Tuesday August 5, 2014 Cheyenne to Alpine, Wyoming

Started the day in Cheyenne and made it up to Alpine, but it wasn’t easy.  No problem getting on the interstate.  It turns out the exit was at the intersection of I80 and I25.  However, not long after I got on I80 my side narrowed down to one lane due to construction.  In fact, about the first 50 miles was intermittent construction.  I was looking at the time and wondering if I was going to have to add some hours to my estimate.  That did clear up, as well as the clouds.  There were basically two parts to today’s travels.  The first part (about 250 miles) was straight down I80; the second part (about 200 miles total) on a two lane US highway.

I decided to get gas around lunchtime to make sure I had enough gas to make It to Alpine.  This was still on I80 a good 30 minutes or so before the move the two-lane road.  It turned out I didn’t need to worry.  The shift to the US highway occurs at a fairly significant town/city and there were plenty of services there.

After lunch I got back on the road.  Although there had been some hills, the scenery was mainly scrubland with some wonderful clouds stacking up toward the horizon.  There also seemed to be the threat of rain on the horizon.

I did see something rather unique as we headed into the hills.  Along the road at one point there seemed to be a pointless arch across the road.  However, as I got closer I realized that the upper surface of the arch as more grassland.  The arch was intended to allow cows to cross the road without getting hit.  I didn’t get a picture of the first arch, but had my camera ready when a second arch appeared.

As the road headed into the hills, the clouds got closer and closer.  Finally, it started to rain.  However, the first rain started has the road went over a hill, first as a light rain but climaxing with enough water that I had to turn on my lights and make sure I knew how far away the car in front of me really was.  However, the rain stopped immediately after hitting the summit.  The rain got much more intense as I got into the actual mountain pass.   The speed limit went down from 75 to 65 and even lower in some sections.  The rain varied in intensity and stopped at one point just as I crested the summit.  There were also several stretches with no way to pass anyone.  Fortunately, there wasn’t that much traffic.

The scenery by this point was lush pine forest.  A river was flowing right next to the road at several points.  The clouds were so thick that the headlights were necessary.  At one point I wasn’t sure I was going to see any sun at all until I hit Montana tomorrow.
Needless to say I did make it to my hotel without incident.  While it did rain once I got there, it was a very light rain that caused no problems.

Cheyenne, WY and the road to Denver, CO

As you may have noticed, my posts are a day late (both the previous and this). Probably I won't post again until Saturday, wrapping up my trip.

August 5: Post 2 - I finally made it to Cheyenne at about 2:30 PM. The directions to City Hall were correct and, other than some construction blocking a street, I had no problem getting to the right building. This was one of the few times someone had a map readily available. It made for a very quick transaction. The person who sold me the map also had a street map of Cheyenne, so I was saved from bumping around semi-blindly looking for various sites. Thus equipped, I moved on to the state capital.


The weather had been nice all day, until I got out of the car to take some pictures of the capital. It started raining right then. I decided to go into the capital first and hope that the rain would let up before I came out. I was really impressed by the amount of material they had both inside and outside the Capital. Among other things were a small slice from a beam from the World Trade Towers, a stuffed buffalo that was well known in the state and a bust of Lincoln. They had framed pictures of all of the Governors as well as all of the legislators since the state was founded. I did get to see both chambers although no one was in them (it is August) and unfortunately the lights were off, so my pictures were either grainy or blurry.

Outside there were also quite a few statues and markers. There was a replica of the Liberty Bell on one corner, a statue of a citizen pledging into the military (I think for the Spanish American War) and (my favorite) a statue of a cowboy on a bronco.

The rain had let up but was still going down. I went on to my next place of interest - the Historic Governor's Mansion. No trouble finding it. I was in a hurry to get inside due to the rain. I saw a video about the mansion and the restoration. It was interesting that they didn't settle on one period for the mansion but chose different eras for different parts of the mansion, up to 1970s, when the Governor moved to a new mansion. Part of the reason was practical. Through it's time from the turn of the century until the 1970s, the mansion underwent periodic renovation. In some cases (such as the kitchen) the amount of work to change a room back to it's turn of the century appearance would have been very expensive. An amusing room was the bomb shelter in the basement. Everyone seems to agree that it would not have been very effective in the event of a nuclear attack, but it did reflect the thoughts about how to deal with nuclear war at the time. By the time I had viewed all of the rooms, the rain had stopped and I could get some decent exterior shots.

Finally, I went to the Train Depot Museum near the actively running Cheyenne rail yards. It was a bit odd going through the gift shop to get to the museum. Once I figured that out, I was able to get in. The presentations described the growth of Cheyenne as the railroad came through and how the railroad changed over the year. There was a sort of side exhibit on the second floor showing the type of luggage and things people brought with them when travelling. The exhibit is in the actual baggage room and had stories about the different types of travellers that used the train. Time was running late, so I finished up the exhibits in a bit of a rush. When I came out into the giftshop there was a large number of people in the shop (probably a tour group), so I exitted immediately and planned my way out of Cheyenne.



Here's a slideshow of the photos from my time in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Once I was on the road, I only had about 100 miles to go to get to Denver. I stopped in Loveland and was able to purchase a map of Denver, so I wasn't going to get lost. I was meeting my schedule pretty well until about 5 miles from my exit. Some bails of straw had been dumped into the road, so two lanes were cut off. I was stuck in traffic, feeling I was back in LA, for about 30 minutes. However, the wait aggravated me enough, that my stay in Denver is probably tainted. I couldn't find my hotel and had to call. Even with further directions I had to turn around. Also, the hotel was not really where I wanted to be (I had mixed up east and west in the address). Anyway, I made it, now I'll get some rest.

TTFN