July 4, 2010

Happy 4th, everyone!
From Pinedale rest stop we proceded to Rock springs, WY and stayed there overnight. Our coach battery was still giving us problems, so I worked on the connections extensively..I think I got it back to normal, although the battery was damaged & won't hold a charge quite like it did..Then after researching RV parks in and around Cheyenne we found only 2 parks with spaces left--Cheyenne Frontier Days has all the hotels, RV parks & campgrounds all booked up in July. We decided to drive to Cheyenne to rent a spot while we could..T-Joes Restaurant, Bar & RV Park isn't much to look at but had a space for $280 a month + electric..from there we drove a few miles to the WY welcome center I-25 @ I-80 to stay the night--free wifi!
With a few days left in June, we decided to see some sights in east-central WY,so we took off on the I-25 northward to Casper. The next day we left the Chamber of Commerce/ Info center (where we parked overnight in the back of the facility) a few miles up the road to the Fort Caspar Museum, where they had log buildings and an informative walking tour. Then we headed down the 220 about 50 miles to Independence Rock State Hist. site, a huge rock dome which the 1800's pioneers stopped at and used for a point of reference--many of these people signed their names on the rock face. Saw a rattler in a crack on the rock. From there we drove a few miles to see the Devil's Gate, simply a gap in the hills also used as a reference point. After leaving the "gate" we went back to Casper & stayed the night at you guessed it--Walmart.
Next day (Tues) we headed south to Glenrock & visited the Dinosaur Museum, a very cool and informative venue that even offers the excitement of going on a "dig" with the scientists (we didn't go--no dig this day). Next we had lunch & wifi at McDonalds in Douglas, then went east on US26 to the Register Cliffs site, where pioneers (and others) wrote their names during their travels on the Oregon/Mormon/California Trail. Then 1 mile over to the Oregon Trail Ruts, actual tracks carved into the rocky countryside by the thousands of wagons passing through--very impressive. From there we continued on to Fort Laramie, perhaps the most important outpost on the westward trail. The site has many buildings original & restored from the 1830's on, plus items and artifacts used by the workers and soldiers. From there we drove several miles back to a highway rest area, where we stayed the night.
Oh, I left out the Ayers Natural Bridge, between Glenrock and Douglas, an awesome rock bridge formation over the N.Platte River. There is a nice park and camping facilities there at the natural bridge, as well as outstanding red canyon views.
The next day we drove down to Cheyenne and set up camp at T-Joes RV park. There is a fireworks stand in the same (large) parking lot, so we should expect some explosions during the days leading up to the Fourth of July...