This was a blast day -- a non-stop blast straight up I-25 for 450 miles, getting as many miles behind us until we get into new country. Left home at 9:05 am and pulled into Peter D's RV Park in Sheridan at 5:45 pm. We stopped only to have a quick sandwich at a WYDOT rest area near Chgwater, WY, and to get gas at Casper.
For those who have not made this drive, the Interstate goes right up the eastern flank of the Rockies, through the rolling prairies of eastern Wyoming. The terrain is not unlike eastern Colorado, except that there are fewer signs of civilization. This is the outback, folks. Except for a few towns -- Cheyenne, Douglas, and Casper are the only towns of consequence until you get to Sheridan, which is just 20 miles or so south of the Montana border. Nevertheless, it is interesting country. It's very green this year, with great swaths of yellow clover along the highway right of way. The last time we traveled this stretch -- two years ago on our way back from the northwest coast -- we saw probably a hundred antelope between Sheridan and Cheyenne. This year, however, we didn't see any at all until just outside Douglas, and that was just eight or ten in one group and a couple of singles. One geographic feature of note is the Bighorn Mountains, which come into view as the road rises out of the North Platte River Valley a few miles north of Casper. A couple of the peaks are over 12k, and one is over 13k. These still have noticeable patches of snow. Other than that, one drives for miles through the mostly treeless prairie, imagining vast herds of buffalo 150 years ago and trying to guess what Custer's 7th Cavalry was thinking as they made their way northward pretty much along this route on their way to their date with destiny in the summer of 1876. We will, by the way, be stopping at the Little Bighorn Battlefield, which is just a few miles north of the Wyoming-Montana border, tomorrow morning as we start our second day. More to come...
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