Blue Highways

This evening we are in Hot Springs, South Dakota having driven all day from Grand Teton National Park. Trust me, Wyoming is a big state!

As is our wont we traveled on blue highways today. Except for one brief stretch on I-25 near Casper, WY we stayed on secondary roads and saw some of the real Wyoming. Those of you from areas with suburban sprawl - especially the Boston-Washington corridor - simply can't imagine what it's like in the wide open country. Wyoming (and Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, etc. Even California when you get away from the major cities!) have individual communities. There is no suburbia, so all the business activity is in small towns. You can sometimes go 40-50 miles between towns! (No cell phone service either, so make sure you don't break down!)

Some of these small towns are delightful. Some are miniscule. Each town proudly announces its presence with a sign detailing the altitude and population. I will never forgive myself for missing a picture of one such sign today. It proudly announced a population of 1!

If you are wondering where your beef comes from, this is a big part of the answer. Virtually all of Wyoming is open ranchland. Mile after mile of fenced-in cattle. Oh yes - if you look carefully you can see pronghorn antelope and other deer-like creatures among them.

Tomorrow we move to Custer State Park for a couple of days, so - you guessed it - no Internet.

We are really on the home stretch. Only 10 more days to go. I can't figure out whether it seems like the time flew by or whether we have been gone forever.

The one thing I can say is that we have had much better weather than if we had stayed at home. I'm really glad our house sits 200 feet above the river.