Sunday, August 7, 2016

OOPS, I missed a day!

Ruins of the Fort hospital
So, yesterday we left the campground in Scott's Bluff and turned left to drive though the park.
Thus, avoiding two cities and their horrid roads!
  Did not avoid the solar cars leaving the monument!
Very slowly.
I followed them for a few miles.
I can tell you they bore little to no resemblance to any car now.
Well there was one.
And one that kinda looked like a mushroom with a pointy hat!
You can see pictures of the teams and "cars" here then click on teams.
One of the teams is from Missouri Science and Technology
Otherwise known as the
University of Missouri at Rolla.

That excitement past we drove and drove through flat country.
Really with the exception of Scottsbluff the terrain has been flat since Ash Hollow.
Lots of land forms off to one side or the other but not through the valley.
Soon we crossed into Wyoming!
We stopped by Ft Laramie National Historic Site.
Gotta hit all the ones we can!
I am always attracted to ruins! More on that later
Loved the porch detail! The shingles are neat as well!  Officers housing.

Suttler's Hotel I believe.  They were having some kind of ceremony with the Wyoming Army National Guard-they all looked so spiffy in their dress uniforms! 

Foundation of another building.  There are several foundations around the parade ground, and places you could tell once had a building even if the foundation wasn't visible.

Post commander's duplex.
Then I drove on and the land got really rugged 
really fast!

As I drove I thought about ruins.
Most little towns on the plains have falling down houses 
and boarded up store buildings-some quite old.
I always wonder about the people who built them and their dreams.
Why did they leave them?
 I know many left as farms got bigger and more mechanized
And it is said that the biggest export of the plains is its children.
I think it's been that way for a long time.

Drove through Casper.
Had a slight period of anxiety when I realized that half a tank of gas might not get met
to the next gas station!
Thankfully, Kaycee WY had two! 
The thought of explaining to my children 
Why I was stranded on the side of the interstate waiting for gas
Terrifying!


Wyoming is a beautiful and very desolate place.
It's a long way between places,
A very long way.
A big part of northwest corner of the state is Yellowstone National Park.
it is also the Yellowstone Caldera. 
A super volcano.
One that has been showing heightened activity.
One that would cause a disaster unlike anything we've ever seen!
Gotta see that later this year!



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