Left Denver Early

I had a great week in Denver, but felt that waiting until Sunday to leave would just interrupt my travel momentum; it was time to continue on. So I left this morning with the idea that I'd head straight up Interstate 25 and try to get to Sheridan in the northern part of Wyoming. I took a different turn, so to speak, and it all worked out great.

As I approached Cheyenne, I struggled with whether or not to call an old missileer colleague and friend, Lt Col Dave Martinson. I figured he'd be busy and not really appreciate a last minute phone call, but I figured I had nothing to lose so called anyway. Well it turned out that Dave was not only free but he had a Harley and suggested we ride out to the Bunkhouse, west of Cheyenne for lunch. The Bunkhouse is an out of the way restaurant mostly for cowboys and bikers. Inside are mounted animal heads and the place feels very Wyoming. We both got steak sandwiches, which at the Bunkhouse means a steak between two pieces of bread. It was great to catch up and hear what was going on with the other missileers we knew. Afterwards, Dave rode with me part of the way to Laramie, and I got this footage--kinda hard to see Dave, but it's him:




The other thing I struggled with was whether or not to ride to Sheridan on the interstate, or break off into Medicine Bow National Forest for some better roads and better scenery. I decided for the scenic route and it was amazing. From Laramie I took WY 130 to Centennial which took me through the Snowy Range Pass at an elevation of almost 11,000 feet. The air was very cool. There were almost no cars, and riding through the mountains and then the plains I felt myself decompressing amidst the vastness of the land. Along the way I saw lots of pronghorn antelope, but didn't try to get any pictures.

I continued up WY 487 north to Casper, WY where I am right now--in a hotel. I'm conflicted about the whole camping vs hotel issue. Every time I check into a hotel I feel like a wimp. Then I get into the room, take a shower, change clothes and think, "This is awesome. Pure decadence." It's also nice to have internet access so I can update this blog and check email and stuff. Camping, as it turns out, takes a lot more planning and is less flexible than staying in a hotel. It takes longer to set up and break down, and generally if I'm camping I'm also cooking (boiling water) so I have to deal with that too. You pretty much have to know where you're going to camp before you start your day, or at least figure it out well before you're done for the day. I love camping, but as a means of lodging while traveling everyday it's kind of tough. Still, I expect to start camping more often as I get away from cities and head into the wilderness of MT and then Canada. It'll just mean a little bit shorter riding days to allow for the extra time needed to camp.