For some strange reason we decided not to turn the heat on last night. We were toasty warm under our Polartec blanket and down comforter but it was a shock when the interior of the coach was only forty-one degrees when we got up. It was twenty-seven outside and the car and kayaks had a thick layer of frost on them. The lake was covered in sea smoke and the sunrise through the mist was beautiful. Ted boiled water for coffee and tea and after a quick wash, we were on the road by 7:30. We had on winter hats and gloves to hook up the car. Guess we are not far enough south yet.
Once we were on the road, we could see for miles and miles in every direction with not a tree in sight. Yesterday and today we kept seeing signs that said "Road Closed When Blinking". Today there were also snow fences everywhere. With no trees to block the wind, they must have blizzard conditions whenever it snows.
As we approached Kemmerer, a fairly large town by Wyoming standards, we could see a huge plume of white smoke beyond the town. Due to the hills, lack of trees and clear air, you can see a town when it is still more than ten miles away. We stopped at a Maverik gas station to pick up something for breakfast and then drove up out of town. Sadly, the frost last night had killed all the big hanging flower baskets that lined the streets. When we reached the top of the hill beyond town, there was some kind of mill and a strip mining operation in front of us. The company name was Elkol and the little town where it was located was called Diamondville. I wonder what they were mining?!?
We saw quite a few pronghorn in the fields before we reached I-80 a little after nine. Once into Utah, the beautiful red rocks started showing up almost immediately. The mountains near Park City including the ski mountain, Alta, had some kind of rust colored foliage all over them. Mixed with the dark greens, they were beautiful and so different from what we had seen. The town of Heber City was celebration its 125th anniversary and all the old fashioned lampposts in town had flags flying from them. It was quite a sight. We stopped at the Walmart on the outskirts of town for groceries and then started around Deer Creek Reservoir. It is the second reservoir we have passed in Utah today and both were very low.
When we got to the south end of the reservoir, we stopped at the Deer Creek State Park Campground. We paid for two nights and as we were driving in to our assigned campsite, we heard a terrible noise like we had hit something. I jumped out to look and couldn't see anything. Ted got out, looked up and could see that we were tangled up in branches overhead. We unhooked the car and while Ted unhooked the step ladder to climb up on top to see what damage might have been done, I drove back to the entrance gate to report what had happened and see if we could change sites. The guy (Rocky) at the gate called the maintenance supervisor and I returned to find Ted on the roof cutting branches of the thorny Russian olive tree. The assistant manager and maintenance manager showed up and authorized Ted to keep cutting until he had freed us from the tangle of branches, both dead and alive. We told them we were Florida State Park volunteers and once we moved and they had finished taking down limbs from the trees in that site, we chatted with the maintenance manager for over an hour with the assistant manager in on part of the conversation. It seems they have had problems with volunteers stealing gas and tools and not doing the job they were hired to do. I think if we wanted to work here, we would have no problem getting in.
We walked the paths along the bluff looking out at the high hills and big body of water and checked out the huge boat ramp before dinner and settling in for the evening. Unfortunately, neither of us took our cameras as it is really a beautiful location. Ted did get a couple photos with his phone.
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