Unlike what I had planned, I drove straight through from Portland to Jackson WY in one day. I got in a couple of hours after dark, but without major issues. Just a note that the road from Twin Falls, ID is not a major highway, but a rather twisty back way up the mountain.
Jasper was nice, but the downtown was pretty artificial in a touristy sort of way. I found out why the rental prices were twice what the rest of WY is. It turns out that most of the county property is owned by the Federal Government (>95%). With most of the rest devoted to skiing there isn’t a lot left over.
The drive down to the southern parts of the state was fine and well plowed. There are some nice prospects south of Jasper, but the population drops off a bunch. I got down to Rock Creek and that was a definite possibility. a reasonable population with non-flat terrain, although considerably drier.
Pushing on east there really isn’t anything worthwhile until you get to Laramie. Laramie was a disappointment. It is basically down in the flatlands, although there are trees in town, I didn’t really see any good prospects. I pushed on and spent the next night in Cheyenne. It was pretty much as I expected, flatter than my preference but it did have the advantage of the large AFB just west of town.
In the morning I drove up to Casper and I really think this is what I was looking for. Tree covered Mt Casper just south of town with enough local terrain to keep things interesting.
I drove by the Preserve at Greenway Park (the leading contender for rental residence). I’ve got an appointment in a couple of hours to tour a couple of units. I’ve driven around town somewhat and it seems to have everything I was hoping for. I even drove through the local US Bank and used the ATM to check my account balances and everything worked as expected.
I got in for a self-directed tour of a couple of units (due to COVID). After talking to Caitlyn, the Leasing Consultant, I settled on a two-bedroom ground floor unit called Goldeneye that will be available on 24 March. I need to fill out the online registration form and that should be it. I’m sticking around until Friday to arrange storage for the load I brought out this trip and look around some more.
If I leave Friday morning I should be in Joshua Tree on Saturday afternoon or early evening. All things being equal I’ll plan on spending a couple of days with Jill and then drive down to Oceanside and stay with Jan for a couple of days.