Meeteetse and More

Cody, Wyoming is on the edge of the Bighorn Basin and, after a day to catch up on laundry, our route from there headed south and east through the basin, down towards Meeteetse and Thermopolis on WY120 then through the Wind River Canyon to Shoshoni on US20 and on to Casper still on US20 where we reached I-25.

Sometimes we saw pronghorn antelope just feet from the road on the way to Meeteetse and then a small herd of what were probably mule deer. I tried to catch pictures but we were past them before I could get the camera on. 

Somewhere on WY120 between Meeteetse and Thermopolis, soon after passing some round hay bales piled up to make a teddy bear, we came across an unexpected rest area with rest rooms and terrific scenery, out there in the middle of no where!

Towns out in the Bighorn Basin are small, Meeteetse listed a population of only 327. By contrast, Thermopolis was huge with a population of 3009! It is probably the attraction of the hot springs and the state park in the area that explain the size of Thermopolis.

After Thermopolis we found ourselves on US20 in Wind River Canyon on the Wind River Indian Reservation. The road runs along the east side of the river which is actually a stretch of the Bighorn River. We are going south but up the river as it flows northwards. 

Their are railroad tracks on the other side of river and at one point we had to go through three small tunnels in a row, cut in the rock. The canyon is beautiful and ends at an earthen dam that creates Boysen Lake which has some lovely campgrounds.

Earthen dam creating Boysen Lake

Boysen Lake and State Park - Island has campgrounds

That afternoon I had a “fight” between the toilet, my clothes, and my hands. The toilet won ... my clothes were uninjured bystanders ... my hands lost, the left hitting the sink counter and the right smashing into the door frame with the two fingers and knuckles getting bruised and swollen. Now doing almost anything with the right hand hurts! I guess I should be glad there was no breakage, especially of myself!.

We found and ate at the Fire Rock Steakhouse in Casper, quietly in mid-afternoon with no one else there. We finally saw a few of the big wind turbines near Casper although I prefer the look of the smaller windmills that keep water tanks filled for the cattle out on the prairies.

That night we stayed at the Douglas KOA and faced with more clogged toilet problems the management was kind enough to lend us a snake which helped ... a little. From here we headed east to Nebraska through Lost Springs, population 4, and the Fort Laramie area, picking up I-80 around Kimball in Nebraska, having crossed the state border around noon.

Western Nebraska is very like eastern Wyoming ... hay bales, snow fences, and cattle, with the occasional pronghorn antelope or mule deer. We did see some carloads of coal and some of those huge irrigation wheels watering the crops. Usually the big water-wheels which are often called pivots or circle irrigation are just sitting quietly in the fields, waiting there turn to get out there and travel across the fields.

We stopped in Sidney, Nebraska, to eat at the Buffalo Point Restaurant and Geoff took the opportunity to go into the nearby Cabela's, not finding what he was looking for although he did get me a hat! This was a pretty exit with truck stops and the restaurant and the Cabela's and a large flock of Canadian Geese that had stopped to rest before continuing southwards I suppose.

We stopped at a scenic overlook at mile marker 99 which looked out over a huge flat area including Nebraska and the part of Colorado that fills the notch in the Nebraska outline. The Historical Marker at this spot is headed Julesburg and Fort Sedgewick, and says that Julesburg, Colorado, is visible to the southwest which would be the right side of the picture below. Established in 1859 as trading post and stage station, Julesburg was near several of the overland routes and became and important transportation and military center in the 1860's. In 1865, Sioux and Cheyenne attacked in revenge for the Sand Creek Massacre. The settlement was burned, killing 18 defenders. Julesburg was rebuilt on a new site and the military post was enlarged and later named Fort Sedgewick. 

Although abandoned in 1871, the Fort was a focal point for military activities in the region including protecting the construction of the Union Pacific across western Nebraska in 1867. The town was rebuilt near the railroad but lasted less than a year and was notorious for vice and violence. The present day Julesburg was platted as Denver Junction in 1884.

From there we traveled a little further to the Holiday RV Park in North Platte, Nebraska. We are getting closer to where some of my ancestors homesteaded!