Garryowen, MT to Douglas, WY July 23, 2014

Wednesday, July 23, 2014 It was a nice, cool morning. Very refreshing! Today’s expected high–100 degrees here. Good thing we’re moving on. The trailer stayed hooked up to the truck yesterday which makes for an easier and quicker departure. We got an early start and left the campground at 8:30. There are storms forecast for north of here, so hopefully we won’t run into any bad weather along the way. We are heading to Douglas, WY. Douglas is listed as the 72nd of 100 best small towns in America. It also has the largest population of pronghorns in the nation. On the campground website we read that you can see antelope, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and jack rabbits in the campground. Hmmmm! We’ll see. Douglas is also said to be the original home of the jackalope–a jack rabbit sporting antlers, a fanciful creation of Wyoming taxidermists. We’ve seen jackalope in Wisconsin, so we know they exist. We left the plains and started our climb. Too bad it was hazy(smoky) today, the view from above was vast.

We were in the Bighorn Mountains which ran parallel to us for many miles.

At times, we were down to 35 mph on our climb up the hills and the wind was gusty. This bridge was not a highway crossing the Interstate. There was no road there. It was a cattle crossing.

We left Montana and entered Wyoming.

We could see snow on the mountaintops of Penrose Peak (12,460 ft.) and Cloud Peak (13, 167) in the Bighorn Mountain range.

Bob was feeling a little disoriented so we stopped to get him something to eat out of the trailer and give him a chance to walk around. We got gas as long as we had to stop. After awhile, he felt better and we could go on. On the way out to Glacier, we just cut the NE corner of Wyoming and entered Montana. This time we’ll take I-25 from north to south through Wyoming. We got a different view of Sheridan, WY.

The closer we got to the mountains, the clearer it got.

Antelope and mule deer were sprinkled on the hillsides covered in sagebrush.

We turned onto I-25 and traffic was light on this “red highway”.

Lake DeSmet was a huge “oasis” in the midst of these arid grasslands.

We passed a huge prairie dog town. There were lots of “towns” all throughout the prairie. They were everywhere. We went through miles and miles of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING except a cow or antelope every now and then. This was the road we followed.

Then…..there were llamas! Really?

The speed limit on this highway was 80 mph, but no one was going that fast. The road condition wasn’t that good to travel at that speed. When’s the last time you saw a speed limit of 80?

There was very little traffic, no towns, no houses, no services for a couple of hundred miles. We finally began seeing some civilization as we got closer to Casper, WY.

Then NOTHINGNESS again. The road went on and on.

The terrain changed a little too as we began to see rocky bluffs in the distance.

As we neared Douglas, we caught sight of a jackalope on the hillside.

After fueling up, we headed for the campground, the Douglas KOA, where another jackalope was waiting to welcome us.

We checked in at 2:00 and went to our site. 

It was about 85 degrees as we set up camp and relaxed after a long drive today. We had fish for dinner and relaxed until the sun started to set. Then Auggie got a nice long walk around the campground. We checked out the yurt that you can rent. 

This campground also provides facilities for horse camping so Auggie and I went to see the horses.

These clouds were blocking the sunset, but they were beautiful just the same. Can you tell I really get into the cloud formations? 

On the hill across the highway from the campground is a statue of a pony express rider. It’s sillouette looks cool against the blue sky. The National Pony Express Trail starts in Douglas.

Tomorrow we head for Denver, to Highlands Ranch to be precise, to visit Bob’s youngest sister and her family.