Day 65 – August 9, 2001 – We left Jackson this morning, intending to find a restaurant where we could have breakfast but not realizing that our motel was pretty much at the edge of town and there were no restaurants until we reached the community of Bondurant about 40 miles away. In Model T time, that is about 90 minutes. That was our lead-in to the drive today, long stretches of land with very little on it. The towns were spaced about 40 miles apart and, once we left the mountains, you could just about see that 40 miles. The land wasn’t entirely flat but you could see a long way and there wasn’t anything there. Jennifer got stung twice by the same bee in the town of Pinedale, which is a cute little town at the edge of the Bridger-Teton National Forest (four mountains over 13,000 ft.). The woman who handles promotions for the city (Pinedale On-line) came out and took pictures for their website. After we left Pinedale, the country became more and more unappealing. Rock Springs, WY, where we are tonight, is primarily an industrial city, set along the interstate. Not particularly pretty but we did meet a Model T man named Smitty who offered to help us out with T parts. Bruce wanted to talk with him to see what he has but we’re not sure what we would throw out to make room for them. Lucky might have to share his backseat in the Fordor.

Not too many pictures today because it just wasn’t that pretty a drive. And, thankfully, nothing broke down.

809a
809a – We found this great old bridge over the Snake River. It is called Swinging Bridge Road but, fortunately, it stayed in place when we drove over it. Bruce Lilleker leads the pack in the roadster, followed by Ross driving Ben’s Fordor.
809b
809b – Following the Fordor came Jennifer and the coupe and then Ginger driving the pick-up. We actually shot a video clip on the digital camera and will put it on this site when we figure out how.
809c
809c = The Snake River ran alongside the road, either right beside us or way below us, for the first 40 miles or so. It was a pretty fast river here but later runs through the Snake River Gorge where it becomes a raging rapids. We turned away from it and headed south and east.
809d
809d – Once we got away from the mountains, the land became very arid and grown up with scrub. There was the occasional farm or ranch but mostly, it was just range land. You can see the color difference in this photo between the irrigated land in the distance and the high desert land close to us. Bruce was surprised to learn that they actually irrigate land to grow grass but, with cattle to feed and a hard winter ahead, the grass is necessary for the survival of both the rancher and his cattle.
809e
809e – As the mountains faded further into the distance, the land became more and more open. Even though there are rolling hills, you can see for miles.