July 24-25: Laramie, Wyoming

July 24: As we progress westward the landscape changed to the drier prairie, less fields of crops and more ranch land with grazing cattle. The lush green is gone and the foliage is drier. The land is still flat, no sign of mountains yet.

We have noticed a few mesquite trees here and there, but the numbers have been increasing. Here we now see mostly mesquites.

We have reached Wyoming and see more pine trees. The trip today is a continual, but gradual climb.

The mountains are starting to appear. The scenery is what is typical in old west movies.

We stopped at the visitor center shortly after crossing the state line and picked up a map and tourist guide. We saw a picture of this monument to Abraham Lincoln and read about it, but are surprised when we can see it from the interstate. What an impressive sight. This monument is at the summit, highest point on the transcontinental I-80 at 8640' above sea level, about 15 miles east of Laramie. This monument was commissioned in 1959 to stand at the highest point of the Lincoln Highway. When I-80 was completed in 1969 the monument was moved to it's present location.

July 25: We are staying in Laramie for the next two nights (altitude 7200'). This prison housed may notorious outlaws in the 1800's and early 1900's. One of note is "Butch" Cassidy.

Look who the U.S. Marshal captured.

The processing room.

The kitchen.

The laundry with man-powered washing machines.

The prisoner housing, three tiers high.

And here is the newest prisoner. Wonder how long he'll have to serve.

Behind the prison is a frontier village. This is a very nice log cabin compared to those we have seen on this trip. Glass in the windows, two large bedrooms and nice furnishings.

The front porch with the man-powered washing machine and tubs. We saw washing machines like this one in the Route 66 Museum at the first part of the trip. There is a barn and other out buildings and several pieces of farming equipment.

Just inside the entrance in the main room of the house is the wash basin. This was probably located here so the family members could wash up after working out on the farm as soon as they entered the house.

The old west street.

The curator, Teresa, decides that the Bear can work off his sentence at the guest counter in the visitor center of the Territorial Prison Historical Site. So don't worry, he'll be coming home with us.

This monument is on the University of Wyoming campus. We didn't spend any time on the campus. After visiting the Territorial Prison Historical Site we had a snack in a beautiful park in the shade of a tree. The weather is comfortable, but we see storm clouds moving in.

We stop at the Chamber of Commerce to pick up a self guided tour map of the Historical are of Laramie then stop at Wendy's for lunch. We decide to go back to the trailer to rest and just in time. The storm moves in on a strong wind which rocks the trailer and drops rain for a while. After dinner we head over to the Ice Arena to see the Fly Ball event. The event starts tomorrow, but the local participants are practicing. This is an event for dogs and their people. The dogs work in teams of 4 on a relay basis. Each dog must run in a lane, clearing gates, hit a platform that releases a tennis ball. The ball is retrieved, the dog runs back in the lane to deliver the ball to it's handler. As soon as the dogs passes a point on it's return the next dog is released to perform the same fete.

We don't get to see the Historical Old Town due to the thunder storm, and when we get back to the trailer a second thunder storm blows through.

Tomorrow we head for Rock Springs.

July 23: Ogallala, Nebraska

The Great Platte River Archway Monument. This spans the width of I-80. We look this up in the Nebraska Travel Guide we picked up at the Visitor Center. By the time we find out what this monument entails it is too late to stop. It includes a museum covering the development of the west. This archway is quite impressive and visible from miles away.

Just past the archway is this "abandoned" state coach.

"Wind Sculpture" in a pond at the rest stop near North Platte. The panels are hinged so that the wind can make them move. The wind is light today and two of the panels are moving slightly. As you can see the panels face in several directions so that what ever the direction of the wind there will be movement somewhere in the sculpture.

While photographing the sculpture we see these huge mushrooms in the grass. These have been pulled up, most likely by children. Whether they are edible we do not know.

Here we are again under a T-storm watch. We finally have cable TV service and can watch the news and keep informed about the weather. This is the sky to the west of us, and.....

this is the sky to the east of us. We see a couple of flashes of lightning, hear a few rolls of thunder in the distance, have a light sprinkling of rain, but that is it so far. The clouds lift from the western horizon a little and the sunset is beautiful.

We may take in some of the points of interest tomorrow, or just head on to Wyoming where it is cooler. The temps are going to be in the high 80's & low 90's here tomorrow, and with this humidity it is not comfortable outside. It is good that the trailer has an air conditioner.

July22: Grand Island, Nebraska

Nebraska, entering another state. This bridge takes us over the Missouri River which is the state line between Iowa and Nebraska. We are on a bee line for home from now on. If we see something of interest we will check it out, but today is a camp, rest and plot the path to home day. We need to be home by the 3rd of August. After the first month and a half we were both wanting to be home, then we got over that and wanted to keep traveling.



Linda thinks of her experiences riding horses and feels the old saying is true, "The horse has to be encouraged to head away from the barn, but is ready to make a fast return."



We have seen a great amount of flat land or rolling hills. We see rolling hills when we first enter Nebraska, but soon we are looking at scenes like this. We will have to get use to the mountains again after we cross the Rockies.

We know we have loads of photos of corn fields, but this one caught our eyes.

This is a field damaged by flooding from the heavy rains. We are traveling north of the areas where the flooding was so devastating, but have seen some fields that show the effects.

Many of the Fields we have driven by have been replanted after the soil dried enough. Many farmers have put in soy beans in these areas instead of corn.

Finally a group of farm building and silos close enough to really see them. If one were on an exhibition to photograph farms, silos and barns our path of travel so far would be excellent.

In the past week most of the corn crops have blossomed out. The KOA RV park where we are camped is on the grassy side of this fence. Dan is 6'1", so this gives an idea of how tall the corn is. We can also see that the stalks have fairly good sized ears. This is "dent corn", the variety used to produce animal feed and ethanol. Before this crop is harvested it is left to dry out. Unlike "sweet corn" which is the type consumed by us people.

The stalks are so close together that weeds can't grow. The farms, fields, towns, and landscapes we have passed through in the past month are picture perfect. Green, clean and well taken care of. We have seen State Pride among the citizens of these state and it is impressive.

July 21, Madison County, Iowa

Today we stopped in Adel to stay the night. We discover that we are right at he edge of Madison County, the place written about in the book "The Bridges of Madison County". It's a short drive and has several historic covered bridges. We pick up a map here. We also find that the town of Winterset, where this Visitor Center is, is the birth place of John Wayne. Now we have two points of interest to visit.

City Hall in Winterset, Madison Count, Iowa.

Read the street sign. As always, this town has wonderful old, old buildings which are well preserved.

John Wayne's boyhood home.

The Duke in bronze.

We find this bridge in a beautiful park where there is also a hedge maze. The bridges are all almost identical so we visit just this one. The gate to the maze is locked. It would have been fun to go through it.

None of the bridges have water running under them, and most have been relocated to the area around this little town.

We walk across the bridge and explore the park area.

July 15 - 20, Minnesota

While publishing the last post Linda had to sit out side until 9:30 pm. to get a good enough WiFi signal. She applied Skin-So-Soft to keep the mosquitoes off, but didn't get it into her hair line. After brushing away a few of the pests she brought out the citronella candle, but it was too late she ended up with 4 bites on her forehead and one in her part. It seems that by the time one feels the brush of the mosquito's wings one has already been bitten. She did, however, enjoy watching the fireflies.

July 15: Today we are heading north. The interstate takes us right through St. Paul, MN.

We stopped for gas at Sandstone and this stand of pines makes an interesting picture.

After setting up we walk around the RV park and find a group of people who are on an annual camp out. They always have a competition for the best decorated camp site. This particular site is that of a couple who participate in Civil War re-enactments and this is the gear they use. They decided to make this their bid for this year.

As soon as we see their black bear, along with the moose, we asked if our bear can visit. He even seems to be smiling. He has loads of fun visiting with this group.

These are some of the birch trees that cover this general area. There are also a few varieties of pines and other deciduous trees, but the birches realy stand out. This particular day we had some sunshine which made the white trunks stand out.

Some other views from our camp site.

This park is so far out that there is no sign of civilization except that we do have electricity and water hook-ups. The electricity is under ground so the feeling of wilderness is not ruined. The camp sites are scattered among the trees and many seem secluded. However, the deer flies are busy during the day and the mosquitoes are busy in the evening and all night (except for when it is raining). Thank goodness we have plenty of Skin-S0-Soft. We have insect repellent, but it is in a pump spray bottle which is difficult to use and is not good when sprayed on the face. Skin-So-Soft seems to work better than the repellent and it is a good moisturizer.

This is the view from our trailer door.

We had booked this camp ground for some of the activities they offered, but it rained every day except the day we got these shots. We had planned on inner tubing down the St. Croix River, but it poured that day. Linda wasn't too disappointed about this since she is hydrophobic and one of our fellow campers, who is a MN resident, said that with the heavy rains this year the river would probably be running faster than normal. Dan would have really enjoyed the river and was dissappointed. He enjoys visiting with the neighboring campers everywhere we stay, so is happy to fill the time this way.

We spent a lot of time in the trailer reading and playing games on our laptops. Dan enjoys Free Cell and Linda is getting to understand the Jewel Quest game the Heywoods gave them for the trip. It wasn't all a "wash out", we visited with other campers and did get to enjoy some of the activities. The RV park has hired a live band for Friday & Saturday evening, and the seasonal residents have prepared a play. The band was excellent and the play was really good.

Many of the private & state RV camp grounds have seasonal/permanent sections. The residents in these areas are mostly from the local and surrounding areas. We get a real taste of the accents of the local people in these parks. Here we are surrounded by Minnesota residents and have started talking like them.

The only RV park with seasonal/permanent residents where we didn't meet any residents was in Port Byron, IL, since the place had been flooded. The entrance to that park had been under water and had only been clear for a couple of days before we arrived. In fact we seemed to be the only people there beside the manager.

July20: We are heading back to Albert Lee in Iowa. We are going through St. Paul, MN, again. We noticed this on the way north and decided to get a photo as we headed south. This is the ski slope just north of St. Paul, and yes it is right off Interstate 35! These people don't have to go far to hit the slopes.

Fields of corn and soy beans as far as the eye can see. The farming in the Midwest is vast. We have seen many Farm Equipment and Mower dealers in past few weeks.