6-12-2024 LEAVING LAKETOWN AND ON TO WORLAND, WY

Yesterday morning, when we arose, the outside temperature was 46F.  Young couples with a passel of little blond-haired, blue-eyed future Republican kids and a wagon full of inflatable toys were headed for the beach.  I put on my parka and made breakfast, that’s my opinion of 46F. 

My sentiments exactly!

It warmed up a little later but the lake got choppy.  No paddleboard for this old bag.  We decided to drive to Idaho, find a saloon and have a beer.  It wasn’t a long drive as, you may recall, the state line between Idaho and Utah cuts the lake in two. 

View from Cooper's deck

Deck at Cooper's Restaurant and Bar

We found Cooper’s Restaurant and Bar, ordered fries and beer, an Idaho 208 Golden Ale for Rob and a Sockeye Lonesome Larry Lager for Lindy.  Sockeye Lonesome Larry?

 

Sockeye Lonesome Larry, the most eligible bachelor in the sockeye salmon family, swam 900 miles up to his natal spawning grounds at Redfish Lake (6,500 feet alt.) to get laid.    When he arrived, he found there were no other sockeye salmon, not a single one, let alone a chick salmon.  The water temperature in those years (the early 90s) had risen to 68F, lethally warm for these fish and they had the dubious honor of joining the Endangered Species list.  Poor Larry lived a lonely life in the Lake for quite a while, no chicks available for a little hanky-panky.  Conservationists harvested his sperm and it is said that he is the Pops of about 6% of the sockeye salmon now in the lake.  Not the best way to get your rocks off for Lonesome Larry, I’m guessing.  He never did get lucky.  He gathered a cult following of humans and when he died, he was stuffed and hung on the wall in the Idaho Governor’s Mansion, a symbol of Idaho’s determined effort to preserve the salmon population.  Why shouldn’t some clever entrepreneurial beer brewer create Sockeye Lonesome Larry Lager to honor the Samson-like effort by this legendary fish to get laid?

 

We returned to camp, Rob mixed the toonies and we headed for the beach.  It was considerably warmer at this time of day so we thought we’d take a stroll on the sandbar in the late afternoon sun.  A pleasant, tranquilizing way to end the day and the stay at Rendezvous Beach.

View from Noobee's door

Strolling on the sand bar

Rob on the sand bar (Why isn't there
a local saloon called,
"The Sand Bar?")

Our campsite

 

Today, we face another long drive, 306 miles, to Worland, WY.  This will be another one-night stay as we make progress toward Spearfish, SD.  There we will meet up with Gary (aka Captain) and Connie and maybe play a little pickleball with our long-time friends.  For the moment, however, the traveling is difficult, in high wind with 45+ mph gusts that threaten to blow Noobee off the road.  The steering wheel drips with sweat and our speed ranges between 35 and 50 mph.  Wyoming is beautiful, to be sure, but the persistent high winds as well as mile after mile of tall snow fences explain the sparse population of humans.