Weather...or not!

The weather has been bizarre and, though not violent, there seems to be a something ominous going on out here.  It's making me wary.

Here is a photo of a perfect day in Springville, UT where I hung out for 7 days so that two threatening weather fronts could pass out of the areas where I was headed-northern Utah and SE Wyoming.  But, within hours of this photo, the storms were so nasty I brought my slides in, like a turtle withdrawing inside its shell.

Friday, I traveled out of the Salt Lake City area into a temporary weather clearing, aware that another low pressure was going to hit sometime on Saturday for the next 3 days--bad news for people with Memorial Day plans.   

I boondocked in a truckers' lot between the Comfort Inn (decent wifi signal) and a business establishment named Romantix "Your Pleasure is our Passion"-a popular gathering place for truckers to rest and engage in some fantasy.  Great spot--I did not peek my head out so it was assumed I was parked for the fantasy and was not bothered.
 
I have been keeping a very close eye on the weather, as it is, to some extent, defining my trip.  I see engorged streams overflowing their banks as I drive.  Submerged grasses and partially submerged trees--nature has created ponds where there were none before.  Water gushes in torrents and in some places, the swollen creeks threaten to overtake the roadways. 

 On Saturday, weather dot com predicted that Yellowstone NP would get up to 15" of snow on Sun/Mon.  Eek!  This was where I planned to be on Monday!

Hmmmm...I said.  I need to detour and hide out in the valley for a couple days.    

The drive over the Teton Pass-with hazard flashers on all the way up the 10% steep grade-was slow and gorgeous--sunny and mild even at that high elevation.

There appeared to be a ski mountain that had no chair lifts and probably only accessible by helicopter.  See the ski tracks?

  

As I crossed the Teton Pass and descended into the valley, I saw a King of a Bull Moose! Moose are pretty elusive creatures, hanging out in weedy creek pools in the early morning and then disappearing until twiglight.  This Badboy was out in the open in mid-afternoon just munching and watching the hiway.  I saw this mammoth hulk from "way back" but couldn't tell if it was a bear or a huge elk (since this is also elk territory).   



I slid to a stop, hit the Flashers, grabbed my camera and watched him munch.   Made a few moose noises to get him to raise his head up but I guess I wasn't sufficiently moose-like in my vocals.   He had an incredible antler span of maybe 4'.  Actually, I passed within a few miles of a town named Moose, WY and, Wyoming is the 3rd most populous state for moose after Alaska and Maine, so I probably should not have been so surprised.  But, it's kind of like baggin' your first grizzly--it is so exciting to my Inner Mountain Woman!

So, here I am in Teton Valley in a campground just over the Teton Pass in Victor ID.

There is a large meadow adjacent to the campground where dogs are allowed to run free--Oh Happy Days!

It is now Sunday morning and, at this very minute, (as predicted) it is snowing buckets and is quite beautiful.  Cassie and I are having our morning cuppa joe in front of my fireplace heater and are quite cozy.


At some point, the dog needs to "go" so I bundled up in my fleece-lined booties and gloves and opened the door of the RV for Cassie to jump out.  She actually had a question mark hovering over her head as she looked back up at me when she saw the white stuff.  But, I encouraged her out and she took the leap of faith.  

Soon, she embraced her Inner SledDog and raced around in excited circles through the snow in a fashion reminiscent of post-bath "crazy dog" and got completely soaked.  She is smiling in this photo.

Here is a photo of us after I gave her a partial "snow bath" to wash off some of the debris she "snowplowed" up and squiggled in.  ("Squiggling" and "wiggling" are related but squiggling is more of a motion where the top half goes east as the bottom half goes west.)


Upon arrival at my campground,  and a nice man helped me park my rig.  We chatted a few and I took Cassie out into a big open field so she could run off-leash.  The man soon returned.  He asked me if I wanted to go into town for "a burger and a beer" the main diet of people who live in Victor.  And, I agreed.  

We went to a place called the Grumpy's Goat Shack "We have the Biggest Weenies & the Hottest Buns in Town!".   Here is a link about the goats. 
Goats and Related Stuff
 

It is housed in a small garage with 6 barstools and  an assortment of attractive size 5 thongs and bras plasters the ceiling.  (Apparently, there was a house rule that underwear was not permitted and was collected at the door and displayed from the ceiling.)  The Soup of the Day was always...a drink.  Today's soup selection was margaritas.  

Most seating was outdoors with an outside fireplace and goats behind the shed awaiting restaurant patron handouts.  In the warm sunshine with the majestic Tetons gleaming in the background, I had a lovely time eating Meat and Hot Food and drinking wine with my new friend, Kent.  I took a couple pics but you might find this hard to believe--I accidentally erased them from my camera and had to get these pics from the ole goat's website!  I was shocked.  This never happens.  It must be the altitude...

Kent asked me to be his guest at the Memorial Day Staff picnic and of course, I said OK.  He is a fulltime Workkamper and goes wherever there is work and good weather.  And then he started telling me stories--Workkampers always have many good stories-made even better with Goats do Roam South African Red wine!  So, this is shaping up to be a very interesting little side trip!