Jackson, Wyoming

Friday 31 July

Short note today...

breakfasted at the Dillion hotel restaurant, Grandma's Kitchen

we didnt wait to be seated, bowled into the diner, instead of the restaurant

to a lineup of gasbagging locals at the counter stools.

Made conversation with a couple of ranchers

big senior-looking dudes like a cross between JR Ewing and George Bush Snr, but probably no older than me.

I felt like a ranch-hand making out with their daughters trying to make up conversation

but did get out of them they had all Angus cattle, getting roughly the same/lb return as we get

annual rainfall only 14", this season as I thought, one out of the box.

Couldnt see these 2 ceding half a square inch to no pesky Injuns.

The others at the bar said, 'no, we aint farmers, we jes trar t' make munny anyway's we kin'

So, a 120 mile blast down Interstate 15

speed limit 75mph, but I was happy to slot into the traffic doing around 80

we've hardly seen a cop outside of towns

there's so little about the roading system to cause frustration and stupidity

the cops have better things to do.

Back home, instead of spending money making better roads,

we spend it employing people to ride herd on our driving and vehicle safety.

Saltbrush... whatever

I15 followed the Nez Perce Trail up to 6800' asl at Monida Pass

then dropping down into Idaho.

In the space of a few minutes the plain changed from the low scrub we've seen a lot of last couple of days, mesquite or saltbrush is it?

pale green/blue, gets to about 2' at the highest, mostly around 12"

to irrigated farm land

mostly 'taters fer a start, huge circles of them, fitting under 12 boom centre-pivot irrigation systems

each boom being 20m long, so the arc is 12x20, and you can pi r square that lot to get area each unit covered

stretching as far as you could see over the high prairie

Idaho spuds are famous, the soil here looks good too

couldnt see any surface source for the irrigation water, guess its all artesian, Rocky Mountain acquifers.

Grain crops, fer es th' ar kin see

As we got lower down to the Teton valley, the booms got bigger,

20x20m boom sections covering preponderance of grain crops, mostly wheat, but did see some oats, some Johnson grass weed,

and some nodding thistle.

The farmhouses got better too, green lawns and flower gardens

no fences here though, unlike Montana

where 4 wire barbed was the standard model, with all sorts of breakdowns in stockproofedness...

our cows would be through in a flash.

Teton Pass

At Tetonia, in the valley proper, 50ac subdivisions stood like 6-house ghost-towns

then it was up and over 8400' Teton Pass into Wyoming

looking down on Jackson Hole, where we are now.

This place is rocking...

although a ski town, its main forte is the summer tourist season

we've had street theatre, a goodies and baddies gun-fight firing blanks

and a run along in the Million Dollar saloon

there's a heap of Harleys in town too for a rally tomorrow

and as we get closer to Sturgis, their numbers will increase.

Cheers

The hitchin' rail outside of the Million Dollar Bar