Today would be a long drive day. Drive time alone would be four hours. We left the campground at 10:15 am. We really didn’t expect the first two hours of our drive to be in mountains with long upgrades and downgrades and very winding roads. Heck, when we saw the sign saying ten switchbacks in four miles, we were truly surprised. If any of your ever drove the Tail of the Dragon, that is nothing compared to this section of road. I sat in my seat tense with fear as my husband navigated these switchback curves. We drove on the top of a few summits, one being almost 10,000 feet. I think in these past 80 some days, my ears have popped more times than in my whole life. Hubby was emotionally exhausted. We took a few more breaks than we normally take.

Long bridges, just like tunnels make me uncomfortable.

We got to an area called Flaming Gorge. I took the picture below from a parking area right before the Dam. We stopped for a potty break and of course, Hubby just pulls in and does not park in the allocated spaces. As I was walking to take the picture below, a security guard pulls up to me and proceeds to tell me to look at the white lines in the parking lot. He tells me those line are there to show people where to park. I quickly apologized and told him we just pulled in to use our bathroom and we were leaving as soon as I snap a picture. He was nice and said ok. Even after his smart a$$ remark, I still treated him with total respect. We were in the wrong.

From Google: The Flaming Gorge NRA is located in the northeast corner of Utah and the southwest corner of Wyoming. It is South of I-80, between Green River and Rock Springs, Wyoming and extends into the Uintah Mountains towards Vernal, Utah. The area is a mixture of climate, topography, and recreation opportunities well suited to a variety of summer and winter interests.

I copied the picture below from google. I didn’t have a chance to get a picture of the dam. But if people think the Hoover Dam is awesome, they should see this Dam and the area around it. Flaming Gorge Dam is on the Green River in northeastern Utah about 32 miles downstream from the Utah-Wyoming border.

The Flaming Gorge has a visitor center. This is one area I would have loved to have spent time at, but we needed to be at our next campground before 5 pm. The campground we are staying at did not take a deposit and was holding our site until 5 pm.

There was a huge bridge and after the bridge, the road clung to a mountainside. It looked like a concrete bridge that was being held up by the mountain. There was a weight limit on this bridge and we just made the limit.

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In some places, we felt like we were on the top of the world. Many places on this road, when I looked down, I got dizzy. Hubby said: “don’t look down”. Great advice Hubby. As crazy as this road was, the views were breathtaking.

One thing we were glad of, there was absolutely no traffic on this road and there were plenty of places to pull over to take a rest. Large turnouts, big enough to fit our rig as well as other big RVs.

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It was close to 4 pm when we reached our campground. We are only staying here one night. We park and Hubby said he was glad we were only staying one night. This park is different than any other we’ve stayed in. People park zigzag. It’s like every site is a buddy site. We pull in from one direction and our neighbor pulls in from the other direction. So our doors open to our neighbor picnic table. Our hookups are on the other side right next to our neighbor’s hookups. I’ve just never seen anything like this. The park is not well kept. Like I said, it is good for one night. Everything works and our site is level. We are on a gravel site, 70 feet long with full hookups. We have a picnic table and a charcoal grill. These are not important amenities for us because Hubby would never eat outside with the bugs and I whip up quick meals inside. When we ordered our 5th wheel, we made sure we had a kitchen table and chairs with a big window so Hubby could eat inside and have a great view.

A truck camper pulled in next to us and as I said above, our hookups were on the same side as our neighbor. Hubby and the neighbor started to chat. The neighbor is a farmer by trade. Hubby used to work on a farm in his younger days and is always intrigued by farms. Hubby went to get fuel for the Big Boy Truck and when he returned he went over to chat more with the farmer Dave. I was making Hubby a burger and it was almost done. I would keep it warm. I didn’t want to interrupt Hubby’s play date. Hubby loves to chat with neighbors but he never finds a neighbor he has so much in common with.

As you can see from the picture below, our picnic tables are next to each other. This is how buddy sites are set up.

Our hookups are also on the same side as our neighbors.

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And instead of a beautiful view, we get to see storage units.

It was around 7 pm and I was relaxing watching some tube. Then it hit me like a brick. I told Hubby I think I forgot to level the 5th wheel. We have a button in the water door that says “auto level”. Dang, where was my head. We were on a really level site but hitting the auto level button lowers our middle and back jacks. We should auto level before we put out the slides. Not to worry, I ran out and auto leveled the rig. We were okay because our site was level to begin with.

Our drive tomorrow is only a two hour drive. We are staying at the Cody KOA for five nights. Out Wild West Adventure is winding down.

In my previous post, I called these flower daisies. My sister said she thinks they are Black Eyed Susans. She is usually right.

God Bless, Stay Safe, Be Kind to Every Kind and if you ever have the chance, visit the Flaming Gorge. It is, in my opinion, a hidden gem.