Come on in and sit down

 Our day begins - Tuesday, May 19

Today we wake up to rain and fog. We decided to make a stop at Fort Laramie. The fort is operated by the National Park Service and there is no admission charge to get in. The visitor center shows an 18 minute video about the history of the fort. Many of the buildings are still there and have been restored. 

They are staged with furniture and artifacts from the period. We didn’t walk through them all due to the rain and the buildings being scattered about the grounds but the ones we did walk through were worth it.   

Can you imagine coming off the trail after weeks or months of dirty, dusty travel and feeling safe and sound at Fort Laramie? What a wonderful glimpse into history. 

We purchase a couple of things from the gift shop and decide to move on.

  

Have I told you how much I dislike...SNOW?

Just west of Guernsey the rain turned to snow and I immediately question my decision to take a PNW tour instead of a Caribbean cruise. Ha ha ha -  I don’t hate many things in life…but the snow of Illinois winters is one of them. It is not actually the snow that I hate, but the driving in it to get to work. Well, for now I am not driving and Charlie doesn’t seem upset by this new development, so we carry on. 

Our first Boondocker’s Welcome experience

We contact Ray and Lois to get the final directions to their place. We have a lovely chat on the phone and by the time we are done, we are excited to meet them. The scenery on the way is lovely. The Platt River runs near their home with mountains around every turn of the road. 

Mountains near Ray and Lois's

We pull in the driveway and knock on the door. Ray and Lois welcome us into their home and invite us to sit down. We immediately begin conversing as if we had known each other our whole lives. We could have continued talking for hours but we needed to get Lilah settled in.

Ray and Lois set us up in a nice level parking spot and hook us up to electric. The views are wonderful. They invite us to go out to dinner in Douglas and Charlie and I are determined to pay for their meal as a thank you for their hospitality. We go to a quaint little restaurant called The Depot. We had great food and a wonderful time. Ray insists on buying our meal. Thank you again Ray!

They give us a tour of the town and then we return to their place for more conversation. I think we could have talked all night. They were pleasant, friendly and accommodating folks and I can’t imagine a better Boondocker’s Welcome experience. Thank you, Ray and Lois, for making us feel right at home. We will treasure our experience with you!

Let's find some big mountains - Wednesday, May 20

Today we leave Douglas with a goal of arriving just outside of Yellowstone. We drive on the tops of snow covered mountains. It looks almost “other worldly” as the snow covers everything we see and the clouds are so close it seems like we can touch them.

Uh oh, I am not feeling so well. It is a little hard to breathe. I’m a little light-headed, sleepy, and my tummy is a bit upset. I hear this is called Altitude Sickness. I decide that I am not gonna use the name Altitude Sickness and instead decide to call my experience “Altitude Adjustment” because quite frankly, I have had enough sickness in the last year and beyond to fill a lifetime. (These Altitude Adjustment symptoms will last the next day or so before they begin to lessen.)

Mountain tunnels

The drive on this day was beautiful. More mountains, more rocks, more bluffs, more buttes, more rivers, more of everything! I am so excited to be out in the world seeing new things! We go through three mountain tunnels between Shoshoni and Thermopolis. There are big, rocky mountains with boulders that look like they could fall at anytime. What an amazing place! We stop for many picture opportunities along the way.

The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. LOL

Buffalo Bill State Park

 

We pull into Cody, WY late in the afternoon. Chuck grabs some information from the visitor center and we head off to find a campsite outside of town. We end up at the Buffalo Bill State Park campground. WOW! This park sits right on the Buffalo Bill Reservoir. The sites are mostly level, cost is $17, and there are very few campers present. The hosts even stop by to say hello. 

We have the lake in front of us with gorgeous mountains behind the lake and there are mountains behind us. We feel surrounded by nature’s beauty! Charlie grabs these photos in the morning as the sun comes up. 

Next up: Yellowstone and the Tetons

Happy Travels,

Charlie and Tammy