Long Time No Write 7/11/22

Well, the internet is finally working and we can upload a blog post… complete with all the pictures we have been taking but unable to share with the world! Where to start…? I guess with the oldest pictures we haven’t shared yet!

We took a tour in Bryan and Jer’s short bus (yes, they are ‘almost cool’ – they have a bus that still has all of it’s seats so they can take their family on trips together!) so we could learn the area, as lots of the guests want recommendations as to where to go to sight-see and we need to be able to tell them. Also, why not take a gorgeous evening and see the scenery ourselves?! You might need to click on the images to open them and get the full-effect!

Further on down the Sheep Creek Geological Loop, there are numerous pull-offs to see some gorgeous views.

The Sheep Creek Geological Loop is littered with gorgeous places to stop and snap pictures! The Forbes Family Farm, where we help harvest and glean the organic veggies grown by the lovely Forbes family, is located at the beginning of this loop. There are caves, waterfalls, trails, and bridges all along the loop to explore and enjoy. It doesn’t take too long to drive the whole thing, and it’s start is not too far away from Rocky Ridge Outpost, but one could easily spend hours just enjoying the Loop.

After the Geological Loop, we decided to keep touring and we went to the Red Canyon Overlook to see the views of the Green River and the famous Flaming Gorge.

The Green River is appropriately named as it really does look green! The Native Peoples would follow the Green River with their canoes to hunt and fish along their travels North and South during the changing of the seasons. It is a very old migratory roadway.

While we haven’t lived here long, we feel rather comfortable pointing people in the direction of these natural beauties! There are also some very good maps of this tri-state attraction that we can hand out to people to point them in directions to sight-see. The roads here are very simple. We are 5 miles from Manila – two miles down a dirt road and three miles over a ridge to Town. In Manila, there is one intersection: One direction leading to the Post Office; the other three leading to the nearest cities, each an hour away. It’s not too terribly easy to get lost around here!

We have had some crazy storms over the past month that have brought 50 MPH winds and hail. Thankfully, when there are bad storms coming, our weather radio alerts us with a loud buzzing sound. We do not have stabilizer jacks on the bus yet and so our home is resting on the original vehicle suspension system. When the wind was blowing during these storms, it felt as if the bus was driving at highway speeds! Scarlett even decided to hide under the bed where she scurries to whenever we drive!

Bryan and Jer have quite a few grandkids and one of them, Josh (10 years old), has been teaching Braydon how to Fly Fish at Grandpa’s Pond. They are having a great time together! Josh’s sister, Anna (12 years old), has been helping us flip the cabins on busy days when we have the whole complex to have cleaned and ready in just 6 hours. She’s been a great help!

In addition to all the goings-on here at the Outpost, Jeff and I have also started jobs at the Flaming Gorge Market in Manila. I started working there about a month and a half ago as a cashier and am in the process of getting trained in other facets of the business. The Flaming Gorge Market is a grocery, farm supply, hardware, tackle, and camping supply store all rolled into one. It’s pretty incredible! Just this week, Jeff started working in the hardware department helping them reorganize and stock the tool section. He is going to have a lot of fun with that! Neither of us has any prior experience in retail, so we are very excited to add this to our toolkit/arsenal/resume for future job opportunities. And the extra money to add to our savings as well as buy some things that we had been patiently putting off is really exciting, too!

There are many more adventures to share in the next post! Thanks to all who periodically checked in to make sure we were still alive! The internet was out; we were swamped with work; and with the summer being in full-swing, so many tourists were bogging down the little bit of cell service we do have. But we are alive and thriving in this place where we are currently planted and enjoying every minute of it!