Wyoming—A place where wilderness whispers secrets to the soul.

Days 14 & 15, –Saturday & Sunday, Sept. 16th & 17th

Saturday: This morning, we leave the Jellystone RV Resort after probably the worst night of sleep (at least for me). Justin and Quigley slept like babies. We headed through Denver and out of Colorado, but not before stopping at a Cabelas and picking up some new camp chairs, super comfy and not as bulky as the zero gravity chairs we currently have on board. Finally, we crossed the Wyoming border and, within minutes, noticed the roads were much smoother; traffic was way down, and the scenery became more beautiful.

Wheatland, Wyoming, on the way to Casper

We stopped in Cheyenne for a bite to eat. Cheyenne is about the smallest capital city we have been through. We continued to Casper, Wyoming, the second most populated city in Wyoming, whose nickname is “The Oil City”. They are known for their oil as well as the cowboy culture. We stayed for the night at the Casper East Campground. We parked the RV, and Justin said, let’s go check out their town, so we headed out for date night. Date night consisted of Dinner at Racca’s Italian Restaurant and Wood Fired Pizza. We shared a salad and Pizza, both were good. Then we headed down the street to the Drinkery where we had some cocktails and listened to a couple playing blues music. They were good; both played instruments, and both sang. The female singer was hilarious and sang bluesy jazz songs we had never heard before; some were dirty but funny. We learned from the bartender about a 5,000-acre ranch in Sheridan that her brother-in-law inherited and will probably have to sell to pay the taxes on. We told her that would probably be out of our price range, but who knows, I could win the lottery. The people in Casper were very-friendly.

We capped off the night by stopping to fill up with fuel; Justin only had one drink, but I was just a tiny bit tipsy. While Justin was filling up, I declared, “I feel lucky!” I grabbed a 20 from my wallet and headed to the gas station to buy a Wyoming lottery ticket (I rarely play the lottery). I walked in, and there was no one in the store except me and the cashier. I said to the cashier what’s a good lottery ticket to buy. She said, it depends, or you can round ’em up and get one of every ticket. I asked what that cost was, and she said $14.00; 14 is my lucky number. So, in a probably too loud tone, and as if I were going to be bringing in a herd of cattle, I shouted, “Round-‘Em-Up!” She handed me the tickets and change, and I turned around to find a line about eight people long, trying hard not to laugh at tipsy me.

Sunday: We got up the following day and headed to a local grocery store for some fresh fruit and veggies. Then we loaded up the RV and headed out of Casper. Casper on US 20/26 was rolling fields of Amber waves and beautiful mountains in the distance. We passed more and more antelope; they were everywhere. We must have seen hundreds of them and huge bucks. Caspers’s large ranches seem to go on forever.

Finally, we hit the small town of Shoshoni, Wyoming, and started to head north on US 20. This route took us through the prettiest country we have been through to date, and I mean anywhere in the U.S. We were in awe the entire time. The red rocks we fell in love with in Northwestern New Mexico had nothing on this beautiful ride. The typography was unbelievable and truly indescribable. We just took in the scenery through the Wind River Reservation along the majestic Wind River. This road was breathtaking, with red and purple mountains whose canyons entirely engulfed us; not only were the mountains physically encapsulating us, but they set all of our senses on fire. This kind of beauty makes the hairs on your arms stand at attention, and no photo or amount of words compare to being here. By far the most gorgeous lands our eyes have ever seen. God’s Country.

We road through the town of Thermopolis, which was not overly impressive, and then stopped in the next town, Meeteetse (Shoshone Indian word meaning meeting place), which is small but cute and runs along the Greybull River. Meeteetse is about 30 minutes outside Cody, Wyoming, and is spectacular, with more red rock and mountains.

We finally headed to our destination, the Buffalo Bill Cody State Park; we chose to camp here for ten days. Our campsite is in the Lakeshore Campground, with beautiful views of the Buffalo Bill Cody Reservoir and 360 degrees of mountains. We are only a short drive, about 40 minutes from the Eastgate of Yellowstone, but we have been there a few times and are hearing that the traffic in Yellowstone and the Grand Teton’s is extremely heavy, with many parking lots full and turning away tourists.

I will write more about our time relaxing and exploring Wyoming’s beauty in the coming days.