Sitting at the table I am mesmerised by the snow floating earthwards. How calm it appears even when it is tumbling down so quickly. As the snow hits the window you see the complexity of its being, then it fades away as quickly as it appears. Only to be replaced by another flake with a completely distinctive design. How amazing is God’s designing skills not just for a snowflake, but everything in this world. I get blown away when I see such uniqueness in nature, that only a master creator could make.

Today, boondocking KJ’s Alpine in Wyoming is the first real taste of a snowstorm this trip. While there have been some snow falls, this one was to last all night. Forming a second skin on Cup Cake. Inevitably this would come back to haunt us during the night and next morning.

Solar systems as the name suggests need solar. However, due to the snowstorm that has been present all afternoon the sun has been unable to charge our batteries. This would cause a major issue during the night. With temperatures plummeting to -10° C our furnace was on overdrive. Therefore, the lack of sun caused the batteries to have insufficient power to keep the furnace running causing Cup Cake to become extremely cold.

Usually, with the dawn of a new day comes the sun, which will begin the charging process for the batteries again. This was not the case and as I ventured outside, I would soon find the issue. The solar panels were covered by a half a metre of now frozen snow. This would stay in some form to the following day. To compound the problems, we found out the batteries were dead as well.

Boondocking KJ’s Alpine Review

The silver lining to this story is we were boondocking KJ’s Alpine in Wyoming. This relatively new gas station is well equipment with everything travellers need. Hot food, cold drinks and gratefully a warm shop.

Having arrived the day before, I had gone in to ask if it was ok if we parked overnight. Having gained approval, we chose our spot in the large and mostly level paved car and truck area.

This area would accommodate the biggest of rigs with ease. The AT&T Wi-Fi signal was low 1-2 bars but we could still stream Netflix. Also, there was a dump station present with both potable and non-potable water.

Dumpsters for our rubbish and propane as well.

The dump station was by donation, it had 2 dump spots.

On the downside, boondocking KJ’s Alpine, was the traffic noise. The gas station sat on the corner of US-26 and US- 89 a busy intersection.

As such many trucks passed by during our stay. We have become accustomed to noise such as trucks and train whistles, so, it doesn’t bother us too much. However, it may be an issue for those light sleepers. Trucks park in KJ’s as well so you may have a big rig pull in during the night. However, if you need a place to stay the night it would suit.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we liked boondocking KJ’s Alpine. It was spacious, clean, safe and had all the amenities you need beside power. While we had issues with Solar and batteries, KJ’s had what ever we needed. Our battery problem was eventually fixed, having to replace both as they no longer held charge.

Rating

Cost: Free stayed 1 night
Access: *****
Location: *****
Cleanliness: *****
Site Quality: *****
Noise: ***
Safety: *****
AT&T Signal: 1-2 bars
GPS: 43.172780, -111.016749

Check out our other boondocking locations in Idaho.

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Take care

Andrew & Carolyn

Travel is Sweet (Dream It, Experience It, Treasure It)

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