2018-18
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| Old town, Rock Springs, Wy playing miniature golf |
Rock Springs Wyoming
Kemmerer Wyoming
Pinedale Wyoming
Campground:
Sweetwater Events Complex, Rock Springs Wy. $23.80 after 15%
discount, regular price $25.00 Full hookups. Rodeo, Fairgrounds
type location.
Campground:
Foothills Rv Park, Kemmerer WY. $25 fullhookups 50 amp. Basic,
grassy sites, some with picnic table. No Shade. Good for an
overnight stop.
Campground: Fremont
Lake Campground. National Forest, no hookups. Paved road in with a
couple big potholes. Campground has new pavement and paved sites on
lower loop. Water and pit toilets. $$12 regular, $6 Senior.
I’m in the Rock
Springs area for approx. a week. It was originally a coal mining
town and railroad town as well. Highway I-80 runs through it which
is the original Lincoln Highway, the first official highway going
from the east Coast (New York City to California), not as famous as
route 66, but still worthy of spending some time touring at least
parts of the Lincoln Highway. It was also the crossroads for many of
the various wagon train routes bringing settlers out west.
Speaking of coal, it
was mined underground until that form of coal mining became too
expensive. The town itself is lined with coal tunnels running
underneath the town and surrounding area. They eventually mixed
sand/concrete in a slurry and pumped it down into the mine tunnels to
prevent any more tunnels collapsing, especially since a number of
home disappeared after a tunnel collapsed.
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| the Reliance Mine Tipple |
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| a bit windy for Mr Owl |
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| coal mine workers would separate coal into size categories the coal would be shaken on screens, creating much dust |
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| workers in the tipple often could not see their fellow workers next to them due to the coal dust in the air |
I visited the town
Art Museum that got it’s start in the local High-school, where the
students saved money to purchase art for the schools walls. The
paintings were eventually moved into the library/art museum so the
whole community could enjoy the art. They have an unusual collection
of original art including many regional artists on display, well
worth taking the time to explore the collection. I wasn’t
permitted to take any pictures, sorry.
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| I did take one picture in the stairwell, an odd entry to the Art Museum |
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| the Art Museum can be entered thru the Library, which would be more appropriate |
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| since the art museum was added to the library this is the "main" entry to the art museum a bit funky.... |
One of the stories
told in a large painting is of the Chinese Rebellion. Now the
Chinese workers building and repairing the railroads were not
rebelling, it was the White Americans and Irish who rebelled against
the Chinese. Mainly because the Chinese would work for less money
building the railroads. The Chinese had their entire community
destroyed, killing mostly men, as there was only one woman in the
community at the time this all occurred. I was told some were able
to go north a ways to the small settlement of Eden where they had a
Chinese temple/church that took them in and protected those that were
able to make it there. Just a note, the local history museum had no
information on it, but the new Art Museum had as I say a large
painting depicting the tragic event. Another large scandalous
painting was hidden from view for many years, but is now on display…
you’ll have to come to the museum to see it, oh my.
Well on Wednesday I
was able to bring my truck into have the new “brake controller”
installed. It’s a digital version that lets me see exactly what
settings the brake controller is set too. The local Ford, Chevy and
Rv dealer owns all of these businesses, and I ended up going the the
Ford dealer to have the brake controller installed. Total Cost:
$151.00 Very reasonable as they charged me the internet price for
the controller and the labor was very reasonable. This controller is
designed to use the trailer brakes first when lightly tapping on the
brakes, which will be excellent when going down steep grades.
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| new brake controller with digital readout |
Distance Traveled: 90 miles
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| the Original J.C. Penny in Kemmerer WY |
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| 1902, J.C. Penny |
Since I didn’t get
on the road till mid morning, I only went the 90 miles to the little
town of Kemmerer, home of the very first J.C. Penny store and small
home of James Cash Penny and family. What a cool find. By the way,
the original store is still in operation (actually the third one in
this location). I toured the store which has tons of discount and
special buys on clothing. I had to buy a couple of items. Original
cost: $84.00, I paid after all the discounts: $8.80. What a deal.
I saw a few shoppers leave with bags full of stuff. Touring the
small house Mr Penny had built, one year after starting business in
this little town, was pretty special. It has been faithfully
restored and the tours are free. The town is also noted for the
fossils found in the area. I was able to go into a very nice store
selling much of the fossilized fish, leaves etc. The local Fossil
Country Frontier Museum was closed (Mon/Tues/Wed), but one can also
go to Fossil Butte National Monument about 13 miles out of town.
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| the J.C. Penny home built one year after the opening of the 1st store |
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| Doug in front of J.C. Penny small cottage home |
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| the area is noted for the fossilize plants and fish found in the quarries |
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| these are all on display and for sale in the retail store as the museum wasn't opened the day I went through town |
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| very reasonable prices, should have purchased one |
Distance Traveled: 112 miles
Getting to Pinedale
along 189 then 191 a short ways was pleasant. No big grades to
overcome, lots of wide open spaces, cattle ranches on prairie grass
lands often covered with sage. Rivers flowing to capacity. Lots of
Prong horn Antelope. Pinedale is 96 miles to the Grand Teton
National Park, my next destination, but a million miles from the
crowds. Population, 1,800 along with a few moose that live in town
as well. They have a couple of parks that boarder the Pine Creek,
flowing swiftly from all the winter snow run-off. I toured the CCC
ponds and saw one moose this morning.
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| a small dam used to divert the water to irrigation canals and the CCC Ponds |
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| CCC ponds, where I saw the Moose |
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| wonderful crystal clear Mt snow fed rivers |
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| CCC ponds |
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| Images of Fremont Lake, where I am camping this week |
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| boat dock on Fremont Lake |
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| no hookups, but paved pad and wonderful views |
It can be a
challenge to find a restaurant with reasonable prices. Most in town
start with $10 hamburgers and go up from there. It’s not unusual
to pay $15-16 for a salad. The Wrangler Cafe had a good price on a
lunch special. And at the Conoco Gas Station, Obo’s market and
deli inside has a few good deals. The best being their Seattle’s
Best Coffee, small cup for 89c. Don’t tell anyone, but I would
have paid double for it…. Awesome good coffee.
One of the visitor
center workers told me that a Mother Moose has lived in town for
years and a year ago had twins. This year, she and the twins walked
through town from the river park, sat down on the Library lawn and
stayed there the entire afternoon.
The town is in good
shape, catering to the tourist of course as well as the local
ranchers and farmers. The growing season doesn’t begin until
Fathers day, the middle of June. I talked to a number of locals who
say they don’t even plant their flower gardens and put out hanging
flower baskets until then as a freeze could ruin the tender plants.
It’s a very short growing season.
I’m on one of the
glacier created lakes, with the land scoured by those glaciers
thousands of years ago, depositing large boulders and rocks
everywhere. Fremont Lake is one of those glacier created lakes, 9
miles long, 1 mile wide and 400 feet deep. Lake fishing and fly
fishing are very popular around here.
I’ll visit the
Mountain Man Museum. The Upper green River rendezvous outside of
Daniel Wy is where the hunters and trappers would converge to sell
their beaver pelts and furs after the winter hunting season was
complete. A time to get to meet up with friends and fellow trappers,
telling stories of their adventures before going off again on their
lonely trek into the wilderness.
I drove back to
Daniel to take a few pictures of an old Motor Court motel, along with
the original Daniel post office and gas station. They are all in
ruin and won’t be standing all that much longer. When cars became
popular and folks started vacationing and traveling far distances,
these motels with a carport next to each cabin were very popular.
I’ve seen some really nice restored Motor Courts, this isn’t one
of them, but does still have that charm of bygone adventures for the
first automobile travelers.
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| the motor court, post office and gas station Daniel WY |
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| one of the first motor courts, once travel by car became popular |
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| old motor court, each cabin with a carport |
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| Daniel Wy, old gas station |
Winters can be
brutal in this area. They tell me this past winter wasn’t too bad,
but the previous winter they had temperatures drop below
40 degree. Today, Saturday is will be 70-46 degrees, Sunday 62-44
degrees with thunderstorms.
More photos
Kemmerer WY (original J.C. Penny store, still in operation, great bargains)
Pinedale WY (including pics from Daniel WY)
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