Short Stories: Schwieterman Summer Adventure Series (Part 6 – Wyoming, originally posted 8/18/22)
Unfortunately, Nevada and I continued the unpleasantries on our RV trip. Within miles of crossing the state line, the generator turned off. I released a deep sigh, while the girls in the back began their grumbles over the television turning off. Note to travelers with children: an inverter is an absolute must. Our next RV trip (and yes, there will be more adventures) must include an inverter. We traveled far too many miles to not have the distraction of a movie playing on the DVD player for the kids. In order to make this happen, we had to run the generator. . . and of course, the generator was unpredictable with random shutdowns. And there is the reality that our youngest daughter requires electricity to live—her ventilator needs to be plugged in to charge the batteries, which hold just six hours of power. Lesson learned! The entire adventure was a learning experience and thankfully there weren’t any major hiccups.
OK, back to the story. We had no stops planned, with the exception of fueling up as we passed through the desolate lands of Nevada and Utah. Believe us when we say there is nothing to see on I-80 from the California/Nevada state line until you reach Salt Lake City. I did request that we stop once when I noticed that no one was behind us so I could have my picture taken in the barren landscape. (I wanted to send a Star Wars joke to my sons—it looked like I was on Tatooine.)
We were excited to pass by Salt Lake but were disappointed to see it was basically dried up! Our travels then took us to Coalville, Utah where we stayed at the Holiday Hills RV Park just off interstate. We booked it last minute, the only amenity we required was laundry facilities. My husband got started on a late supper, while I got the washing machines going. The girls and I were able to sneak in a walk along the cute little stream before it got too dark. Like most of our stops, it was just a place to sleep so we could get on the road again.
We were staying under an hour away from our next destination just across the state line of Wyoming: Bear River State Park. It was one of the few sights I had done research on. The Visitor Center was situated directly beside a preserve that hosted a captive heard of bison. The girls seemed excited to see some wildlife.
Our next stop was more up Daddy’s alley: Fort Bridger Historic Site. It was an 1800s fur trading post turned Army garrison. There were many old buildings on the grounds, in addition to a museum.
All three of the girls fell head-over-heals for the next surprise. We found an overlook to view wild horses in Rock Springs. There was also a loop we could drive to actually see them in the wild, but it was a gravel road out in the middle of nowhere, so we opted for the corral option. (A federal facility for short-term holding and herd management as the horse population had become too much for the land.) We sat on the shaded bench for quite some time, while the girls picked out "their” horses. They each liked different colored ones and were insistent that Daddy build a barn for their new horses!
Since the wild horses had the girls primed for western wear, we made our last stop in Wyoming to purchase cowboy hats for our next adventure—the Rodeo! The remainder of the day was spent covering 350 miles to Kimball, Nebraska where we found another campground directly off interstate to crash for the night, right beside the largest motorhome we had ever seen. I teased my husband that maybe Kid Rock was in there.
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