The Dreaded Drive Back
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2010
1
60
61
Trip End
Ongoing
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Leaving Boulder and on to Cheyenne.
Wordy Version:
I guess one other noteworthy weather related comment about Boulder was that during the night the wind picked up from the 20 MPH it was blowing when we got there to gusts of 40 MPH. Even with the stabilizer jacks down, this was not only rocking our rig, but it was playing havoc with our slide out awnings. This wind thing was serious enough that at 3:30 AM, I decided we needed to retract the slides; while this is not an extremely time consuming thing, it is noisy because we have to start the vehicle. We got the slides retracted and then had to figure out a way to go back to bed with the bedroom slide fully retracted (it's been working perfectly since our repair at Poulsbo RV in Kent, WA). We had never thought about this scenario before, but it worked out just fine; it was a little short for me but Karen found she could still fully stretch out.
Well, the wind continued to blow the remainder of the night and all the next day while driving; this was not a helpful wind at all. I don’t know how many times I found myself checking the emergency brake to see if it was on or to see if we were dragging an anchor. Of course this slow driving was through some really featureless countryside; there were just miles and miles of sage brush prairie and five strand barbwire fence. About the only thing of mention was that about midway along the 351 mile drive to Cheyenne, the scenery changed to sage brush prairie, five strand barbwire fence and an occasional bluff, butte, plateau or mesa.
Checking the Woodall’s, we decided to pull in to the A.B. Camping RV Park in Cheyenne because it was just about supper time. After wrestling with the wind and the RV all day, neither of us was in any mood to cook. It just happens that the owners of this RV park also have a BBQ catering service and they have been wise enough to build their own dining room onsite to serve the hungry traveler. I don’t know if it was our attitude or the powerful BBQ smell drifting through the park, but there was no question what we were having for supper. The BBQ beef was good, the baked beans flavorful, but their coleslaw was tasteless; we passed on the deserts (since there were no cinnamon rolls). All in all, I would say the $7/pp plate supper was worth the price if just for the convenience; the remainder of the park facilities were good so I would say we would stop here again if we were ever back this direction.
