We are in the mountain time zone

We had a very relaxing day yesterday. I cleaned the entire trailer, including dusting, washing the floors, and washing the windows. It took me less than an hour to do that. (Amazing.) We spent a little more time at the pool. (As I spend more time in the pool I enjoy the water more and more.) The sun was out all day but it was windy. I took a walk around the entire campground - it is huge. I would love to bring grandson (and his parents if they are interested). He would so enjoy it in about 5 years.

I didn't sleep well last night - too much resting I think. So we were up early this morning and left early, heading west. South Dakota continued to be very touristy right to the border. I can't believe all of the things that they are using to get tourist money. But the scenery was gorgeous and Mt. Rushmore is worth seeing. (Bob says that Mt. Rushmore is just a hill of "beans." I don't know what that means, but he insisted that I include it in the blog and he thinks it is very funny. Weird husband.)

As soon as we crossed into Wyoming there were no more touristy things. In fact, there was very little. The landscape was green, but there was no water to be seen and very little development. It was fairly flat. Then suddenly you could see the mountains. These were the Bighorn Mountains. I had never heard of them. We turned off the interstate and started to cross the mountains. We climbed very steeply. Hank (the pickup) was struggling a little, but he did not overheat. We just slowed down some.

The views were gorgeous. This was one time when I really wished that I could paint or draw because photos just cannot capture the amazing sights and vistas. The ground is mostly rocky and there were regular signs identifying the type of rocks and their ages, ranging from millions to billions of years. The strata were beautiful and often included streaks of red or orange. As we got on the other side we were in a gorge with sheer walls of the most beautiful rock formations. We wanted to stop, but this was a narrow road and a 9% downgrade so we thought it might not be a good idea.

We then went through a high plateau that was very flat. There were some small rivers and some agriculture. At the end of the plateau we started up the foothills of the Rockies. This was designated in our map as one of the most scenic rides. At first there was not much to see. Then as we got closer there were amazing rock formations and mesas. (We had been listening to an audio book and had to turn it off to watch.)

I realized as we were driving that one big advantage of blogging is that I do not just watch the scenery go by. I look at it and try to use words to describe what I am seeing and feeling. That helps me to really see it and to think about what I am seeing.

We were luckier on weather today than usual. As we were driving along the plateau I could see a huge black cloud that was obviously raining and it looked like it was right over where we were headed. But the wind was strong and it blew the cloud further east before we got there. We are currently in Cody Wyoming, the sky is beautiful blue, and it is 90 degrees with 11% humidity. We are in a WalMart parking lot. (This is very easy and inexpensive. I have now learned to look up which towns have WalMarts so that we do not have to guess.) There are already 15 rvs in this parking lot and they keep pulling in. If everybody buys something from WalMart when they stop here, it is a good business idea. I really tried not to buy from WalMart before we started spending the nights here.

Lots of driving today and Bob is quite tired, partly becuase of the higher altitude here. But we both enjoyed the day. I really like the west (better than the east). I like the scenery, the people to tree ratio, and the pace of life. Hmmm.