Wind, Snow and Waterfalls

 

I continued across Nebraska and spent the weekend at a lovely little place called Oliver Reservoir Recreation Area. It was off-grid so I had a chance to further explore my new solar system. I have to admit, I'm pretty happy with it. The best thing is that I have confidence in it now. One less worry to deal with.

My View

After an idyllic weekend, I finally left Nebraska and headed into Wyoming. I was a little bit worried about the wind.. It was out of the west, so it was a direct head wind. I could tell as my gas mileage really started to tank. Then I saw on the electronic signs that they had “Warning – Extreme Winds 40+ mph – Gusts 60+ mph. I would normally never ever drive with winds like this, but to tell you the truth, I couldn't really tell they were so bad. My rig pulled unbelievably easy. To add insult to injury though, as I drove up the Lincoln Highway and got some altitude, Ms. Weather had the audacity to start snowing.

I got to Rawlins, Wyoming. I had planned to get full hookups and do laundry plus some other chores. Plans change. I could barely get my truck doors closed, the wind was so strong. I hooked up my electric, moved the animals into the camper and settled in while the camper rocked and rolled all night long.

Speaking of plans changed, I had planned to head to Salt Lake City. I was looking at a map and saw that I could just as easily head down into Colorado and see my son, Nate. He lives in Breckinridge and he drove a couple of hours to come and spend the day with me. I was thrilled. I was at Rifle Gap State Park.  The park was aptly named as it was hunting season and you could hear shots off in the distance.  After eating some lunch, we went four miles up the road to Rifle Falls State Park to see waterfalls!!!! My first waterfalls on this trip.  We saw the falls, both from the bottom and then we hiked up to the top.  Seeing my son and waterfalls - life just doesn't get any better than this.  

Rifle Gap

The Campground
I'm at the far left
 

The Great Plains Calleth

 

Usually I can hardly wait to get on the road. It calls to me – it's exciting, dare I even say thrilling? This year not so much. Being cooped up since February has become a way of life. Ennui has set in. Everything seems to be an effort. Staring off into space , doing nothing has become the new normal for me

I decided that I had to shake things up. Do the proverbial 'Kick In The Ass' and motivate. Onward!!

Day 1: Stayed at Pottawattamie County Fairgrounds in Avoca Iowa. I only mention this because:

   a. I like the way the name rolls off the tongue. It is one of those verbally fun words.

   b. I lost a set of keys to the RV. This is the 2^nd set of keys to the Camper I've Lost. Can we say Space Cadet?

Pottawattaie County Fairgrounds 

Day 2: I actually get up early, ready to start the day. Dog walked – check. Camper ready to roll – check. I drive about 3 miles and turn onto the westward entrance ramp to I80. I look back and there is a massive amount of smoke coming off the wheel on the camper's driver's side. I immediately pull over. The hub on the wheel is hot. I have roadside assistance, so no problem. The Dispatch Center tells me that probably a wheel bearing froze up. They will have to tow it 50 miles to Omaha. They will also need to get a LowBoy tow vehicle because the camper is 13' tall. A LowBoy is one of those trailers that have a huge drop in the deck height to allow them to transport tall objects. Where are we going to get one of those in rural Iowa? Luckily, they find a mobile tech to come out. Juan was a nice guy. We try to move the camper over a little farther off the road but the wheels are totally locked up. It won't go forward or backwards. What to do? Well, let me tell you. There is a wire that is connected to the brake system in the camper and also to the truck. If, for some reason, the camper gets disconnected from the truck, this wire pulls out from the camper, locking all the brakes. Somehow, that wire had disconnected from the truck, perhaps when I turned onto the freeway? Plugged that sucker back in and all is working. I had Juan take the offending tire off and check to make sure that I hadn't burned bearings or brakes or whatever goes on inside a wheel. I got charged $450 for that little bit of effort. At this point I had spent 4 hours on the side of the freeway being buffeted by all those huge semis – I was in a weakened state. I guess it is a new definition for Highway Robbery. I can tell you one thing though, checking that that wire is connected will be part of my departure checklist.

Day 3: Found my lost keys – I am not going to say where because it would be definite proof that I really am losing it. There were no issues on today's drive. I think I'm very very slowly getting my travel chops back. I decided that I am really going to shorten the amount of time on the road. I have no place to be, no timetable to follow. The animals (Jogger and Miko) get a little stressed out with long hours, so why not take it easy?

I joined an organization called Harvest Hosts. You pay a yearly fee and you can camp at one of their participating sites for free. Most of their sites are farms, distilleries or ...wait for it – wineries. Is this my type of organization or what? There are also various other types of attractions that participate.

I ended up today in North Platte Nebraska at a Harvest Host site, boondocking at the Golden Spike Tower. This tower overlooks the World's Largest Rail Yard which is run by the Union Pacific Railroad.

From the website:  ...reaching a total length of eight miles. ….Each day, Bailey Yard manages 10,000 railroad cars.

The coolest sight was what they called the Hump. An engine pushes a train up a slight incline. At the top, a person disconnects the car from the train, and pulls a lever switching the track for that particular car. The car then rolls downhill, all on its own and connects to whatever new train that will take it to its new destination. It was sort of eerie seeing loose railroad cars sliding down a hill all on their own.

There I am - nothing but corn all around. 
Can we say 'Children of the Corn'?

Golden Spike Tower

It is hard to get a grasp on the whole scoop of the place in a picture

Now I can feel confident in my train dining manners. 

The Lake Is Always Greener On The Other Side

And as we leave Maine, I wanted to do a shout out to a place where I spent almost every day while I was in Maine. Thank you C-Ray's for indulging me with many, many lobster rolls. 

Outdoor dining at it's finest

I also need to shout out to one of my camping neighbors who gifted me with a can of Rose wine. What will they think of next? Wine in a can! Of course I tried sipping it straight out of the can but that was just wrong. I had to pour it into a glass. Once I got past the horror of it all, it was pretty ok wine.

After leaving Maine, I started moving lickety split cross country. Places to go, people to see. I spent one night at Green Lakes State Park which is just south of Buffalo, New York. Green Lakes State Park's claim to fame is.....Green Lakes. There are two glacial lakes that are 'meromictic lakes which means that there is no fall or spring mixing of surface and bottom waters. Such lakes have a high potential for evidence of ancient plant and animal life.' (Green Lakes website). Because of my limited time, I only hiked around Round Lake and totally missed the lake called Green Lake. I love it when the water is so still that you can see the reflection of the trees in the water and it is hard to tell what is shoreline and what is water.

Of course we do have to end with a pet photo.  For some reason, Jogger loves to sit in the shower.  Doesn't matter if the shower is on or if it is off.  Many times I have had to remove him, dripping wet, out of the shower so I can get in there.  He loves it in there.

A Little Bit of Flowery Display

Thuya Gardens is close to Northeast Harbor. It was formally established and built from 1956 to 1961. I went there not expecting to see much in the way of blooms because it was getting to be very late in September. I was wrong. The dahlias were in bloom plus many others that I did not know.  Following are just pictures of flowers to try to chase away the weather doom and gloom that has descended again on the citizens of my home state Minnesota.

One of the gates into the gardens

This sign was the cause of great disappointment on my part.  

I had planned all sorts of shenanigans and general tomfoolery.

Those yellow flowers were a lot taller than me

To get to Thuya Gardens you have to ascend a narrow, curvy, one lane road with a drop off on one side and a hill on the other. If you meet a car, one of you has to back up until you find a wide spot in the road. When I saw a car leaving just before me, I quick got behind them because I figured if we met anybody on the road, the car meeting us would back up because two is bigger than one.  The plan worked.

Good Job Mr. Rockefeller

Acadia National Park was created in part by land and other donations by John D. Rockefeller Jr. Between 1919 and 1931, Rockefeller, who was opposed to the introduction of automobiles on the island, personally oversaw the construction of a network of carriage roads which were closed to those new fangle automobiles. These roads contained sixteen granite bridges and two gatehouses. I took a Ranger led walk to hear about the carriage roads and see two of these bridges.

The bridges were specifically designed to blend into the landscape in an organic manner, and are sited so that they may be used as viewing platforms for the scenery and so that they may themselves be viewed. (Wikipedia). Each bridge is different and somewhere on the bridge is a date stone telling us when the bridge was built.

Hard to see but there is a small waterfall in the background that Rockefeller specifically wanted to frame with the bridge

Some weird mushrooms on the hike

I should probably look up the names of these mushrooms  

After my Ranger walk I headed over to the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor. This is one of the other premier places on the island where you can get popovers. I feel a little funny just ordering popovers, so I also ordered Lobster Stew because, well, just because. The popovers not only came with butter and strawberry jam as spreads, but for an added charge you could get blueberry jam or chocolate, or cinnamon butter or one other spread that I don't remember beyond it had something to do with lemon.

I wasn't shy and I ordered all of the spreads. 

I think my Lobster Stew was mostly butter and milk but it was yummy

My outside dining view of the harbor

Another Lovely Day

Halfway around the Park Loop Road stands Jordan Pond House on the shores of Jordan Pond. Jordan Pond is a mountain lake with clear water that has visibility normally down to 44 feet. You are not allowed to go into the water because it is the water supply for the town of Seal Harbor. They say that the lake was formed by the Wisconsin Ice Sheet during the last glacial period. Question: What is the Wisconsin Ice Sheet doing in Maine? Asking for a friend. Anyways, on the west side of the lake is Penobscot Mountain and on the east is Pemetic Mountain. On the north side of the lake are The Bubbles, two mounds that are evidently not big enough to be classified as Mountains. 

A view of The Bubbles on the north side of the lake

The plan is to hike the Jordan Pond Trail which is 3.6 miles long around the lake. The east side of the lake is a lovely flat trail, shaded and right next to the lake.

One little tree not afraid to make the jump into fall

The west side of the lake involves a little bit of rock scrambling and walking the plank. Excuse me, they call it a boardwalk which I guess it is. It was great fun when you met somebody coming the other way. Can we say 'up close and personal'?

The Boardwalk

While the hike around the lake was lovely, the real draw for me was the Jordan Pond House. This has been in use as a restaurant almost continuously since 1870, almost a century and half ago. The restaurant became a regular location for high society events. All the fancy ladies would leave their 'cottages' and come to the Jordan Pond House for popovers and sipping their tea on the front lawn as they took in the view. Have I mentioned how popovers rank up there as one of my most favorite foods? Miko and I (yes, they are dog friendly here) sat on the front lawn enjoying the view as I scarfed down several popovers. 

Sipping tea on the front lawn

We also drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. This peak is 1,530 feet tall and is the tallest peak within 25 miles of the shoreline of the North American continent. There must be a taller mountain that is 26 miles from the shoreline. It is also supposed to be the first place in the U.S. to see the sunrise. I just have to take their word for it because sunrises are not something in my repertoire. I'm sure that on a clear day the views are amazing but it was very hazy when we were up there. 

Cool sailboat