Seven Months On The Road - What? It's Done Already?

 The Green River, a tributary of the Colorado River, flows through the Flaming Gorge. The Flaming Gorge was given it's name due to the spectacular red sandstone cliffs that surround this part of the river. In 1964, the Flaming Gorge Dam was finished and created a reservoir that is about 90 miles long. Located in both Wyoming and Utah, the gorge is a major recreation area for fisherpeople, rafters and hikers. There happens to be a scenic drive that surrounds the reservoir (lucky for me).

Da Dam

World's Largest Fly?

There was even a parking spot just for us!!

Upon leaving the Gorge area, we have a long, long drive to Rapid City, South Dakota. Well, most people wouldn't think it was long, it was a drive of about four hours. Miko, Jogger and I like to drive maybe two/three hours max at a time. Who am I kidding – Miko and Jogger would prefer no drive at all. Anyways, Lou found a place to stop along the way in Casper Wyoming – the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. We thought it would be a nice twenty minute stop. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I really wish I had been able to spend more time here.

The Center commemorates the travel corridor of the Oregon, Mormon, California and Pony Express trails. They all came together in the Casper area. The Interpretive part of it's name meant that there were many hands-on, interactive displays. We all know how much I like to play. This place was fantastic. They even had rides. You hop into a covered wagon and a video plays in front so it seems like you are crossing the North Platte river. There are bumps and rolls as you cross the river.

Skull from a now extinct species - Bison Antiquus,
which was hunted by Plains hunters 10,000 years ago. 
It is much larger than current day Bison.

The view from our covered wagon.  This is a scene from the video that played.

We had planned on only staying one night in Rapid City but ended up staying three nights because of the winds. You don't want to be on the highway when there are gusts up to 70 mpg. As it was, it is no fun being parked in a camper with gusts that high. I was seriously worried that my camper was going to tip over. Once the winds died down a bit, we were on our way. Having a tail wind of 20 mpg really does wonders for your gas mileage.

After a quick stop in Sioux Falls to see a co-worker from the olden days and a quick jaunt out to see the falls at night (very impressive), we made it home to Minnesota. While it is wonderful to be home, I'm sort of sad that I'm not on the road anymore. Oh well... there will be more explorations to come.