“Home, Home on the Range”!

Today we traveled west through the rest of Nebraska and all of Wyoming on I-80.  In Utah we turned north on I-84.  We are presently about 40 miles from the Idaho border.  In Nebraska and Wyoming we actually saw deer, antelope, elk, prairie dogs and a flock of wild turkey.  One of the male turkeys was in full strut – fan tail and all. So we felt like we were “Home on the Range”.

Prairie Dog in Wyoming

I-80 actually follows very closely to the old Mormon and Oregon trails.  In Nebraska the land is flat and the Platt River is nearby.  I cannot imagine how slow the trip west seemed for those pioneers as they crossed the western plains in their covered wagons, when it seemed like ‘forever’ in our covered wagon traveling at 70mph.  Actually Cal will have a better feel of their experience as he rides his bike east. 

In both eastern and western Wyoming we saw wind turbine farms on many ridges.  However mid Wyoming, along I-80 there are no wind farms, but today we experienced extreme winds. I would not have wanted to be driving a semi rig or a motor home today.

West of Cheyenne, Wyoming we saw our first snow.  They have an extensive system of snow fences to collect snow so their snow melt is not just off the mountains but from the drifted piles of snow.  Water is so precious in these parts and having a longer snow melt period helps the reservoirs for the grazing cattle. 

Wyoming is also actively drilling for natural gas.  We saw lots of new pumps, pipes, and storage tanks, as well as the drilling rigs.   

In western Wyoming and Utah (east Salt Lake City), there are beautiful snow covered mountains - still plenty of snow for skiing.



6 miles ridge to ridge



 We drove in and out of rain storms all afternoon, and the temperature is at 50 degrees – a little nasty.