Friday 28 August 2015
Last night, our room became a laundry drying room. We washed our clothes in the hotel laundrette late yesterday evening and hung it to dry on a variety of hangers and rails in our room overnight. This morning, on the way to breakfast, we popped most of it into a tumble drier. We collected it all on the way back and now have fresh clothes again.
Our plan today was to leave Cody and head east towards South Dakota. We enjoyed our stay at The Best Western Cody, there really was nothing to fault at all. It was quiet friendly and comfortable.
We left not long after nine and first refuelled the car before heading back down route 120 and 20 to Thermopolis and Shoshone, the route we used on Wednesday but in reverse. I was expecting the road to be busier, but in the 80 odd miles to Thermopolis we overtook three motorhomes and briefly followed a car. The remainder of the journey was done at a steady 65mph. We stopped in the Big Horn River Canyon to take some photos. I previously blogged that this was the Wind River Canyon! It really is very spectacular. I also said that Meeteetse was a half a horse town. My apologies, as in daylight, it is clearly a three-quarter horse town.
Shoshone is clearly becoming a ghost town, many of its building empty and abandoned. Here, we rejoined the route 20 heading due east to Casper. Once out of Shoshone, I put the car in cruise at 65mph and never touched the brake or accelerator for nearly 85 miles. It was miles of Sage-bush wilderness which is apparently important to Pronghorn Antelope and Sage Grouse. We saw loads of Pronghorn, but no grouse. It is a very empty landscape. We passed several communities, Monetary, Hiland, Waltman, Powder River and Natrona, some were ghost communities and one or two that advertised a populalation of less than 10.
Casper is a large town with a population of over 55,000 people on the Missouri River. Apparently it is the site of the Mormon Ferry built by Brigham-Young. We really bypassed it on the way to the I-25. We set off on the Interstate, but I couldn't see what the speed limit was. We'd not travelled on the Interstate in Wyoming before. I thought it might be 75mph until a huge lorry hauling two trailers swooshed past us at over 80 mph! It was a bit unnerving. Eventually, we saw a speed limit sign and it was for 80mph for both cars and lorries.
We drove down the Interstate for 60 miles to Douglas where we turned off, again following route 20. This road took us through Lusk to Van Tassel the eastern edge of Wyoming. Once again, the communities were either minuscule or ghost towns. Lost Springs had a population of 2, Node 4 and Van Tassel 15. Orin, Shawnee, Keeline and Manville were one blink and you'd missed them!
We briefly stopped at Lusk for a drink and we briefly considered staying here, but after a look, decided to continue East. We stopped at Van Tassel to take a photo of the Nebraska State line as we left Wyoming. This is one of few USA States we've not visited, hence the photo.
Once in Nebraska, we stayed on route 20 and passed through Harrison before arriving at Fort Robinson. This, once busy US Army base, is now a historical monument looked after by the State. We stopped very briefly to use the loos! It is beautifully preserved and it is possible to stay in the barracks. Clearly a popular option as the check in area was really busy.
Crawford, the next town, was also on our list of places to stop, but it was so small and the motel didn't look fantastic. We might have stayed had there been anywhere to eat. As it was, we continued on to Chadron, a slightly larger town where we checked in to the Motel 6. We got a good room rate which became even better we we requested Military Discount.
We popped into the middle of the town, which dates to the 1880s and had dinner at a local bar/grill Wilds Grill, famous for its spicy pretzels! Lynn didn't like the pretzels! When we left, a local band had set up on a trailer in the street at the coffee bar next door and were belting out Led Zepplin tunes!
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