June 1st - Flaming Gorge NP and beyond...

There are yellow-bellied marmots hiding here!

Wandered around the various lookouts at Flaming Gorge and admired the red canyon. Will, bravely wandered out onto a part of the ledge which looked as if it were almost cracked all the way through and ready to plunge 1700 feet to the river below. The gorge is about 4000 feet wide, according to a huge sign at one of the lookouts. 

Went to the Lodge to scam some wi-fi. I took lots of photos of the cutest yellow-bellied marmots  (the animals we saw yesterday). I even bought a postcard showing a family of them, after asking the lady in the gift shop what they actually were! I managed to get pretty close to them!

Cute!!

Continued on to Manila, with Betsey getting hotter and hotter. Crossed into Wyoming, then went back to Utah to find an old man who is the only (albeit retired) mechanic in town. When he’d explained to Will what the problem was (something to do with the fan which is used to cool the engine down – I think the spring had died), they cooled the engine down with a hose and we continued limping to Green River (yup, ANOTHER one, this time in Wyoming. As an aside, looking at the application we’re using on the iPod which shows campsites all around the USA, there are so many Avons – nearly one in every state! There are quite a few recycled names – not just Springfield!). Will managed to get Betsey above the speed limit (75 miles!!) – all in the name of keeping her cool of course! 

A few stops in Green River and we found a friendly mechanic who dropped all his other jobs to help us!

Another cutie!!

We visited the museum while we were there – lots of things about horses and dinosaurs. This is definitely cowboy land (and still trying to cash in on the dinosaur element from Utah). Mexican for lunch, with a waitress who didn’t speak much English. ‘Water?’ Blank face. ‘Agua?’ Nods. Si. I don’t even speak Spanish!! Delish tostadas and a soaked burrito later and we were refuelled and ready to face the mechanic’s bill. Kind of. Ouch. (I’m still not sure how to eat tostadas – I believe I made a bit of a mess!). At least now we know Betsey is all fixed! She didn’t struggle like she used to on the interstates, even with their long, slow horrible hills. 

Back on the road, heading to Little America. Honestly! It is a truck stop where we were able to stay in the carpark for free. With free wi-fi and a posh bathroom. We managed to catch up on some blog posts (well I did anyway, oops, only 17 days behind now!) and even charged the laptop a little. Then it was sleepy time for this little travellers as it had been a long day tending to poor Betsey.

Tomorrow we will head back towards Utah to catch up with a friend of Will’s in Logan, before continuing on to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.