Wound up in Worland

Well we had some trouble along the way to Yellowstone...

We woke up our last morning in Ten Sleep to discover we had a back flat tire. Thanks to Brady's uncle John, we luckily had an air compressor to fill the flat! Unfortunately, it had a small nail lodged in it and wouldn't take any air.  We switched the flat for our spare and headed out. We had also noticed prior to our arrival in Ten Sleep that our van was having extreme difficulties going up hills. As we made our way up out of the canyon, the problem had exponentially worsened. Now there was a hissing sound coming from the engine! We made it 27 miles, out of the canyon, and decided to stop at the nearest town- a little place called Worland, Wyoming. Using my handy dandy iPhone, we found a Ford dealership to stop at so they could take a look and hopefully fix the problem. Unfortunately for us, it was a Sunday, so the dealership was closed, as well as every other mechanic in town! We decided to camp out for the night and go back to the dealership first thing in the morning. We found an RV campground with showers (!) and a laundry-mat to stop at for the night. This was the first place we had to pay for camping the whole trip, but we were pretty desperate! We went to a grocery store to refill, and Brady bought a bottle of wine ($10 Malbec, delicious!). The guy that checked us out at the liquor store asked what we were up to, and we told him our situation. He told us, "Well, at least your stuck in Worland. There's not much to do, but the people are sure nice!" And we found this statement to be absolutely true over the next week we spent there.

First, we went in to the dealership Monday morning, apprehensive that we were about to have a very expensive problem on our hands. We met the owner, Jim Cowdrey, who showed us around, talked to us about Yellowstone, showed us some pictures he had taken himself of lower falls, and gave us miniature classic cars. He seemed to like us, and was so incredibly nice. Stone, head of the service department, also took an interest in us, giving us inside info to Worland, as well as Washington and Oregon. The bad news about the van came later that afternoon- we needed a new exhaust manifold and new catalytic converters. The parts would take a day to get in but they were pretty backed up so we were going to have to wait around for a week to get her fixed up. Jim hooked us up with a loaner van to drive around town, and also offered to take us out to one of his favorite spots in all of Wyoming once he got off work. It was called "Freeze Out", in the Paint Rock Canyon. Below are some photos we took while there.

This is Jim, the owner of the Ford dealership, talking to Brady at Freeze Out, a ledge area that drops about 300 feet to the canyon below. It was gorgeous! Jim also bought us a small dinner, and let the dogs ride along! We couldn't believe the hospitality, and it only got better.

It was sunset when we got out there. This is overlooking the mountains beyond the canyon. The alpenglow was beautiful, and pictures, again, don't do it justice!

 

Yep, they got me out on that ledge for the photo! Look Dad, no hands!

You can see the river below at the canyon floor in this one!

Jazz made it in this photo, no Reggae though!

Thanks Jim for the view and the wonderful photos!

The second day in Worland, we headed over to Thermopolis- to hang out at the Hot Springs State Park. There are springs that flow with water at 127 degrees out of the ground and over the last few million years have formed crazy looking rock formations. Lots of dinosaur bones (full gigantic skeletons!) were also found out here. We soaked for a few hours in an indoor/outdoor mineral pool area, complete with water slides (and showers!!). Our skin felt so soft for days after.

Brady, trying to go into a cave that flowed with hot sulphur springs.

Jim let us camp out in the van in his parking lot so we didn't have to keep paying for camping at the RV place. It rained one night and we got this beautiful view of a rainbow at sunset.

This is what we did with most of our days in Worland. We found a great little city park that we could hang out in, throwing the frisbee for Jazz until she got tired. Brady was given a lesson or two on drawing from Peter in Lander and has been perfecting his art since. He has become quite good with shadowing and cartoon climbers! 

One of our last nights in Worland, Jim offered to take us fishing (again, we couldn't believe the hospitality he was showing us). He taught Brady a little about casting and we (Jim really) caught two fish- a rainbow trout and a brown speckled trout. The creek we went to was in another beautiful canyon area outside Worland. As we were leaving, Reggae decided to kill a skunk (the second of our trip thus far...) but this time was way worse. He got sprayed right in the face. He must have known how much trouble he was going to be in because he immediately dunked himself in the creek, and then rolled in dirt- maybe he thought this would get the smell off? If you know anything about Reggae, you know how much he hates water too! Jazz all of the sudden was our "good dog" haha. We always joke about how good Reggae is, but now it was his turn to be in trouble! We felt awful when we had to get back in Jim's car (a brand new Ford SUV from the dealership...) and we made both dogs sleep outside that night. Reggae cried all night like a little baby... spoiled rotten both of them!

Jim took us to a garage on our last day filled with old restored 1965 Mustangs (I was googly eyed!) and this little beauty- a 1927 bus from Yellowstone, used for tours of the park way back when! He said he traded two 1917's that didn't run to the park for this one, in excellent condition. Jim- we saw your two 1917's parked in the park near a visitor center! I'm sorry we didn't get a picture!!

Just hanging out in the parking lot...

This is the crew at the Worland Ford Dealership. Jim is next to Brady, Stone is on the bottom right, and Eric was our mechanic who got us fixed up (even putting in time after hours!!) standing next to Jim. Everyone at the dealership was incredibly nice to us. We could not have been stranded in a better place, with nicer people. The way we were taken care of here was immeasurable, and we cannot say thanks enough to all of them!

And thanks especially to Jim, for taking us under his wing, showing us around his beautiful town, and sharing his genuine perspective on life. We admire him greatly and look forward to sharing the generosity he showed us with others we meet in the future!

Next stop, YELLOWSTONE!!