Fossil Butte National Monument

Last night we had a GREAT sleep at Sierra Trading Post's parking lot without any generator and the temperatures at 57 with a lovely breeze.  You could barely hear the freeway and what you did hear just lulled you to sleep.  There wasn't another person around and it was peaceful and quiet.  The weather is now getting cooler and not humid any more at all. YEAH!  Once we left Nebraska, the weather started to change and we're so glad to leave the humidity of the Midwest, South and East coasts behind us!  We left Cheyenne, Wyoming this morning with the girls raring to get on the road and we set our sights on home.  It has been a long trip and it will be nice to settle back for a few days before we head to Salt Lake City in a couple weeks.

As we traveled along I-80, we came to Medicine Bow National Forest.  It was a beautiful forest with trees and pretty boulders.  I told Scott we should come back some time and camp around there.  It is just about at the Continental Divide (which we crossed over twice). Scott did his best taking photos from a bumpy, moving truck.  I'd bet there are a bunch of State Recreational camping areas there.

We also stopped for fuel at Little America, Wyoming, one of my favorite places.  I'd never been to the truck side to fuel up before and they also had their own store.  They had a much better selection of food for the truckers, but not all the goodies such as rocks, games, treats and things that are normally at the other larger store where the car folks get their fuel.

Then, just before we turned off to head toward Bear Lake, we drove through Kemmerer, Wyoming where Fossil Butte National Monument is located.  I wanted to take Cierra and Hunter there before we went on our trip but there was not enough time.  So, Scott and I finished up the trip with a visit to this national monument.  The nice thing about it is that it's only 3.5 miles off 1-80.

Fossil Butte is a place that at one time consisted of three great lakes that existed in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado 52 million years ago - Lake Gosiute, Lake Uintah and Fossil Lake.  Fossil Lake was the smallest at 60 miles long and 40 miles wide.  None remain but there are fossils from the lakes that turned into sediment that turned into the rocks known as the Green River Formation.  These rocks were limestone, mudstone and volcanic ash that preserved these fossil remains.  Fossils in the Fossil Lake region had an abundance of species such a plants, snails, crustaceans, spider, millipedes, insects, reptiles, birds, mamals and over 20 kinds of fish!  In the mid 1800's, paleontologists started to unearth these fossils.  And, evening hours are the best time for finding fossils rather than during bright sunlight.  Details of the fossils are amazing!  Some species even show teeth, scales and skin!

I'd highly recommend coming to this national monument and touring the trails and quarry. It's an lovely visitors center with great exhibits and short 13-minute video presentation.  The cool thing was that two  ladies were getting their Junior Ranger badges when I stopped in the visitor's center to stamp my book.  I thought Hunter and Cierra would find that amusing!

Outside by the visitor's center is another small exhibit showcasing the paleontologists past and present.

After Fossil Butte, we crossed over into Utah, passing Bear Lake.  The lake was her typical Caribbean blue water (although the photos aren't the best).  We made note of a couple good RV spots on the south shoreline we may try out later on.

And then we climbed the mountains into Cache Valley and drove through our Logan Canyon, crossed over at First Dam and up the mountain to home.  I'm exhausted.  After living in our RV for a month, our house seemed humongous! It's already large, but seemed even larger when we came home.  Not to get settled in and rest up for the next journey.

It's been a FABULOUS trip and we had a great time.  I would highly recommend a trip like this but take a few month to pace yourself.  Our month and all the things we accomplished would have been better served on a slower, easier pace.  Having the grandkids with us made us travel much faster than intended, but at least we got to see a nice variety of what our country has to offer us by way of history and land.  Soon, we'll start a new adventure. Stay tuned for another ride...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOTT from Missouri to Wyoming

It's Scott's birthday today!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We left St. Joseph this morning at about 8:30 a.m. and started our way on the last part of our trip.  It's crazy to think that when we get home tomorrow we would have been on the road for an entire month!  It's been a fun trip sharing time with the grandkids, going to national parks, monuments and historical sites, getting genealogy done and Scott was able to work the entire time, seeing family in all parts of the country has been wonderful and it will be sad to park Gypsy Rose for a few days until we go to Salt Lake City in a week for the doTerra Convention.  After that we may take her out in October and then park her until we go to Virgin, Utah for the winter months.

Today we drove through Missouri, Iowa, and all of Nebraska.  We do anything fabulous other than drive, but Scott took a photo of the Archway in Kearney, Nebraska when we came to it.  It's actually called The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, a funky bridge that spans all lanes of the freeway right in the middle of nowhere Nebraska.  He grabbed the camera just as we were approaching it so he didn't get the whole picture so I've included a couple extras so you can see what it is.  The Archway is a very cool museum.  We didn't stop but it's pretty cool, so if you pass by, stop and see it.

Scott's photo

Web Photo Ariel View

Web Photo Evening View

Web Photo Close Up of the Horses

Just before we stopped for the night, the sun was shining through the Wyoming clouds so I took a couple photos.

We're stopped tonight in the Sierra Trading Post RV and truck parking lot in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  We found this boon docking site on overnightrvparking.com which you subscribe to for about $25 per year.  But, if you use it one, it's paid for itself from what you'd pay at an RV park or campground.  We passed packed KOAs and at the Wal-Mart, the sign said NO OVERNIGHT PARKING and yet there were about 8-9 RVs parked there illegally.  Tonight, we're parking legally and there is NO ONE anywhere around us. The freeway is near us, but it's not too noisy.  The generators are running and the RV is nice and cool.  Not bad.  2 Stars for this boon docking site.

All by ourselves!

Beautiful night sky

Lot by ourselves!

Here's more lot

Freeway in the distance

After we got set up I worked on the blog and Scott talked to his old boss and now great friend, Stan Jensen.  Happy Birthday - even if it was on the road. 💓🍦🍰🎈🎉

AOK Campground and RV Park

Last night we stayed at the AOK Camground and RV Park in St. Joseph, Missouri and the area has a lot of fun things to do.  It's located at 12430 County Rd 360, St. Joseph, MO 64505. Phone 816-324-4263.  The park is located right off I-29 just on the edge of St. Joseph.  We were only there a very short time - just to sleep, really but I was able to go around the park this morning investigating before we hit the road so I could make a little review of my findings.

You can see the RVs from the road and it was quite noisy during the evening hours while sleeping.  Scott didn't notice it much but he fell right to sleep.  I don't mind some noise though - it lulls me to sleep.  I did wake up occasionally, but it wasn't too bad.

Web Photo  Ariel View of the Park

AOK is a nice pretty little park. To access the park you have to go down a 1/2 mile dirt and gravel hilly road down to the park.  It can be a bit rutty in some place, but not bad.  The park is sloped from the road and you drive down into the park as you can see from the photo on the right upper road.

The check-in "office" is an old shed that they spruced up a bit to make it nice and inviting however small.  The park hosts are absolutely the friendliest people on the planet.  They will take you to your site and help you get all set up.  They did apologize for the narrow lot, and they weren't kidding but the only caretake the property and don't own it.

The large house on the hill is the caretakers home and the pool is up there with the showers and laundry located below in the basement area.  The laundry room is a bit strange.  It's a locker room, reading room, exercise area and laundry all in one and  needs to be updated.

So, this morning I walked the property.  I first walked down to the lakes.  They are fishing lakes to do catch and release. The larger lake has a boat dock and a canoe and paddle boat you can use. There are some fun amenities:  sand volleyball, basketball court, playground for the kids, fishing and a great walking trail behind the lake over by the freeway but it's well below the freeway line, so it's quiet and private.  The park also has an area for tents near the small lake.

Our Montana is just to the right of the left pole.

The pads are dirt with old gravel embedded in it.  The drawback is that the sites are VERY NARROW (except for site 1-14)...so narrow, in fact, that when we put out our slides and steps, there was no room to even walk around.  The picnic table was up by the front of the nose of our truck instead of tucked into our camp area. The tree next to us in unit 16 was so close I was worried that I was going to hit it when we exited the park...but I didn't, however many other campers had.  This site was a HUGE negative for sure!

Here is a photo of the units in area 1-14.  They are nice and wide and spacious.  If I were to go back, I would select these.  I didn't get out to the upper tear of the park, but it's on the high side of the park and farther away from the amenities.

Amenities Include:

• 53 Full Hook Up Sites (40 are Long Pull Thu)
• 30/50 Amps
• Dirt/Gravel Pads
• Sewer
• Water pressure was 140 so bring a reducer!
• WiFi - FREE
• Limited grassy areas
• Picnic Table
• Limited Fire Ring
• Toilets
• Shower
• Laundry (2 Washers/2 Dryers)
• 26 Camping Sites
• RV Storage
• Nature Trail
• Sand Volleybal
• Kids Playground
• Horseshoes
• Fishing in 2 Lakes
• Boating
• Basketball
• Exercise Area
• Reading Room

Fees are limited to 6 people per site and cash, check, credit/debit is accepted except for American Express. There is a 10% discount for Good Sam and Military.

30 Amp	50 Amp	Tents – No Hookups
$29.80 - 30 amp/day $175.61 - 30 amp/week $460 - 30 amp/month	$31.93 - 50 amp/day $182.13 - 50 amp/week $465 - 50 amp/month	$19.16/night Single Person $133.04/weekly for Single $26.61/night 2-4 people $170.90/weekly for 2-4

My rating for this park would be average. While the pool and showers were nice, the sites need to be redone or upgraded. The WiFi is free but seemed a bit limited.  Water pressure is super high so bring a reducer of you'll flood your RV.  Caretakers are very nice.  So, there are pluses and minuses.  5/10 or 3 stars.