Willard Bay to Cheyenne, WY

It wasn’t quite as hot, only in the mid 80s to low 90s. But it was still hot when we got ready to sleep at Willard Bay so we tried out the air conditioner – worked great! We had a nice breakfast the next morning, sitting outside watching orioles feeding in a nearby bush and a magpie poking around other campsites. Kate saw a couple of quails in the campground, too.

On the way to Cheyenne, WY, we saw any number of wind turbine farms, and in places it was noticably windy as the car and trailer veered into the other lane. 😯 The landscape in Utah was so interesting – I should have been a geologist. (But that’s the great thing about being a librarian, interested in so many fields!) The bending and flow of the layers of sediment as they were thrust upward and then worn away by wind and water was fascinating. I noticed the change in colors, from bright red and orange and brown jagged rock formations when we started out, to grey-green stones that were rounded and sculpted as we travelled East. The latter looked like the wet sand drip sculptures we used to make on the beach, only on a massive scale.

Near Rock Springs, WY

We crossed so many mountain ranges that we were worried about the Subaru overheating on the way up those long steep inclines or the brakes overheating on the way down. At least the drag of the trailer worked to our advantage coming down. The steepest grade was up the Medicine Bow Mtns outside of Laramie, WY. And there I saw evergreens! What a fresh sight after all the miles of rocks and sage. A bit of the inland Northwest.

One of the most interesting highway signs I’ve ever seen on the road, and reproduced here at a rest stop:

The highway to Cheyene seemed all uphill and very little down, as though we were climbing to the top of the steppe, and then it flattened out for miles into Cheyenne. And outside of Cheyenne we saw the first couple of oil pump rigs, like we’ve seen in North Dakota, bobbing up and down. They remind me of that kid’s toy, the bird that drinks from a glass of water getting the bill wet, then the water evaporates and it tips back into the glass. (Maybe that dates me…)

Interesting bits from the day:

We crossed the Continental Divide.

I had a message from a friend of my folks who lives in Evanston, IL, just after we’d been through Evanston, WY.

More windfarms, each standing sentinal along a ridge, some in multiple rows.

Road names: Bar Hat Rd., Wagonhound Rd.

This morning we are off to Lincoln, NE, where we spend tonight and have dinner with my first girlfriend Deb, from the days we both lived in Madison, WI.

On the road with two dogs,

-Jeanne