Monday, July 29, started with breakfast at Granny’s Restaurant in Cody before hitting the road. Our route took us south out of town on WY-120 down to Thermopolis, then US-20 down to Shoshoni, which was our second trip through the Wind River Canyon. It’s just as pretty from north to south!

On the other side of the canyon we were once again in the flats and continued on US-20 to our first stop for the day…Hell’s Half Acre. Over the years it has been called “The Devils Kitchen” and “The Pits of Hades”, both of which are also appropriate. This crazy escarpment drops out of the prairie and has ravines, caves, and hoodoos. It looks for all the world like another planet. The ~320 acres have colors in the sunlight similar to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Bones found in the bottom show that Indians used the cliffs to drive herds of buffalo to their doom. There used to be a restaurant and motel at the top edge, but that went out of business in the early 2000s, and the buildings were later torn down. Today there is nothing left but a heavily rutted parking lot and the view. Take a look at the pics. Does it remind you of anything? Think Starship Troopers. Hell’s Half Acre stood in as the planet Klendathu and the location of Whiskey base in the film. I feel certain that, when scouting for locations, the powers that be were THRILLED to look down into this vast canyon.

All along our route in Wyoming we have passed a huge variety of metal cutouts, all with western themes. They were put up by 307 First. They spent a lot of money to help folks remember to buy local and help support Wyoming-owned businesses. It is a pretty cool way to get your message across. The final leg was about 40 miles straight into Casper where we set up at the Fort Caspar Campground.

On Tuesday I woke up with a terrible migraine, but after an extra nap and a shower, was still able to head out. We drove up to Kaycee, Wyoming, to visit with Naval Academy buddy Bill Moore, who happened to be camping in Buffalo, Wyoming. (You may remember we visited with he and his wife Cindy down in Arizona near their home this Spring, too.) Bill does quite a bit of traveling during the warmer weather, and Cindy joins him when she can as she still works. We met for lunch at Taylor’s Invasion Bar, so named for an incident related to the Johnson County War back in the 1800s. The burgers were great, and the visit even better. Plus the drive up I-25 was beautiful and filled with pronghorn. By the time we left, my head was much better so we took the long way on WY-192, WY-387, WY-259, then a few miles on I-25 south. Most of that drive was very rural with no traffic…my favorite kind. As we came back into Casper, I took a couple of statue pics, too. Back at Priscilla I rushed to get a package together before the post office closed, then just relaxed.

Wednesday it was time to focus on some writing. I was WAAYYY behind!! MW wanted to check out the Fort Caspar site (yes, it is spelled differently than the town name) and the veterans memorial at the airport, so we went to McDonalds, had a bite for breakfast, then he left me to do my thing. Later the place got incredibly crowded and noisy, so I transferred across the street to Taco John’s, where it was FREEZING!! By the time MW picked me up, my hands felt like ice cubes! That night new neighbors moved in at the campground. Their picnic table was right by our bedroom slide, and they sat out there until late drinking, talking loud, and smoking the wacky tobaccy (illegal in Wyoming). Even with the windows closed, our bedroom stank!! MW walked out well after quiet hours began to ask them nicely to pack it in, to which they got a bit assy. Oh well.

In 1859, Louis Guinard built a bridge and trading post that became a stage stop, Pony Express relay station, and telegraph office. Three years later the Cavalry manned all of the telegraph stations between Fort Laramie and South Pass, including this one. After the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, the plains tribes increased their raids and the military compliment was increased to include troops from the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, the 3rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry, the 11th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, and the 6th U. S. Volunteer Infantry. By then the facility was called the Platte Bridge Station. In 1865 the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe ambushed an escort detachment. Five men were lost including Lt. Caspar Collins. The supply train was also attacked, killing all but three soldiers in the Battle of Red Buttes. Later that year the Army officially changed the fort’s name to Fort Caspar in honor of the young lieutenant. The Fort Caspar Museum is a 1936 reconstruction of Fort Caspar on the original foundations using sketches made by Lt. Collins in 1863. It has exhibits on the cultural history of this part of Wyoming. Outside exhibits include a reconstructed Mormon ferry, Sutler’s Store (1862), a storehouse, squad rooms, a mess hall, and Guinard bridge section. All are equipped with equipment, furnishings, and personal effects so that it looks like the soldiers are just out on patrol. One cool thing is the Memorial Cemetery. It holds white markers for soldiers of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry who died from disease, accidents, and Indian skirmishes while on patrol, but their bodies were not brought back. This was done in recent times with information from the fort records. MW said they did a very nice job of making this place come to life. Everything there is a period artifact or reconstruction exactly as it would have been. That is unlike any other fort we’ve toured. He got lucky, too, because the Fort Manager gave him a one-on-one guided tour of the entire facility.

The Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum is located at the Casper airport in the Enlisted Men’s Service Club on the historic Casper Army Air Base. Honoring military veterans from the cowboy state, it has military history and veteran exhibits, plus information on the WWII air base. It also hosts educational events throughout the year. MW said it was a good memorial to some of the Wyoming veterans. The coolest part was that there are more original buildings still standing and in use than at any other WWII training base. They even have a driving tour that points them out.

Fort Caspar Campground is located in Casper, Wyoming, on the North Platte River. Amenities include an office/store, laundry, bathhouse, playground, pet area, two pavilions, picnic areas, access to two fishing ponds, a fish cleaning area, and walking trails. The campground has tent sites near one of the ponds and plenty of RV sites, both back-in and pull-through with 30- and/or 50-amp full-hookup. Although the sites are close together, as is typical of most private parks, this place was kept clean and neat. The bathrooms were well-maintained, and showers were free. There was plenty of over-the-air TV and cell signals were strong for both Verizon and AT&T. Because of the convenient location, we would probably stay here again. For this visit in August 2024, we paid $42 per night.

On Thursday we hit the road about 8:30 AM taking WY-220 southwest. You can catch a glimpse of Devil’s Gate, which is a narrow cut formed by the Sweetwater River. Our first stop was Independence Rock, which is co-located with a rest area and also near the river. This 130′ tall, 1900′ long and 850′ wide granite mound has an interesting history. During the Oregon, Mormon, and California trail days, this was a landmark, guiding weary emigrants, stagecoach drivers, and Pony Express riders west. The rock was so named because, if everything went as planned, emigrants would be here by July 4. It was also called “The Great Record of the Desert” by Jesuit missionary Pierre Jean De Smet because of the large number of names and Indian hieroglyphics carved there. In 1843, John C. Fremont wrote in his journal: “Everywhere within six or eight feet of the ground, where the surface is sufficiently smooth, and in some places sixty or eighty feet above, the rock is inscribed with the names of travelers. Many a name famous in the history of this country, and some well known to science, are to be found among those of traders and travelers.” Today many of those names, some carved and others added with paint or tar, are lost to weather, erosion, and sun. However, if you take the time to look, you will definitely find some. The oldest date to the 1820s! We walked around a bit, scaring off a lot of rabbits. Before we headed back to Big Jake, a mama pronghorn with two little ones came bounding up nearby. She was a bit startled to see us, waited for a few seconds, then took off. They are just so graceful, and today I learned that they are some of the fastest animals in the world, clocked up to 70 mph!  

We continued down to Muddy Gap, then hit US-287 south. In Rawlings we stopped at Cactus Jack for lunch.  There we found a sweet little girl about 7 years old delivering menus, taking drink orders, etc., which seemed to help out the overworked waitress.  Adorable! Back on the road, we continued on US-287, which was colocated with I-80 briefly, passing through Hanna and Medicine Bow to Laramie.  The last leg was WY-210 over to Cheyenne, where we were stuck in construction traffic for about 25 minutes.  We were both happy to finally arrive at Curt Gowdy State Park a little after 3 PM.  Although the temps were high, this was a beautiful day for a drive.  Along the way we saw more than a hundred pronghorn and even caught site of a badger running across the road.  The scenery was gorgeous, with desert, rolling grasslands, and finally wooded, rocky mountains.

Before getting set up, we had some parking drama. Well, really it was approaching drama. As we drove into the Happy Jack campground at Curt Gowdy, we decided to circle through an empty group camping site to get back up the hill to ours. It was a fairly tight circle, and we cut it too tight. About half-way around, something made a pretty good noise and stopped our progress. It turned out to be the fire ring. Ugh! A quick inspection showed that, although pretty tall, it only hit the black/grey tank drain outlet before the tire stopped all forward progress, and amazingly, nothing was hurt on Priscilla. The fire ring did not fare so well, though. It was dented in pretty good on the side, although the grill part seemed fine. Once we got Priscilla parked, MW went up to the office to tell them what happened while I finished getting everything in place. They seemed surprised that he let them know, but he told them it was damaged pretty good. The superintendent said he would send someone up to check it out, but that, since MW was honest and took the time to come in, they wouldn’t charge us for it. Nice! We would definitely have paid for it, though. It wouldn’t have occurred to us not to tell them. Who does that??!!

Friday was a very important day…Cutie Booger’s 12th birthday. Cadence Anne Bailey is our fourth Booger, and the first girl. She is sweet, beautiful, brave, and generally amazing. She is also the one most likely to disappear into the woods alone to go exploring! Now the planning begins for her Great Adventure! We miss them all so much when we are on the road, but get together often and do lots of fun stuff at every opportunity.

Our plan was to stay in Cheyenne for a week, something we rarely do. We learned when we had transmission issues a couple of years ago to build in a couple of long stays in each big loop so that we don’t have to change so many reservations if there are issues. It has worked so far, but in this case, it was just extra time. That was okay by me…I was happy to sit still for a little bit. Plus, we had done so many things with lots of pics that I had a LOT to catch up on. Friday I took care of the laundry, then headed over to Culver’s to focus on writing for several hours. Then, after a grocery run, I headed back out to Priscilla where we grilled steaks and veggies for supper. Yum!!

On the weekend we ran a few errands, ate at the Bunkhouse Saloon & Steakhouse a few miles from the campground (very good), attended services at Faith Baptist Church (good message about the imminent coming of Christ), and ate at Sanford’s Grub & Pub downtown (also very good). Cheyenne has giant theme-painted cowboy boots scattered around town, plus bronze sculptures on just about every corner downtown. On TripAdvisor, the third best thing to do in town is drive Happy Jack Road, which is how we get to the park. They aren’t wrong. If I lived in this area, it would be out that way so that I could drive it every day. Later at the park, we enjoyed the gorgeous views and I concentrated on catching up. Storm clouds moved through the area almost every afternoon, but were more wind than rain. The temps did stay pretty nice, though.

Monday started with MW out on the trails. I had a rough night, so despite planning to hike a bit, I curled back up and slept. We didn’t have any plans for the day, so I headed back to Culver’s to write. (I like it there because they have plugs near some tables and good burgers. Okay…the frozen custard isn’t bad either!) While I was there a women’s group from a local church came in. I love hearing people laughing and fellowship. Later a trio came in to recap the 1994 high school class reunion that just occurred. Their reunion was a THREE DAY event!! Wow! (The last time I went to a high school reunion, I ended up with a husband. No telling what would have come out of three days!!) Back in my ‘troller days, I had to hear planes in my ear, the coordinator and ground control in the tower, and anything else that popped up simultaneously. It just comes natural now, so even when typing away, my ears are often registering every conversation around me. They pull my brain in when interesting stuff is said, so….don’t sit near me and talk about things you don’t want me to know. (In all fairness, I do sometimes tune MW out. That may be a tit for tat thing, though.) My accomplishment for the day was getting the Cody post finished. (It was a LOT of pics and info!!). I also took a few more pics from Happy Jack Road.

On Tuesday MW took a long hike, then we headed into town early to check out the Wyoming State Capitol. They have a nice movie about its history, and you can take a self-guided tour. Like the capitols of Montana and South Dakota, this one is in a relatively small town…a little over 60,000 people in this case…without suburbs. From the center of town you can be out in the wide open spaces in any direction in about 10 minutes. Honestly, it is pretty awesome. The building is open 6 days a week, and we were able to parallel park on the street in front of the building and walk right in. There a nice lady greeted us and gave us the tour information. Cheyenne was declared the seat of the territorial government in 1869, but plans weren’t approved for the People’s House, as the capitol building is called, until 1886. The next year construction began, and the center section and two small wings to the east and west were completed in 1890. They were almost immediately busting out of the seams, so House and Senate Chambers were added in 1917. Sadly, they decided to renovate the beautiful, renaissance revival building in 1974. As was the bad taste of the time, drop ceilings were installed, beautiful wall paintings and details were painted over, and it failed to address some infrastructure issues. So, in 2014 a new restoration was approved and completed over several years. This time, they worked to shore up all problems, modernize existing systems, and install needed fire and safety equipment, while also restoring the original splendor of the building. Workers uncovered crown moldings, column capitals, windows that had been walled over, original decorative paintings and decor, skylights in the House and Senate chambers, and beautiful chandeliers. All were painstakingly restored by artists and craftsmen. They even opened up the long-closed original sandstone quarry in Rawlins, Wyoming, to be sure any added sandstone matched! When the building was originally built, it included four niches under the center dome on the third floor for statues, but none were ever added. As part of this renovation, they added the “Four Sisters” by Delissalde. They are “Truth”, “Courage”, “Justice”, and “Hope”. The overall results of this project are just beautiful, topped off with a re-gilded dome that you can see for miles. There is a Tennessee connection here, too…the black tiles that make up the checkerboard in the main hallways came from a quarry in our fair state. It’s pretty cool, too, with fossils showing. We watched the movie, checked out all of the nooks and crannies, and walked around the grounds a bit. There are pics of all of the state legislatures back to the beginning.

One of the things someone painted over at the capitol building was the old safes made by Mosler Safe & Lock Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. As part of the restoration, they uncovered the original pictures. There were quite a few scattered around, and each had a different painting with a different frame. They were pretty cool. Here are a few examples…

Next we stopped at the Visitor Center, which was located in the old railroad depot. They directed us to Mort’s Bagels for coffee and, of course, a bagel, so we walked the few blocks up there. On the way back we stopped into a Made in Wyoming shop, and enjoyed looking at the buildings downtown. There are quite a few still in use from the late 1800s.

Later MW dumped me off at the mall to shop for a few things while he headed out to the Quebec 01 Missile Alert Facility Historic Site. Built in 1962 as a Minuteman-I Launch Control site for Warren Air Force Base, this silo was converted to a Minuteman-III site in 1970. Then in 1986 it became part of the Peacekeeper missile program. It was one of five flights, each responsible for 10 nuclear missiles, and each missile was outfitted with up to ten 450-ton nuclear warheads. The Peacekeepers in the 400th Missile Squadron were the last, and some say most destructive, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) in U. S. history. This facility did not have live missiles on site, but functioned as the control point for the deployment of all of the missiles in the flight. It also housed personnel. There is a helipad, recreation areas, and sewage lagoons above ground. The underground capsule contains the launch control center and equipment room. Access is through an elevator shaft and tunnel junction with a 15-ton blast door. Two missileers were in the capsule at all times, and above ground support crews worked in 3- to 5-day shifts taking care of security, facility management, and food prep. Although the capsule was never intended for public access, you can take a tour as long as you are able to climb ladders (only in an emergency), watch your head, and aren’t claustrophobic. MW took the guided tour, where he was once again lucky to be in a one-on-one situation. He said it was cool to see how that part of the defense triad worked. Some interesting things: 1) The missiles were always targeted at the ocean during peace time and only repositioned when receiving an actual alert order. 2) The missileers were NEVER alone during their 24-hour shift, so everything they needed was in the room, including a toilet. 3) Unlike in the movies, when the two missileers turned their keys, it did not launch a missile. It generated a signal to a second, randomly selected alert facility, who then re-verified the launch order. It was only when the two missileers at the second facility turned their keys that the missiles actually launched. We also toured a missile launch facility North Dakota back in 2018, and you should check one out if you get the chance. It is pretty neat.

I finished the shopping and found a spot to do a little more writing. That’s where MW found me later. Before heading back to the park, we stopped in at the Mongolian Grill. (We were hoping it was like the Hu Hot that we loved in Greenville, South Carolina, but sadly, it was not nearly on that level.) Back at the park, I hung out at the Visitor Center, using their wifi while still trying to catch up. When the building closed, I moved to the steps out front. Within a few minutes a magpie landed beside me on the sidewalk. Then another landed on the railing above my head. A third and fourth showed up quickly. Honestly, it felt a little like The Birds. They stayed right there keeping their black little eyes on me until MW picked me up later.

On Wednesday we were up early for a nice long walk. Full disclosure…I only had a few hours sleep and started out a bit grumpy. I know….it’s hard for you to picture that. *wink* *wink* I was determined to get in at least one good hike at this beautiful park, though, so we wandered around in the woods for almost 2 hours. The weather was gorgeous and cool with a terrific breeze, and we were both in hog heaven. Just down the hill from our campsite, we came upon two buck mule deer munching on berries. They were only about 25′ away, but didn’t make an effort to move until we actually continued walking down the trail towards them. There were several other deer and lots of ground squirrels and birds, the best of which was a bald eagle that MW spooked out of a tree in front of me. He was small, but old enough to have his white head and tail. I couldn’t move fast enough to get a picture.

Back at Priscilla we got cleaned up, then later took a back-roads drive through the park and countryside, ending up at the Bunk House Bar & Grill for lunch. (It was definitely good enough for a second visit, and MW wanted another run at their coconut pie.) He left me there to focus on writing, and like a good Uber driver, showed back up to haul me home. I finished the Cody post, which was a big step towards getting caught up!! Woohoo!!! Storms moved through the area all afternoon, at times with brief, heavy rain.

A while back I ran across an article listing the best state park in each state. We keep a list of places to go by state, so I added the ones we hadn’t been to. Number one in Wyoming is Curt Gowdy State Park, located about 20 miles west of Cheyenne on Happy Jack Road, which also goes to Laramie. It did not disappoint. The park has plenty to keep anyone busy…archery, mountain biking, boating, fishing, picnic icing, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, horseback riding, shooting, and hunting. It is divided into seven sections and three reservoirs….Granite Springs, Crystal Springs, and North Crow. Amenities include a visitor center/store, archery course, more than 40 miles of hiking/biking/horseback riding trails, a bathhouse, vault toilets, a boat ramp & dock, a lodge, an ADA fishing pier, picnic pavilions, and kayak/canoe/paddle board rentals. Lodging opportunities include the group Hynds Lodge, cabins, RV camping, and tent sites. Campgrounds are spread out around the reservoirs with more than 170 sites, most of which are primitive. There are some 50-amp electric, but none of the sites have water or sewer. They do have picnic tables and fire rings, though. We would definitely stay here again, and it might even make my favorites list. The views and hiking are terrific, as is the wildlife viewing. Next time I may try my hand at fishing, too! There are several kinds of trout and one salmon variety stocked. For this visit in August 2024, we paid a little under $45 per night.

Well, that gets me caught up…yay!!! Next up…Big Jake Issues, Into Nebraska, And Family. See you on the path!!

Talisa

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