Today, Montana and I left Denver and made a beeline straight for  a Love’s Truck Stop (Welcome Center?) on the way to Torrington, WY. Their prices are $.50 lower than in Georgia! Huh?

Drove to Torrington and went through the Homesteader’s Museum. The attendant was understanding my time issues and gave me an abbreviated tour of their small but full-of-local-history facility. They sure are proud of their town. It all started with making sugar from beets back in the early 1900’s. There are some discussions over the exact date. The sign going into town says it was established 1906 but their museum information says 1926 and the nice lady says 1925. Like I said, there is some controversy over the date. The best part? The snow plow below! Do you see Montana?

Next, off to Fort Laramie, WY. This fort is on the North Platte River which, at this time, is almost overflowing and there’s more rain in store for this week not to mention melting snow. My friend, Big Ed who knows more about Wyoming than anyone I know, says his friends in Laramie say there’s likely to be serious flooding problems for me later this week as I move westward. Great!

What a snow plow!

Fort Laramie

After walking around this huge fort, I headed for Guernsey, WY to visit the Oregon Trail Ruts Museum but what I found on the way there was a really cool house. So, I stopped to take the picture of the house and turned around and headed for Chugwater where the chili is supposed to be the bomb. I figured a museum about ruts just couldn’t top this house design even if the ruts were caused from the oxen pulling wagons westward.

can't beat this for design

Next stop is Chugwater, WY known for its chili. Big Ed said it would be worth the stop and he wasn’t wrong about the chili. He was just a bit off about the price of the room I had to rent but it’s okay. He was totally right about me stopping for the night here because the wind is quite strong and there are supposed to be some thunderstorms coming and the last place you want to be with that crazy combo is a pop-up camper in the middle of open prairie where you can get carried off back to Kansas! Plus, I forgot my magic red slippers.

what a view!

I stayed at a nice little Mom & Pop hotel in Chugwater right off the I-25 (the exit with the gas station) called “Buffalo Lodge and Grill”. The rooms are clean and the folks are real nice, hardworking Americans trying to make a living. Of course, they serve the famous “Chugwater Chili”, plain or with cheese and onions. Yep. I got mine loaded with a side of Angus beef burger. The town name came from the sound the buffalo made (chug) when the Native American Indians ran the buffalo toward the water… hence “chug”+”water”. Cool, huh?

Tomorrow, I’m skipping over Cheyenne because there’s more to see in Laramie and the Medicine Bow National Forest beckons me. Oh, yeah, that storm’s a-comin’ strong and I’ve got some really cool places to see before it hits… Vedauwoo which is Arapaho for “earth born spirits”, the Geological Museum and the Laramie Plains Museum. How cool is that, huh?

We’ll talk again tomorrow night. It’s gonna’ be a great day!

Snowy Silver

We drove right through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri on Friday, 13th without one smidgen of  storms. We were told over and over that we’d be heading into them any minute but were blessed by not having hardly any misting on the windshield at all. What we didn’t anticipate was the wind! It was so strong by the time we were deep into Missouri that I knew we couldn’t put up the pop-up. So, plan B was put into action.

Plan B, you ask? It’s pulling into at a truck stop for the night. Now those of you who have never “traveled” with me before don’t know about my newly found love of truck stops… Flying J’s, Loves and, as of last night, TA (not  T & A!). I  made friends with employees at many a truck stop on my first Great Adventure 2009. My first (first always is the most memorable)  was when I had to leave Oklahoma in the middle of the night because of a storm. I found myself  driving when I shouldn’t have (in Kansas) because I was too tired, it was too dark and there was way too much construction. As fate would have it, I-70 in Kansas was being “stimulated” with some of that new money being printed. But, before they could improved I-70, the DOT had to  narrow it down from a divided four lane into two lanes (one coming and one going) all on one side of the old highway. Adding insult to injury, DOT then placed concrete barriers on the outside and inside of these two lanes which left absolutely no emergency lane or wiggle room. The only thing between you and the oncoming traffic was this temporary concrete barrier… you know the ones I’m talking about. Anyway, there was nowhere to go but forward.

After about three hours of driving this way, I saw a faint glimmer of a light in the far off distance. Could it be some form of civilization? Could it be a house? Anything was going to be an improvement. Low and behold, there it was. My first Flying J. I pulled into that truck stop and kissed the ground. When I walked into the front of the store I was met with  the most remarkable, friendly welcoming. Wow! How absolutely wonderful that was. They told me to pull over to the side marked “for cars only” and take a little nap; they’d look out for me. And, you know what? I knew they would and I did. It changed my life. Ever since then, when I’m in a bind, I pull into one of my beloved truck stops, make myself known to the people (mostly women) behind the cash register, go to my car and take a nap without a worry in the world.

There are things to do like put up those sun guards on the windshield, park under one of their street lights preferably in line with the cash register window and make sure you’ve made friends with everyone you see there. You always have to be careful.

So, this time it was those Kansas cross winds that got me. Most of the highway stimulus money had already been spent so I guess they cranked up some of those wind turbines to welcome me to the state! I don’t know how people can make a living farming because of the constant winds.  Seems like the wind would just blow all the seeds away to Siberia. Every stop I made going through that amazing state, I commented as to blustery-ness of the day. I was told that this was a “calm” day. Hmmmmph. Not by my books. I, literally, fought the steering wheel for many hours today. So much so that it dropped my gas mileage from 18.5 mpg to 13.5 mpg. With gas prices at the pump pushing $4.00, I wasn’t too pleased.

We finally pulled into Boulder, Colorado today around 4:30 P.M.  and my family and I have had the best time getting all caught up with hugs and news. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow when I’m not so tired.

Good night all.

Colorado or bust!

SWBBF HEADS WEST!

Guess it’s a Baby Boomer thang wanting to go out west in search of new  tomorrows. And, after all, it’s a natural wonder lust for me as I’m a Baby Boomer  who did some blooming of her own by starting a family at the ripe old age of 18.  Now, it’s MY turn and, I don’t mind sayin’ that I feel like Tawanda! Not only do I  have wisdom (thanks kids), money (thanks Social Security), equipment (thanks  credit line) but I’ve also got time on my side and freedom to go where I haven’t  been before! That’s the only rule… go where you’ve never gone before.

So, it’s true. I’m a SWBBF heading west… Single, White, Baby Boomer, Female  and proud of it! I’m also proud that my father and his mother were the kind of  gutsy adventurers who have inspired me to push outside my own comfort zones.  Yep. I’m just gutsy enough to head out with only my crazy lil’ white dawg  camping my way across this beautiful country of ours. This is my third Great  Adventure in as many years. Some women of my age have said that I was an  inspiration to them. That’s really nice but I’m just doing what’s programmed in my  DNAjust like hunting is at the very core of my bird dog. It’s also as natural as  breathing because it’s been a part of my life long dream. And, finally, I’m living  the dream.

I plan driving like a crazed trucker just to get to US territory that remotely looks western, a quick stop over inBoulder,COto see family and off toCheyenne, etc.

Come along for the ride! I promise it’ll be anything but boring!

Pre-Great Adventure 2011

“Silver” is frothing at the mouth, straining at his bridle wanting to  hit the open road again & to top his experience from last year’s  journey on the southern route to Vegas-Baby.

This year, Silver, Montana and I are taking a northern route to Vegas-Baby via Boulder, Colorado with an  extended stay in  southern cities of Wyoming like Cheyenne, Laramie, Rock Springs and cool, out of the way places with great western flavors  of all types. This year’s Great Adventure will be mo’ bigger and mo’  better than previous trips as we ramble 7000+ miles just to get to  Vegas-Baby.

We’re packing what I call the “trucker’s drive-like-hell” food stuffs  of Mountain Dew and Slim Jim’s with a side of cheese to keep us  moving until we get to Boulder. I know. I’m supposed to stop along  the way, but we really want to get where the getting’ is good… Wyoming. So, it’s the high roads towardBoulderfor us. We’ll visit  my niece and her family before getting our hands dirty  in  Wyoming.  Now THAT’S where the fun really begins. Oh yes !Wyoming… cowboys, horses, Indians, adventure… all the things  this Wild Woman loves when Road Ramblin’!

At least  I’ve started formulating the Wyoming adventure by trying  to narrow down the options. So far, I’ve come up with some  headers with the help of a new acquaintance who has  traveled Wyoming extensively. I hear tell that Cody has 7 museums that are a “can’t miss”; that Chugwater has amazing chili;  that west of Laramie is Wind Canyon; that near Ten Sleep is the  Little Grand Canyon; that dude ranches abound between Sheridan  and Buffalo; and that there’s a place called Crazy Woman Canyon  that I, of all people, should experience.

That covers MOST of Wyoming and, because I’ve got to stick to the southern routes in order to make my deadline arrival in Vegas- Baby to hear my girl sing on 5/27, Ten Sleep, dude ranches and anything else in the northern half will have to wait. RATS!

Lift off is Friday, May 13. Yep. That’s my lucky number. Silver ain’t the only one frothing at the mouth to get going but, Lord, there’s so much to get done. More trip planning, research, packing and organizing to do and only 7 days to do it all in. Better get moving and off the computer!

HI HO SILVER… ALMOST AWAY!