The Winds
We stuck with our plan to leave a day early to get over Togwotee Pass before it snowed. We packed everything up, said goodbye to Shawn and his family, and were ready to leave at 10:00. There was only one problem. Our EvenBrake (electronic brake that applies the brakes in the Explorer when we apply the brakes in the motorhome) refused to work. The monitor in the motorhome refused to light up and display any of the status information. I fought with it for about 45 minutes before I gave up. The braking unit in the Explorer was working properly and displayed the green light for operations, so we decided to leave anyway.
The highway over Togwotee Pass was mostly 4-lanes and expertly graded. The top of the pass was still cloaked in snow. Areas on both sides of the pass were partially melted, but the bushes and grasses were still brown. I'm sure it's gorgeous later in the summer, but today it was just a place to cross to get to our destination.
By the time we started down on the other side of the pass, the sky was completely filled with clouds, and it looked like we were heading into a storm. The road from Togwotee Pass to Casper goes through a series of valleys rich in grasses and sage. We saw groups of pronghorn all the way to Casper. We were driving the highway "...where the deer and the antelope play." The farther east we drove, the clouds grew ever darker and giant cumulonimbus clouds started forming. With nothing but rolling hills along the highway, the sky seemed to stretch forever in every direction. I know Montana claims to be the "Big Sky Country," but I doubt they have anything on this part of Wyoming.
Even with the overcast skies and somber lighting, it was a gorgeous drive. But every mile closer to Casper meant stronger winds trying to blow us all over the road. From the warning signs over the highway, I assume the wind gusts were over 40 MPH. It quickly took all the fun out of driving. From that point on, it was just get to Casper.
We reached Rivers Edge RV Park in Casper and got set up just before the full storm hit. We were sitting at the table watching the rain when suddenly it sounded like golf balls were bouncing off our roof. My first thought was that the hail would break the windshield on my brand new Explorer! The hail only lasted a couple of minutes, and they were only marble-sized, but it was dramatic.
The winds quickly stopped any thoughts we had about hitting the Dairy Queen tonight. The wind blew constantly until we were ready for bed at 12:30. In fact, the wind was blowing so hard, we retracted our main slide to prevent the awning over it from ripping in half. We discovered the next morning that another motorhome had an awning nearly ripped off over night. It will definitely need to be replaced soon.
Today was a very interesting day...
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