Where is Jack, Day 146?

We woke this morning knowing we had to leave, and decided that we could probably make it half way to see Judy Crawford, the nice lady we met in Arkansas. We lay in bed for a while, and Nancy asked me what I thought was around the corner for us, today. I said, "You never know. There's always something new."

Yesterday, we saw one bison (my friend, the one I'll never forget). Today, we had to go toward Yellowstone on Route 26 to start east and south, and there was a bunch of Bison on the road. (that would be a herd, Jack). They just stood there and wouldn't move so we were stuck for about a half hour.

Well, when they finally moved, all we had to do was follow 26 to get to Casper. Not! The state has ripped up about 10 or 15 miles of the road up in the mountains (later found out it is 16 miles). The dirt is soft and we were settling down in it. Nancy was watching the sky hoping it didn't rain or we would have been stuck. Her snow driving days helped her out believe it or not, and we got through fine. She couldn't take any pictures until the road turned back to gravel. At least we were rewarded with some pretty scenery at the end.

The rest of the way, the truck could almost have driven itself, the road was so straight and SO boring. Nancy played music and drank coke to stay awake. We stopped at two rest stops. At one, a very old man got out of his car with one of those long leads that had a chocolate lab on the end of it. He almost pulled him over so he had to let go and the dog came racing at Nancy and me. I didn't know if he was vicious or not. He growled and I growled back. He jumped on my back and we got tangled up in his leash. Nancy got between the two of us and unwrapped the leash from around my head and grabbed the other dog by his collar to keep him away from me. She knew I wouldn't run away. The poor old man was very upset. He said, "I can't put a short leash on him because he pulls me over." Nancy told him it was okay. All is well that ends well.

We got to Casper and Nancy looked in her directory and got the name of a park. It was easy to find. The neighbors on both sides were excited to see me. One is from Arkansas. Nancy didn't get to find out where the other people are from because a truck pulled up to change his motorhome tire which had gone flat. Nancy was set up in no time.

We came in and the phone rang. One of Susan's friends gave her and a couple of their other September birthday friends a surprise party, so she had a nice day. That reminds me, Michael's birthday is in 4 days! Then came some very sad news. Ellen Trammel, a lady Nancy met through the Aframe Yahoo Group, lost her grandson. She texted Nancy. Ellen, who has more faith and strength than anyone Nancy knows lost her husband, Harold, the year we lost Rich, and her son 2 years later. How much can one woman take? Nancy texted her that she didn't want to call her knowing that her life must be in a muddle at the moment, but to call when she wanted to talk. Ellen texted "You're very intuitive. Right now I just want to be alone. I'll contact you later. Thank you." We'll send a card.

Nancy called Miss Judy. She's as delightful as we remembered her. We're going to go to the lake, tomorrow (Whoo Hoo!), and then Nancy is going to take her to dinner for being so nice to her when she was in Arkansas. They seem like two peas in a pod, so I think they'll have fun, together. She knew all about Route 26 being dirt because she had been up there with her new Class C (she had a 5th wheel before) and almost got stuck. She said everyone is worried about it because winter is coming.

There are not many pictures, today, because there were few things to take pictures of. Eastern Wyoming is dry land, not quite desert, but desolate. Nancy said she'll take the picture to the lake, tomorrow.