Western Swing 2013 - 16 - Cody to Cheyenne

Today was another big travel day. After Byron got out of a board meeting around noon, we took off for Cheyenne where we planned to spend the night at a Flying J on I-80. The route, since the selection isn’t too broad, was back the way we got to Cody. But, before taking off in the Airstream we took a photo of the mountain we had the pleasure of viewing each day at the RV campground. We, and others at the rally, have observed how the snow was melting. Summer, though brief out here, is coming and with it the water runoff.

The familiar sight to the south of the Absaroke Bay RV Park in Cody.

As mentioned, we would be returning as we came in. Since it had been almost a week that wasn’t a problem. Besides, we’d see things from a different angle and, just like in a rerun, something not noticed before.

Our first stop was at Thermopolis where the largest mineral hot springs exist. We were more observant this time and did see things we didn’t see before, especially around the mineral pools at the State Park.

Martha, Redford and Julie Ann at the vista point overlooking the mineral pools 

at Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, WY.

Just across the highway from the motorhome (parked at the vista point)

rises a large hill of rock and folders. The peak is probably 700 feet

above the road surface. Photo’s just can’t capture the true perspective.

From Thermopolis we headed on south toward Shoshoni. This took us through Wind River Canyon, a beautiful to a higher elevation with the Big Horn River, BNSF railroad, and highway all winding through the narrow canyon with rock cliffs rising in excess of 1,000 feet to either side.

A BNSF freight train winds it’s way downward as we head upward through

Wind River Canyon on the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming.

Seeing that our drive on Saturday would only be about 120 miles and that we could be in Cheyenne by 9 PM instead of later, we decided to check into the KOA east of Cheyenne and take advantage of the opportunity to explore the state’s Capitol a bit on Saturday morning before heading to the Denver area.