Cruising and Musing

Minney and Club Level have their first special ‘sleepover’ at a renown stopover!

Okay, it wasn’t that special; however, after leaving Jackson Hole, WY (Grand Teton), we spent seven hours and 400 miles driving up and down Wyoming mountain ranges, switch-backs, valleys, prairies, US RT 191, State/County backroads, and of course, I-80.

We were traveling from the northwest corner of Wyoming to the state's southeast corner. NOTE: An actual NW corner to SE corner drive through the state is closer to 11 hours since you need to drive through Yellowstone National Park. Today we were only making ‘most’ of that exact trip.

After a long day at the wheel, primarily looking into the sun through the windshield, climbing/dropping thousands of feet in altitudes (between 6,000-8,000 feet), and spending less than 20 minutes NOT behind the wheel, it was time to pull over for the evening. We didn't have a reservation for the night, so we agreed to find somewhere to boondock; we have boondocked in the past, but never in a big parking lot next to a busy highway. Tonight was going to be a litmus test of what we can endure while traveling, because we decided we were ‘retail glamping’ at the Walmart in Laramie, WY.

We arrived around 6 pm, walked into the store, gained permission to overnight, received the ‘ground rules from the store manager, picked up a few groceries, disconnected Minney, and selected our mostly level spaces in the parking lot (away from the store entrance, the car/truck entrances, the daylight bright overhead lights), etc. Club Level gets two spots (she's longer), and Minney gets only one space, albeit, very close by.

We were the second rig in the lot when we arrived, but within an hour there were many, many more in-transit travelers settling into our urban campground as well.

For our boondocking dinner, LisaMarie concocted mouth-watering, spicy Asian Salmon Citrus Tacos, with fresh avocado (yes, I had seconds) which I finished with Dark Chocolate-covered Almonds for dessert. It was a perfect meal. Yummy!

As the sun was setting, it was time for me to do a walkabout, make my campsite rounds to check that everything was soundly secure, which of course it was.

The final glow of the sunset enhanced our picture perfect campsite, unfortunately tonight, even though it is in the high 50’s, there won't be any warm fires (with marshmallows or smores) in the campsite tonight. Lights out by 10 p.m., and back on the road in the morning. So far, so good.

Hopefully you enjoyed your visit with us at Camp Walmart!