When you cross from Iowa into Nebraska on I-80, you begin to feel like you're getting to the west. It's a barely perceptible shift from corn to grazing lands, from tree rows between fields to windblown openness. But the change becomes real when you reach Wyoming. Then you ARE in the west. The aridity and elevational gradients and rocks and ecotones become sharper and more extreme. More than this, the towns feel west. They practically shout it. Words like rodeo, cowboy, horses, dude ranch, and the like become, not a descriptor of something 'out there', but something here, something you too can experience. Towns with boardwalks. Towns with dusty back roads. You can almost imagine a shootout in one of those back alleys. Bullets flying, dust kicks up as the bad guy hits the ground, and the townspeople walk away, murmuring things like 'served 'em right', 'cattle rustler', and the like. OK, maybe I've been 'reading' a little too much Bill Bryson.
When I hit Wyoming, I was in a hurry to get to the Wind River range. The 'Winds' as they're known, have always held an attraction for me, for they seem like a big wilderness blank on the map. I've flown over them a number of times and stared down, asking myself, What's in those mountains? Or rather, What's in them thar mountains?
I bypassed the university town of Laramie, and the oil town of Sinclair, for the dusty highway town of Rawlins. I cruised the streets a bit to look for some local flavor to sample for dinner. After seeing all those beef cows, I was ready for a steak. I'm sure there's an excellent steak house in Rawlins, but I gave up after 15 min. and went to Pizza Hut. I know, terribly cliche, but I was hungry.
After refueling myself and RubySipr, I embarked on one of those magical drives that makes you glad you pressed on. Highway 287, a 2-lane road most of the way to the town of Lander WY. Despite, feeling like I was rising in elevation, I was getting 53, then 54 mpg! OK, that's not exciting to a lot of people...or maybe it is with these gas prices. The real exciting part was the scenery and the setting sun. I'm posting just one image from this segment so you can get an idea. After 2 hard days of hard driving (actually not, just LONG), I had finally arrived in the mountains - the Wind River range in the distance, sage and range in the foreground, dramatic clouds and rocks all around. And the road. Add a little sweet music on the ipod, and those of you who have experienced this, what else can it be called?, bliss, will understand how I felt that night. I pulled into Sinks Canyon State Park outside of Lander just before dark, set up the tent next to a roaring stream, the Popo Agie, and fell asleep.
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