rode a Wide Wyoming Loop (Cheyenne, Casper: houses, live in, fence)

[jody_wy]

Road Trip, Saturday was nice drove Rex to Laramie , we saw about 50 head of Elk out on the Red Desert along I-8. Sunday had a nice drive up thru Shirley Basin to Casper. Had some board meeting and WSGA meetings, During Wed lunch the Governor came down to my table and asked about my shoulder surgery, his broth getting his fixed this week. Ride home yesterday afternoon was -6 and a stiff wind in Casper saw temps of -14 between there and Riverton, Stopped at the Rest area close to Crow Heart , Couple guys sitting inside talking told them to be careful in the cold , one said it suppose to get down to -15 tonight , said I never seen it get cold around Crow Heart and Dubois. Then Said I Lived in the coldest place in Star Valley and one guy said that I must live in Auburn, Said yes then he said he haul milk out of the valley years ago , told him I used to milk cow some 20-25 years ago and was the first Dairy off US89 in Auburn. He sat for a minute the said you are a Bagley, said yes sir , then he said you Jody. He a long haul trucker now , what the chances of running into my old milk hauler in the middle of no where after 20 years? Saw temps of -19 over Towagatee, about 50 Elk on the road thru Buffalo Valley, then probably a couple hundred elk on and next to the road almost all the way into Jackson. Then about 40 head of Elk close to the Rodeo Wall by Astoria in snake River Canyon. Slick roads and bitter temps along with Elk turned a 6 hour road trip into almost 8, was only -6 when I got home at Midnight.

[LarsMac]

I used to drive a tow truck out of Jackson. Loved the winter time, there.
That was the year Moran hit the record low of -65. In Jackson it only got down to -62 that night.

Made a couple of runs over and down the Wind River, and a few to Pinedale.

Still remember the first time in Wyoming, stopped in Kemmerer. There used to be a sign there, said, "Welcome to Big Wonderful Wyoming." and someone had tacked another sign on the bottom, said,"Where men are men, and sheep are nervous."

[jody_wy]

Did have a pickup pass me before Dubois , pulled him back on the road a few miles from the Hatchet on the west side of Towagotee pass. Told him I thought he was going a little fast when he passed me on the other side of the mountain.

[sunsprit]

Sounds like a heat wave there, Jody.

We got down to -17 F the last two nights from about 11PM through just after sunrise, and even the greenhouses showed -15 F. I haven't checked yet, but I'll bet we finally lost the last of the root vege's that had survived so far in the greenhouses.

1500 watt heaters in the smaller stock tanks weren't enough to keep them from freezing up last night. And we've got them pretty well sheltered from the winds.

Rounded up our few cattle and put them in the corrals, so now we're having to feed from our very limited supply of hay this winter. The sheep are all in the larger outer corrals, same thing. Got an app't to take a dozen lambs in for process next week, can't wait to have those 12 fewer mouths to feed.

My wife tried to head into town yesterday late AM, and turned around at the Archer exit East of Cheyenne. There was a ground blizzard in progress and she couldn't see from one fence post to the next along the highway. Fortunately, she was able to work from home for the day, so she didn't lose any hours.

We're headed for a high of about 5 F today, which is almost sweatshirt weather after the overnight temps.

Looking forward to warmer temps in a few days.

Got to do a BFR/ICC next week, scheduled with my CFII. Wish we could do it today, but the hangar door is frozen shut and it would take awhile to pre-heat the 'bird. Crystal clear blue skies and calm winds, cold air ... means the bird would really want to fly in these conditions and I'm always game for doing check ride instrument approaches in calm conditions. Did the last one in Dec 2011 on a turbulent day and my instructor was happy to give up after the 3rd approach/missed and holding at Scotsbluff and head home with me under the hood. It was almost a D ticket ride all the way to touchdown ... and the guys didn't do the best job of plowing the runway or the ramp, which had started to drift in again by the time we got back.