there.

Right now we are sitting on the side of a state road, in a gravel area, near a town called Opal. There are no services in Opal. And it is storming, including some light hail. There have been showers popping up all afternoon. We will spend the night here on the side of the road, just off the highway. And I feel certain that it will get quite cool, as it always does here at altitude. This afternoon while I was taking my turn at wogging down the road, the mayor of Opal made a U-turn and came back to make sure I didn't need any help. I thought that was really nice of her. We chatted a bit, then she went on.

Some interesting mining info for the area.... with Jeff's reflection.

We are a day from a huge travel center called Little America, where we hope to find internet. And then we are 2 days from Rock Springs, which has a Walmart! Not that I routinely shop at Walmart, but most of these small towns have small grocery stores without the imagination that I am used to from Central Market in Texas! I really miss my Central Market.... I'm hoping that the Denver/Colorado Springs area will have a number of things. However, we are still 10 or more days from there.

Luckily we are not planning on too many days to get through Wyoming. I'm not sure what I can really say that is positive about Wyoming, other than it has Yellowstone Park, and Jackson, neither of which we visited on this trip. The thing that I can say has truly surprised me has been the mosquitoes! They are everywhere, and very hungry. They swarm on you, even with a good unhealthy dose of Off! It was quitting time, and I had gone down the road a few miles, as I usually do, while Jeff did the final run of the day. I found a nice place to park and sat here reading my book. Well, the phone rang and it was Jeff, wanting to know where the hell I was.... it was dusky and the mosquitoes were eating him alive! I started the RV and headed down the road to rescue him. He was only about 1/2 mile from me. When I pulled over, he ran up to the passenger door, just COVERED in mosquitoes, some dead and some not. It was quite disgusting, really. There were mosquito carcasses hanging on his Zensa's, on his legs, on his arms. The only place I think that escaped was his head! They really were biting through clothing, too. I covered myself with Off before going out to a rock outcropping to look for interesting rocks. They began to swarm my head, as I had not treated that. It was awful. They even bit the dogs. And the mosquitoes began being a problem as soon as we were a few miles into Wyoming. There were none that we noticed in Idaho. Really strange. I hope they go away soon!

 

Being in a town is a real boon for the Mailbox of the Day! Check this out!