Putting on the Miles

After a simple breakfast in our motel room: boiled eggs, bread and grape jelly from S., we continued our drive south on Hwy 59. The country side is very similar to what we saw yesterday afternoon. Pines grow in the higher elevations, and there are lots of Black Angus cattle around.

South of Broadus we started seeing groups of antelope. That and the clear blue sky reminded me of a song....

Oil, gas, beef and grain have helped Montana keep its unemployment numbers low.

Entering Wyoming we were surprised to see just a small green sign: entering Wyoming. Usually there's a nice big, braggy sign announcing the state you're entering.

We passed through an area north of Gillette where there was a lot of coal mining going on, and saw a large coal-fired power plant. We stayed on Hwy 59 as far as Douglas, and then turned east on U.S. 20. Wyoming has oodles of road signs such as this: "Hwy 18 and Hwy 20 are closed when light flashing. Turn back to Wright." Got a snowstorm? Just close the roads and stay home!

Wyoming also has oodles of railroad coal cars. There were long stretches of triple track through this area, and we saw several trains, all long, all made up of coal cars. Headed for the power plant north of Gillette? Maybe.

We camped in Gillette many years ago with the kids. It was a little campground right in town. I recall hearing many sirens throughout the night, and in the morning, the couple in the next camper had a doozy of a fight!

When I was young I read a series of three books by an author whose name I've forgotten. One of the titles was The Green Grass of Wyoming. I think this is just the wrong time of the year for green grass. Wyoming was a shining tawny gold in the afternoon sunshine. This snap doesn't begin to do it justice.

We saw so many antelope, but it's hard to

get a picture when you're driving by on the highway at 65mph. Near the Nebraska border I finally had an opportun

ity to catch some on film. There were about seven or eight in this group. This photo worked out about the best. We were able to pull off the road and take several snaps before they ran off. Such graceful animals!

Coming into Nebraska in the very northwest

corner we passed through a part of Fort ? (I've forgotten the name) State Park. These interesting rock cliffs were beautiful in the late afternoon sunshine.

When we reached Chadron, NE we took a room in theMotel 6. It looked so familiar! We realized we had stayed at this same motel on a previous trip.

That time we were on the way home from Texas. In Oklahoma we rented cabins in two different state parks, and enjoyed it very much. So we were going to do the same in Nebraska, but, alas, hunting season had just begun, and there wasn't a cabin to be had. The hunters had beat us to it. So we drove on until there was a room for us here in Chadron.