Mountain Man Museum

As we left our campground this morning north of Jackson, WY. we had to wait for a herd of buffalo crossing the road.  They were on their way for a morning drink in the Gros Ventre River.  While we were stopped, one buffalo decided to take a dump right in front of us.  Darlie had to take his picture, of course.

Our route was to take us south to Rock Springs then on to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.  The first hundred miles of the trip was just beautiful.  Green mountains rose of from rushing turquoise streams.  We drove along slowly taking it all in.

We stopped at the Mountain Man Museum in Pinedale, WY.  Pinedale was the location of several of the rendevous held by the fur trappers and traders back in the 1820s and 30s.  Reading stories of the moutain men has always been of great interest to me.  The mountain men were beaver trappers who inadvertently explored the Rockies and established trails that would later be followed by settlers on the Oregon Trail.

Darlie paying a visit to her western relatives.

The museum does not allow photography so I can't show you all the wonderful displays they had there.  Many of the items have been donated by families of early settlers who have had the items handed down to them.  Many of the artifacts are in near original condition.  They also show a 20 minute video that gives a bit of mountain man history.  For those not familiar with the mountain men, it gives a good overall account of their lives and contribution to the expansion of the country.

Darlie wanted this little bird on the blog.

South of Pinedale we entered a desert.  Neither of us like the desert.  We crossed a portion of the Great Basin.  I always pictured it as being a lush grassy plain watered by far away mountain streams.  No so.  It is dirt, rocks and sage brush.  Not an appealing mix.

This had to be real boring land for the settlers to have to cross.  But more importantly, it lacked the water they needed for their travels.  I imagine many people and livestock perished out there.

Tonight we are camped at a NFS campground in Flaming Gorge NRA.  It is a very pictureque setting.  There is a thunderstorm overhead but no rain makes it to the ground.  The air is too dry.  The rain evaporates before it gets down to us.  A few drops would wash some of the layer of dust off the old bread truck.

When I was at the Workhorse dealer in Spokane to have my ignition switch replaced, the mechanic told me the chassis my motor home sits on was also used for a bread truck.  I was not far off by saying driving this was like driving a bread truck.  Workhorse no longer makes this chassis because GM discontinued the mighty 8.1 liter Vortex engine.  There is no gasoline engine large enough to do the job.  Now all Workhorse chassises are diesel.  I know you could care less but it fills up space so I could put a photo of Buddy here.

Buddy taking a nap on Darlie's lap.

Darlie just went out and took some sunset photos.  I have to include one of those.