Landing in Lander

Lander, WY

We've finished our 3rd week here in Lander and have 1 more left to go. By this time next Saturday we'll be on our way to our next destination. Want to know where we're going next? Well you'll just have to read the next blog to find out!




We've had a great time here in Lander with a few more amenities than our last location. Lander has a population of over 7000, so there are a few more restaurants and shopping venues.

The first weekend Joan & I decided to ride the motorcycles to nearby Sink Canyon. Great biking road close to town, great pavement and spectacular scenery with some switchbacks up to the top of the mountains. We stopped at 2 overlooks on the way to the top, but ran into a small problem. When we got ready to leave the 2nd overlook Joan's bike wouldn't start....no lights...no nothin! After trying several different things to see if I could identify the problem we determined that I would need to get the trailer to bring the bike home. Since we were up the mountain a couple miles Joan road my bike down to the base while I coasted down on hers. That's a pretty cool experience, just rolling down the mountain with no motor noise, just the wind in your face....don't worry, the brakes still work even without the motor. We parked her bike and rode double back to the campground, picked up a trailer with the jeep and returned to the bike. Dropped the bike off at a motorcycle shop and it was ready the next day.....bad battery. Usually I would replace the battery when it started acting up, or jumped it off; but the no lights, no ignition, no clicks, no nuthin' thing threw me off when I was trying to figure it out.

We took a day trip over to Teton National Park near Jackson, WY to see our friends and potential co-workers Dan & Jonelle of Liv2RV. They're working near Yellowstone this summer and considering trying out our job next year. Dave & Maxine went with us and we got to see Steve & Teresa  (co workers from our summer in Colorado 2013) and Al & Karen of Wish Upon an RV Star. We had a great time catching up and driving through Teton NP.

The nearby city of Riverton held their 35th Annual Balloon Fest the next weekend and Dave & Maxine joined us at 5:30am Saturday morning as we drove to see the 6:30am launch. About 13 different balloons were on hand, but strong winds and forecasted storms prevented the balloons from launching.






We continue to see many unusual things as we drive the BLM roads throughout our work areas.....

We think this was originally a dually truck; re-engineered into a hay bale forklift???











One of our teams utilize offroad motorbikes to access roads too narrow or challenging for our jeeps. At one stop in the middle of nowhere they stumbled across these unusual pliers....anyone have any idea exactly what kind of pliers they are? Or what they were used for?










Notice anything unusual about this picture?
I've driven cars, RVs and motorcycles for 44 years. The 1st 41 years driving in Florida and the southeastern US without a single windshield chip or crack. The last 3 years driving out west we've had 6 rock chips, including this one that required a windshield replacement.

And there are always the everyday challenges of driving off road...never saw this one coming, but we were almost at a dead stop when the front tire slipped off into this little washout...startled Joan when she looked out her window and said "It's 10 feet deep!" A little adrenaline there as it was only a couple feet deep.




Never fear, even with the right front and left rear tires off the ground, once we engaged the lockers Joan backed out of the hole as if we were on level pavement.




But these kind of problems are no big deal
considering the benefits of our job.....

Well, that's it for now. Stay Tuned. More to Come!