Cheyenne

Mon-Tues, Sept 18-19…

(more on this later)

Relatively short drive to Cheyenne, where we’re camped next to a retired couple from Woodland (WA) who have a delightfully friendly 2yo lab named Gracie.  We shared travel stories and got together later to watch Ken Burns' Vietnam War series. This campground also does homemade BBQ, and we enjoyed a generous portion of ribs for dinner. Wandering through the park earlier, I noticed a rig with Hawaii plates – not a license I expected to see out here (more or less in the middle of nowhere).

That's a calf. Go figure.

Tuesday I worked on the blog all morning while Greg installed a new exterior radio and puttered around w/ other maintenance issues. Our new WA friends had recommended the Union-Pacific Depot Museum, so we headed into town later. Cheyenne was apparently a pretty important hub during the construction of the transcontinental railroad. And photos from the heydey of rail travel are always interesting. All the formality – nothing like today. (I never traveled first class on anything, but I still remember dressing up to fly home from college in the mid 60s.) Many museums we’ve visited include incredibly detailed dioramas and/or models. Here we saw a beautiful, 9000-piece wooden model of “Big Boy,” the 600-ton articulated locomotive used for hauling over the Wasatch Mts (Utah) during the 1940s. Twenty-five were built; 14 are still around (though not in use), and one of these rests in Holliday Park (Cheyenne). The real thing is awesome in its bulk, the model equally awesome in beauty.

117', including tender (engine is 85')

Three or four feet, each piece meticulously detailed and polished.

Public Art, Downtown Cheyenne

Tribute to Women for their Role
in Developing the West

First Settlers (left)
and Cowboys

Maybe persistent wind at Holliday Park?
(downtown Cheyenne)

BlogThoughts... It's been windy since we left Yellowstone, and especially so here in Cheyenne. The gusts today seemed to get stronger and more frequent as we went along. I like wind. (I thought hurricanes were "fun" when I was a kid.) I love walking in a good wind, but walking 100' back from the laundry this evening I had my arm close over the clean clothes to make sure I didn't lose any. After supper, Greg suggested I make one more loop around the campground. I can always use steps, so I grabbed a jacket (yes, there's been a decided wind chill factor today) and headed out. Ten or 15 minutes later, I'm back. Greg grins and asks "Have fun?" and I'm like "Yeh, but actually it was probably more work than fun." The gusts continued 'til after midnight. The MH rarely budged, but we pulled the sides in as a precaution. Fortunately, things were pretty calm in the morning. (We wouldn't have left if that level of wind had persisted.)