Pinedale Part Two

August 22. The next morning, the rain finally stopped and the sky cleared up a bit. Before we leave, we say thank you again to our 'hosts'. The thank you turns into an hour-long lively conversation. John, the construction manager and a very relaxed soul, used to be a mountain guide in Argentina, among other places, and now he and his 4-year-old son, Russ, live in Jackson Hole. This city is still on our way, so we already plan to meet again. ;) Jessica owns a cafe there called 'The Juicery' where she sells all organic, vegetarian delicacies and, as the name suggests, juices. We learn that Jackson Hole has been even more overrun by tourists since Corona and that property prices have skyrocketed. This means that despite the high demand, many shops, restaurants, and businesses do not have enough staff and have to close because the employees cannot afford the rent. Bravo... We agree to get in touch when we are in Jackson and John gives us some great hiking and climbing tips. With a smile on our faces, we drive back to Pinedale. It's laundry day. Then we look for a garage for our four-wheeled home. A few days ago, Carlito showed some weaknesses again in the rain - the 'BRAKE' sign suddenly lit up. We want to get that checked out and also have one screw in the engine replaced. The workshop we find is a stroke of luck! The repair goes quickly and in the meantime, we are invited to help ourselves in the open kitchen: there is coffee, snacks, soft drinks,... they also have WiFi and we can finally contact our family and friends again. Two friendly dogs trot through the spacious former show hall and two employees play a game that is similar to Kubb, but different (hihihi): wooden ramp with a hole where you have to sink rice bags from a distance. We are quickly invited to play. There's also a ping pong table and after more than 6 weeks, we can play ping pong against each other again. It's fun and even though the car has long been fixed, we stay a little longer.

We buy the remaining food for our upcoming hike and order a flight at Windriver Brewery, the village's own brewery. Then we drive up to the Elkhart Trailhead and enjoy dinner in the last rays of sunshine.