Cheyenne, Wyoming

After 151 grueling miles across the northern plains, we rolled into AB Camping and RV Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Sunday June 2. Our stay in Rawlins had been short, just one night, but sweet because the famous Wyoming wind didn't blow 30-40 miles an hour as it seemingly usually does!

AB is an older and smaller park on the south side of town, but it suits our needs just fine for the short time we're here.

We disconnected the car and went into town to see what we could see. Our first stop was at the Cheyenne Railroad Depot Museum. Unfortunately the museum was closed on a Sunday afternoon, but we were able to check out one of Cheyenne's famous "must-see" things....The Boots.

There are twenty-five of these boots scattered about town, each eight feet tall and decorated by a local artist. It's a scavenger hunt to try to find them, and I must admit we weren't totally successful, but we did see many of them!

The Historic Governors Mansion was open on Sunday, and a lovely volunteer lady gave us a tour. She admitted that she had forgotten a few things about the mansion since she celebrated her "eighty-something" birthday!

Built in 1904, the mansion was home to 19 Wyoming first families, including the first female governor in the United States, Nellie Taylor Ross. Did you know that Wyoming was the first state in the country, and perhaps the first government in the world, to give women full voting rights and equality? Yup....1870, when Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie became the first women to cast a vote in a general election. Wyoming pledged to refuse statehood without womens suffrage in 1890.

We wanted to visit the State Capitol, but it is closed for extensive renovation. We did manage to snap a couple of photos through the fences.

7XL SIGN

Monday found us at the Terry Bison Preserve just a few miles south of Cheyenne. In fact, the 25,000 acre ranch straddles the Wyoming-Colorado border. The entire ranch is devoted to the raising of bison, or raising hay for them, or sheltering them in inclement weather, and has the registered brand 7XL. Story goes that when the cowboys got liquored up the day before roundup during branding season they didn't have to have both eyes open to get the brand right...it read the same upside down! A short ride on a small train took us out to the nearest herd. These guys knew we were coming! Each bench in the open train car had a five gallon bucket full of bison treats. Ah ha!

There were several calves darting about....but staying close to Mom.

Donna thought she was going to loose s fingernail when this lady came up to take a treat!

There were a couple of big boys in an adjacent field, but they didn't seem to be interested in the meager treats we had. Probably just  as well!

In the afternoon, we visited the State Museum, which is located adjacent to the currently closed State House. We began our tour with an exhibit of Thomas C. Molesworth furniture. Mr. Molesworth pioneered a style of furniture that blended romantic views of the Wild West with Craftsman simplicity. Made from hand-peeled fir logs and burls and using native american weavings, his work can be seen in many expensive homes furnished in the 1930's.

The museum tells the story of the state in detail, but one thing that interested us particularly was Old Number 99.

Old 99 was built in New England in 1893, specifically for touring Yellowstone Park. After 1916, when wagons were banned from the park in favor of the automobile, 99 found its way to the front of the train station in Laramie, Wyoming. Other than cloth items, it is entirely original.

Then we found another boot in front of the museum...

Tuesday found us with just a couple of things to do. We returned to the Railroad Depot Museum, but were not impressed, and soon left. Our second stop was the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. A lovely small arboretum, it displays a number of tropical plants.

And a boot...

Aptly growing around a fanciful elephant, myriads of "Elephant Ears" grow.

Bright splashes of color dot the conservatory.

And interesting flowering plants that we've never seen before.

Banana trees are flourishing next to the tropical aviary.

We still had a few hours left in the day, so we decided to drive south thirty-something miles to visit Fort Collins, Colorado, population 165,000 at last count. Home to Colorado State University, this large and spread-out town would take weeks to explore. Vowing to return, we headed southeast to Greeley, Colorado. Named after Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, who came to Colorado in 1859 in the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. Greeley, of course, popularized the phrase "Go West, young man".

We circled downtown a couple of times, then took US85 north back to Cheyenne, avoiding thunderstorms and rain just by a little bit.

Our last night in Cheyenne was capped by a scrumptious dinner at the Wyoming Rib and Chop House in downtown Cheyenne. We ordered Fried Green Tomatoes to start, then Donna ordered a small filet. When it arrived, it wasn't done quite to her satisfaction, so back it went, and the chef brought another and asked her to cut into it to check it out while he waited. It was perfect! Great service! the New York steak I ordered could not have been better. We highly recommend this restaurant if you're ever in Cheyenne!

Having filled up ourselves with great Wyoming food, and both the motorhome and the car with inexpensive Wyoming diesel fuel, we're ready to hit the road again. On we go!

Park City Utah (Wow) to Rawlins, Wyoming

From Elko, NV to Park City, UT is exactly 300 miles. More rain. More hail. Beautiful country. The eastern side of Nevada is, of course, high desert, but with snow-capped mountains in the far distance it's hard to believe it's the desert.

We laughed at the fanciful shapes the clouds made along the high mountain peaks!

Just west of the Utah state line, the rain provided us with a gauze of drops as we stared off into the distance.

And then we bailed off the Nevada plateau down toward the Great Salt Lake. The recent rain has left a few inches of brackish water over almost the entire Salt Lake Basin. Awesome to know that we could walk in warm water for miles!

We got through Salt Lake City just before the evening traffic congestion, and once again noted with some wonder the 45 mph, sharp right-hand turns they have put in the middle of Interstate 80! Well, it slows the traffic down for sure.

We checked into Park City RV Resort just a few miles east of SLC. The 2002 Winter Olympic Games were held here and we could see some of the venues from the campground.

Park City is such a beautiful area (and at 7001 feet!) that we decided to stay another day and check it out. Downtown Park City has been magically transformed from the quiet little town it once was into a mini Telluride. Downtown is a long Main Street with restaurants, bars, jewelry and clothing stores galore. All very high end, of course.

Of course, the town is dedicated to snow skiing and in particular the Olympic Games held here some 17 years ago. This monument in the center of town is at the end of a long series of smaller monuments placed in a row that list all the previous venues for winter games since 1936.

We drove to the Olympic Village, now known as the Utah Olympic Park, owned by a private foundation that is in the middle of a 100 million dollar renovation, pointing toward making a bid for another Olympic Winter Games, probably in 2032 or 2036. We joined a tour that took us to the top of the mountain for a look at the facilities as they now exist. This practice facility for freestyle skiers gives them a place to practice during the summer. The pool is shallow, and the dark bars that are scarcely seen on the bottom of the pool send large volumes of air bubbles up so that when the skier lands, the impact is more closely like landing on snow rather than very hard water!

The top of the bobsled track doesn't look like much in late May, but it is a grueling course down the mountain. Speeds of 70 mph are achieved, and near 90 mph in the skeleton races.  During races, crews groom the course by hand, walking backward from the top down, wearing cleated shoes and brushing the cold surface. Its necessary to insure a uniform surface for each team.

One of the teams was doing some summer practicing. With a bit of modification for running on a dry track the teams can train year-round.

Next we went to the top of the 120 meter jump. The steps on the left are for athletes when they have their skis on, and the steps on the right are for normal walking. Of course the center is the actual running surface. It was covered in a cleated wood surface because on June 1st, there was to be a competition where athletes ran from the bottom to the top! No way!

In the distance is the valley. Thousands of condos, apartments and hotel rooms cover the area, with Interstate 80 running left to right through it. The rv park we stayed in is under the cloud shadow in the upper left.

 The Utah Olympic Park contains a total of six ski jumps: 10, 20, and 40 meter jumps, as well as these three, from left to right, 64 meter, 90, and 120 meters. The surfaces are made of strands of plastic about 6 inches long implanted in a resin surface and oriented so that the strands all point downhill. At the bottom of the jump, a grass area provides a flat surface to drain away the speed generated while coming down. Imagine these jumps all covered with groomed snow!

Later in the afternoon we decided to drive the Mirror Lake Scenic Drive. Heading east our of Park City toward the small town of Kamas, we entered Uinta-Wasatch Cache National Forest. Highway 150 took us thru some some extraordinarily beautiful scenery. Very nice!

 Leaving Park City today, June 1st, we enjoyed one of the quietest, least stressful 265 mile journeys of our career traveling this wonderful country. Interstate 80 runs pretty much straight as a string due east. The traffic was light, the scenery, if a bit boring, still had some fascinating features. The town of Green Valley is set is a particularly interesting valley surrounded by sandstone cliffs. Still....most of the road was.....straaaiiiggghhhttt.

Arriving in Rawlins, WY, we settled into Western Hills RV Park. We've been here in the past, and know that it is an easy in/easy out simple park, with good utilities and long, wide sites. We will only be here one night, then it's off again.

Here We Go Again, Summer 2019 Version

We spent an enjoyable February and March in Texas, as you know, but were glad to get home in late April.

My Mom celebrated her 99th birthday and we were fortunate to spend a few days with her and my sister in Southern California. In fact, Mom had a couple of generations of kids to help her celebrate!

Our month home was spent doing a whole bunch of things, including the building of a bit of privacy fence at the patio next to the motorhome. We topped it with a lattice panel and splashed on a coat of stain. Voila! Privacy!

We did manage to have a little fun, with a trip to a Nevada OHV park. To get there, we had to cross the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which was still (thinly) coated with snow.

A distant glimpse of Lake Tahoe, with Nevada in the background.

Good friends Steve and Suzi recently purchased a new CanAm side by side, and we enjoyed the day with them (and the new ride!). The eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range is truly awe inspiring this time of year, with the remains of the winter snow still clinging to its slopes.

Near the end of May, our youngest granddaughter graduated from high school. Ouch! This beautiful young lady graduated with honors and a 4.35 GPA. Emily is on her way to an anticipated career as a prosecuting attorney and possibly politics. Wow!

Rain was predicted all day on Graduation Day, but just as the ceremony started on the football field, the rain stopped and the sun lit up a fantastic sky.

Having done a few chores, had a few dinners with friends, and had a little fun, we ran away from home the day after Memorial Day. Our journey this first part of the summer will take us back to Indiana for a few motorhome repairs at the factory, so we jumped on Interstate 80, planning to drive it all the way to Chicago....

But our first stop was in Verdi, Nevada, in the parking lot of a Cabelas, watching the rain clouds dance with the mountains.

The parking lot wasn't very level, and the noise was a bit much, but the price was right. Well, except for the $$$ we spent shopping....  So we left reasonably early on Wednesday, heading east again. Our goal was Elko, NV, some 300 miles down the road. What we didn't anticipate was the cloudburst rain, hail so thick it covered the highway like snow, wind, and rolling highway patrol traffic breaks.

We finally made it to Elko, settled into site 37 of Iron Horse RV Park, and relaxed. A good nights sleep is much appreciated!

Only one night here, so it's off to Utah tomorrow!