North to Jackson Hole

Our last morning in Rock Springs, I went to the airport to visit TSA colleagues while Jeff and the kids packed up the motorhome for the drive to Jackson, Wyoming.  I met some great people, and one of the guys there gave me a rock he found in his backyard that has fossilized sea snail shells in it as a remembrance of Rock Springs.  He also gave me two fossilized snail shells for the kids, which was very nice.  

The drive from Rock Springs to Jackson, Wyoming is about 190 miles on Highway 191.  The drive took us past the wild horse corrals, where the Bureau of Land Management houses groups of wild horses picked up in the area to manage the size of the herds. These horses can be adopted by anyone who applies and can show that they can take care of them.  We stopped by the corrals after realizing we didn't have enough time to drive the wild horse loop.  There were horses of every color and size.  It was fun to watch the colts playing and running around.

We looked along highway 191 for any wild horses, elk or pronghorn that might be grazing on the open land, but we only saw pronghorn, some cattle and horses on ranches.

We passed one Pony Express historical marker and two Oregon Trail historical markers, but unfortunately, here wasn't enough lead time for Jeff to slow down to check them out.  It's tough to stop a motorhome towing a Jeep that's doing 65 miles an hour in a few minutes.   A white stone marked where the Oregon Trail broke off from other trails going through the area, and Jeff thought another marker noted the location of a camping spot for pioneers on the Oregon Trail.  We passed through towns like Eden, with populations of 65 or less.

As we got closer to Jackson, the Rocky Mountains loomed large on the horizon, beyond silvery-green sagebrush covered land and log homes.  We passed through Pinedale, a good-sized, handsome Wyoming town.  Our first wildlife sighting just about 45 minutes from our campground in Jackson was a group of bighorn sheep grazing on the side of the road.  Poor Ruth was sleeping in the back and missed them - and she really wanted to see bighorn sheep.  Hopefully, we'll have another sighting on the trip.

Due to a data entry error on the GPS I somehow did, it had our final destination about 5 miles north of where our campground actually was.  Fortunately we saw a sign for the campground and we were able to turn around before going too far out of the way.  

Our campground is on the Snake River about 10 miles south of downtown Jackson, Wyoming.  I had researched campground in Grand Teton National Park, but couldn't find campsites that worked for us.  Since Jeff works while we're on the road, he needs wifi so he doesn't have to use his iPhone as a hotspot too much.  For four days, it will be our little spot in Jackson Hole.