'12/#25 Snow?!?!?!?!?

May 25th started like any other day for us. We woke up, showered, had breakfast, & got ready to head out to enjoy our days off. But as Mary stuck her head out the door she squealed with delight' "It's Snowing!". She hadn't seen a real snowfall sice she was 11 or 12 years old. That was over 30 years ago. She had never had the joy of digging out of a snow bank to get to work or even driving in snow. These are the reasons many of us move south. By 2pm the novelty had worn off & Mary was tired of the cold & wet.


With cameras in hand we headed out to document the weather. Now remember this is Memorial Day weekend. It's almost June & it is snowing. The locals tell us we can expect snow through the middle of June & they have experienced snow storms as late as the 4thof July!!! After dinner the snow had accumulated a bit & put that pictuesque winter frosting on everything in Cody including workcamper village.

It has been snowing for 2 days up in Yellowstone & the reports are that many of the roads are closed. Cody is at an elevation of 5000' & much of Yellowstone is above 7000' so the snow had not affected us until now. The mountain west of Cody is now covered with snow that was not there when we first arrived. Our truck, camper, & motorcycle are now getting snowed on for the first time. Thank goodness for our electric heaters & propane furnace not to mention our favorite....the electric blanket.

The next day most of the snow had melted but the weather was still cold & overcast. The temps have inched up into the low 40's & dropped overnight into the low to mid 30's. To think that a week ago we were wearing shorts in 80deg weather. Summer is comming soon & with it so will the tourists. Then we will be really busy, or so they say. For now we are just getting into the "groove" & learning our way around.

So until the weathers warms up or the next chance I blog, whichever comes first, goodbye from our snowy home in Cody WY because.......

Home ios where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#24 Yellowstone!!!!!

This past week we mainly worked & hung around town. We still did not have our truck back because Ford didn't want to send the parts to the dealer. Something about odometer readings. Anyway, the dealer got the parts on Friday & we had our truck back on Tuesday. That allowed us to make plans for our next days off.

Friday we got up & headed to Yellowstone. Finally!!! We wanted to get there before all the tourists & before it warmed up too much. Once it warms up & gets busy the critters of the forest head up into the mountains. Well we were rewarded for our patience. The weather wasn't the best but it made for an interesting day. First it was cold & cloudy. The clouds over the mountains made for some interesting pictures. Farther on Mary found snow & was playing in it like a little kid. The lake there was pretty much frozen over.

Like I said the weather was far from perfect & as we headed towards Lake Yellowstone it started to hail. Nothing major but just enough to make us laugh & wonder what was next. Well next was the geyser basin at West Thumb. Here we saw pools of bubbling water surrounded by snow next to a partially frozen lake with elk grazing 100' away. The bubbling water was actually boiling water with temps at the surface of  near 170 degrees! It was amazing, stunning, beautiful, & all those adjectives that people try to use to describe the indescribable. Words can't describe it & pictures do it no justice. This is one of those things that you have to see in person which is why we live this lifestyle.

After 3 cameras, 3 dead batteries, & close to 1000 pictures we headed home. We have our work cut out for us sorting through & posting all these photos. With more to sort & more to take on our next trip into Yellowstone this is goodbye until the next blog from our home in Cody WY because....

Home is where we park it,

Frank & Mary

'12/#23 Heeeere's Cody!

When ever we get to a new place we always ask for recomendations for shopping, laundr-o-mats, restaurants, haircuts, etc. All went well until the hairtcut topic came up. Everyone we asked said we should ask Jan & Don. We couldn't understand why. Were they the only ones who knew where the barbers were? Could it be they kept the locations of all the hair salons to themselves? Or were they the only ones with hair that grew??? No, it turns out that Don had his own barber shop & Jan had a beauty shop next door. After they retired the decided to keep their skills(& sissors) sharp by supplimenting their retirement by giving hair cuts to their fellow work campers. So for $10 we both got excellent hair cuts, good company, & a cup of coffee! How can you go wrong?

After the de-fur-ing we were invited to join them & another work camper couple for lunch at a local Chinese buffet. One of the things that is hard to come by & we miss dearly in our travels is good Chinese food. So when we get recommendations we check it out. As promised the food was delicious. Combine that with good company & our day off was going great. With our bellies full & our friends heading off to work we decided to check out the Cody WY scene.

The main street is Sheridan Ave & it is about 10 blocks long. Along this stretch are shops, restaurants, & local historical sights. We had a nice walk through town, did a little shopping &  a lot of browsing. We will be here all summer so we will have plenty of time to spend our work camping paychecks. We took our cameras so we can post the pictures I have been promising.

Right now I am blogging while Mary takes a nap. I guess the walk was too much for her. So enjoy the pics & until the next blog this is good bye from our home in Cody WY because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#22 Work, Weather, & Other Woes

The first day at work was as expected. We have all had that lost feeling on the first day. Fortunately everyone was very nice & helpful. It didn't take long to lose that feeling of uselessness & start feeling productive. Mary took to selling & cashiering quickly as she has done this many times before. I, on the other hand, have jumped right in to accepting freight, checking inventory, & pricing merchandise. This is all good news for Mary but I was hired for the front desk/bell hop job. Right now the cabins are empty & there is nothing for me to do on that front so I will have to train again for the next job. I don't mind, knowing several jobs makes me more useful & will keep me from getting bored doing the same thing all the time. Variety is the spice of life, right?

The weather had been nice for a few days. With sun shine & temps near 70deg it was very comfortable. Night time temps dropped to the low 50's but with the electric blanket we didn't have to turn the heat on. The heat goes on during our morning showers then we open the windows for the rest of the day. The wind still kicks up every now & then but nothing we can't handle as long as the awning isn't out. Today the sky stayed overcast & we had a little bit of rain. the temperature has steadily dropped from 52deg this morning to 44deg at 3:30 this afternoon. This front was expected & it should start to warm up again soon.

We have been having some water flow issues & I finally tracked it down to a bad water pressure regulator. These RV regulators are junk & don't seem to last especially in hard water. Traveling around the country you never know what kind of water you will find or what the pressure will be & this is some thing we need. I am looking into a better quality unit & will see what I can find. The truck, on the other hand is giving me fits. The battery dies over night & now the gauges don't work when I do get the truck started. I HATE electrical issues so it is going in the shop on Monday & hopefully it turns out not to be too big of a problem.

Mary has not felt good the past 24 hours so she is napping & if the weather clears I may take a walk & see if I can get some pictures of Cody to post. So until the next blog this is goodbye from our home here in Wyoming because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#21 First Day At Work

I know that the pictures I promised are not on-line yet. After 2 days of sorting, editing, & deleting we just couldn't look at them any more so it will have to wait a little longer. The truck is having some issues so it will go in the shop soon. Hopefully it just needs new batteries. Yes batteries, it has 2. Something about starting a big diesel & the fact that this particular chassis was designed to accommodate an ambulance body with all it's lights & accessories. For now I can use it locally & that is all we need.

The rest of the weekend we relaxed & got out the clothes we would need for our new jobs. Nothing special, but we did stock up with khakis to go with the uniform shirts they provide. Monday we went to HR to fill out all the paperwork needed for employment & to make sure Uncle Sam takes his bite out of our paychecks. The complex we are working at has 2 hotels, cabins, & gift shops. Mary will be working in the gift shop & I will be working there, the cabins, & "other duties as needed". As my Dad used to call it, "a jack of all trades & master of none". At least I will be busy, I won't get bored, & I'm sure the time will fly. Day 1 at the Buffalo Bill Village was interesting. Not a lot going on because the busy season doesn't start until June. Right now we are recieving inventory for the store & marking it for sale. We are also learning all the ins & outs of the job. First day jitters aside we had a good day. We caught on to the jobs quickly & met a bunch of nice people. It looks like we will have a good time here this summer. New friends, new things to see, & new adventures.

The weather here has been interesting. Temps have been consistantly in the 50's durring the day & dropping as low as 34deg at night. Mary has been surprizingly tolerant of the temperatures considering that she thinks anything below 65deg is dog sled weather. The one thing that has taken us back is the wind. There is no way we are putting our awning out. The winds have been so strong they rock the trailer. One night we put the sattelite down so it didn't rip it off the roof! We have been told that we can't go to Yellowstone or Beartooth Pass because they haven't plowed the snow on the roads yet!!! They say by the first of June it should be cleared but there could still be snow storms through the month of June!!!!!!!!! WHERE THE HECK ARE WE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh well, we said we wanted an adventure so stay tuned to see what we get into next. I'm signing off now having survived my first day of work here in Cody WY because.....


Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

'12/#20 Settling In & Settling Down

Cody WY is going to be home for a little while so it is time to settle in & after 26 days on the road we are looking forward to things settling down a bit. After getting the rig all hooked up we gave ourselves a self guided tour of the area. You know all the hot spots like the grocery stores, post office, drug stores, & Walmart. First things first in our new home. I also needed a home improvement / hardware store for a minor closet repair. It seems all the rough roads took a toll on the closet rod & all my clothes were on the floor. Well, we found everything & then some(more on this later). The only problem was the local mom&pop hardware stores in the area were both closed by 5pm. No Home Depot & no Lowes anywhere around. Fortunately Walmart had what I needed & all was right in the closet again.

Friday was a day to catch up with team photographer, Mary. Now if you have been following us at all the past few years you know that shutter-bug does not come close to describing Mary's talents. Not only does she take some awesome pictures from a moving vehicle she is quite prolific with the camera. I once talked about her taking 400 pictures a day in Maine, well she has out done herself. Between Douglas & Cody WY, a distance of about 250 miles & a span of 6 hours, she took close to(get ready) a thousand pictures. Yes, I said a thousand. That is a one with three zeroes. How you might ask does one take a thousand pictures? First you need 3 cameras, all with empty memory cards & fully charged batteries. Then you need a subject such as the Rocky Mts and/or the Wind River Canyon. And finally you need to be inspired. Duh, the Rockies!!!


 All I can say is click, click, click...."Oh crap, the battery is dead" & "Darn the memory card is full". We had stopped for lunch & Mary downloaded at least 1 memory card before we continued on our way. By the time we pulled into Cody she was complaining that her wrist & index finger was achy. Needless to say Friday was an all day affair going through all those pictures. Oh by the way, Mary decided she needed to organize & post pictures she had stored on her computer since OCTOBER! Our brains were fried by dinner time so we called it a day with the pictures. Soon they will be on FB & Mary is talking about putting together an on line album, so stay tuned.

I'll blog more later, but for now I can say we have met some very nice people already & are looking forward to exploring our new home here in Cody Wyoming because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Shutterbug Mary

'12/#19 We Made It & What A Trip

Leaving Colorado put us on the last 2 legs of our journey. We crossed the border into Wyoming & the excitement between us was starting to peak. We had one more overnight stay before arriving in Cody, our final destination. It has been nothing if not an interesting & challenging trip. With attack trees, blown tires, & self inflicted concussions, added to the people we have met & the country side we have seen there will be plenty to talk about around the campfire.

Our first stop in WY was in a little dot on the map called Douglas. There was a nice KOA there that suited our needs. Douglas also seems to be the home of the infamous & mythical Jackalope. Gluing antlers on the head of a stuffed rabbit is a desperate grab at notoriety. I was punished for making fun of the Jackalope the following day.

The next morning  the GPS pointed me to a direct route to the interstate. The road was smooth & we arrived at I-25 quickly. The only problem was the overpass with the 12'10" sign attached. Our trailer stands approximately 13'3" which meant getting on the interstate going the wrong way for about 5 miles. Then getting off at the next exit which did not have an off ramp-to-on-ramp transition. That meant driving off the highway to find a place to turn around, get back on I-25, & double back 5 more miles before we could continue on our way. My apologies the the spirit of the Jackalope, I have learned my lesson.

We stopped about 50 miles down the road to make our final fuel stop before the last 200 miles to Cody. With a full tank we were ready for the final leg of our journey. We were off the interstate & back to 2 lane roads. The roads took us through farm land, grazing pastures, & mountains. Did I say mountains? I mean lots of mountains. We were going over, around & through the Rockies. There were passes over 7000', canyons that would give a claustrophobic fits, & tunnels that made me glad we weren't more than 13'3". It was an amazing & beautiful journey.

That is enough for today. We have some chores to do after 26 days on the road & I will blog some more tomorrow. So goodnight from our home here in Cody WY(finally!) because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary