Hello again folks,
I got up bright and early this morning and began my day by exploring Cheyenne a bit. Last night's rain had gone away. It was still very cold. I could see my breath, but it was a beautiful morning. I visited Depot Plaza in downtown Cheyenne.
These eight foot tall cowboy boots have been carefully painted by local artists to show Wyoming's and Cheyenne's history. You can go on a scavenger hunt and find them all but I settled for seeing just the six around Depot Plaza.
From Depot Plaza I looked up Capitol Avenue to see the fourth state capitol building of the trip.
Next I got on Interstate 80 and continued my westward trek. About thirty miles west of Cheyenne I stopped to see the "Tree in a Rock" which is located in the middle of the interstate. It appears to be growing out of that rock.
My next stop was just a few miles away out in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road. The Ames Brothers Monument. There is a parking lot beside the monument but there was nothing but unbroken snow all around. I started driving toward it on what I thought was the drive to the parking lot but I started to fear getting stuck in the snow out it the middle of nowhere, so I backed out and snapped a picture from the road.
My next stop was just a few miles down the road at the Sherman Summit rest area. This is the highest point on all of Interstate 80. There is a large bust of Abraham Lincoln at the 8640 foot summit.
Below is looking out on the interstate from the Abraham Lincoln statue.
Laramie is only about ten miles from the summit. I made a quick stop in the historic downtown area.
I filled the car with gas and set out on the Snowy Range Scenic Byway which begins just outside Laramie. I did this somewhat reluctantly as I was not sure the road was even open. The road is closed in winter and doesn't reopen until Memorial Day. With all the precipitation they have had recently I wasn't certain that the plows had been able to get it open yet. The info I found online wasn't current. Twenty seven miles into the drive you come to the small town of Centennial.
Centennial is where the road gets good. And I had all the scenic splendor to myself. There was almost no one else up here but me. Below is a picture of Snowy Range Pass at elevation 10,847 feet. There was an observation platform up here on the other side. But I would have had to trek through knee deep snow to get to it. At this elevation I get very light headed, so I wasn't going to attempt that.
To say there was a bit of snow up here would be a bit of a understatement. Stop signs were kind of hard to see.
Like I said, there was almost nobody else here. It was so quiet and beautiful. At times I was tunneling through the snow with banks of snow higher than my car. But the road was dry and in great shape. I can't believe I almost didn't come up here. It was certainly more scenic than taking Interstate 80.
After completing my scenic detour through the Snowy Range I made my way back over to the Interstate. I made a stop in Rawlins. Below is their downtown area.
About 40 miles west of Rawlins I stopped for a late lunch at Chester's Fried Chicken. Again I was hungry because I keep skipping my free hotel breakfast because I am never hungry at that early hour when I want to leave. The chicken was very good. After lunch it was about an hours drive to Rock Springs, Wyoming where I am spending the night. Tonight I am in a Comfort Inn. Free of course. Thanks to my hotel credit cards I'll get 22 of my hotels for free on this trip.
Tonight I got my dinner from IHOP. This is my sixth night of the trip. In those six days I have traveled just over 1600 miles so far. So far the new car is doing well. Except is doesn't stay clean. It got really filthy on those dirt roads in Madison County, Iowa. Yesterday I drove it through a blinding rainstorm for hours. Why didn't that clear away the dirt? I ran it through a car wash before leaving Cheyenne this morning and an hour later I was driving it down a dirt/muddy road to that Ames Monument. It didn't stay clean long.
That's it for today,
Tim
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