Wednesday, June 20, 2018

The Great Escape - Day 1: Vedauwoo Campground and a couple of Monuments

Day one of a trip that will have us crossing the country into the NW corner of the State of Washington by RV, sailing to Alaska by cruise ship and flying back to WA from Fairbanks.

We drove Umarang, the URRV, north from the Denver Metro Cesspool using I-25 to cross into Wyoming and heading west on I-80.

We kept it a short driving day, a little over 3 hours and found us a nice dry campsite at the Vedauboo Campground right off exit 329 along the I-80 super slab.

Work and relaxation was the order of the afternoon as Martha, Patrick and I worked out the logistics of setting up the RV for the night. 

Even found, with enough sunlight, the HF solar panels can provide enough power to the inverter to power the LED TV and we watched a little bit of a downloaded movie using Patrick's laptop.

Martha and I also hiked around the campground area as there's cool rock formations and trails to be enjoyed.




As the golden hour approached, Martha and I headed out on Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig to search for a sunset spot.

Mistakenly I chose to head west on I-80, completely missing the turn for Blair road which is a better way to cruise west instead of the super slab!  Still, the next exit was exit 323 and we paid a brief visit to the Lincoln Highway Memorial, a monument to Abraham Lincoln for his 150th birthday.

The head originally stood at the highest point of the coast to coast Lincoln Highway.



We took FR 709 back towards our campsite, a nice dirt road that somewhat parallels the I-80 super slab and is much more enjoyable a road.  Heavily wooded on both sides, we could see the rock formations near our campsite for guidance and ended up crossing under I-80 and near the Ames Monument as sunset approached.

I figured on using the Ames Monument as a foreground object along with Scarlett and Martha:






We rode back to camp, crossing under I-80 once more at the 329 exit and were soon back with Uma and Patrick.

This is what we saw as we dismounted from Scarlett, right at the campsite.


An easy first day of travel, no rush, we don't check-in to Colter Bay RV Park inside the Grand Teton National Park until Friday this week.

6 comments:

Bluekat said...

Road trip yay! Interesting rock formations on your hike. The Ames Monument. My ex-boss was an Ames. He was very proud of his heritage in the formation of this country. Politics, Ames shovels, railroads. He sometimes drove us crazy with it. Even his wife would get exasperated at times. I envy you guys going off on a trip. Sounds exciting and I look forward to the pics!

RichardM said...

A great start to your adventure!

MotoVentures said...

Great images of Ames & Vedauwoo! I lived in Cheyenne for a few years and enjoyed regular trips to there...such a beautiful area!

Coop a.k.a. Coopdway said...

Dom, I’ve read about those places, thanks for beautifully taking me there.

SonjaM said...

I very much like the pace of your journey, Dom. Pictures get a different dynamics with Martha in it. Between the huge boulders, just to put these things into perspective. Nicely done. Ames Monument looks like a strange pyramid. Can't pick a favourite picture this time... I really like them all. Looking forward to your road trip report.

redlegsrides said...

Thanks Kari, we'll do our best to not be boring with the pics.

RichardM, yes, a great start.

Motoventures, thanks!

Coop, there's definitely stuff to see in Wyoming but there's also the wind and long stretches of flat plains.....

SonjaM, thanks for the comments...and yes, Martha changes the usual dynamics.