Summer Vacation Redux #18: Gillette to Casper to Dubois

Friday, August 18, of my cross-country Total Eclipse of the Sun road trip was a travel day with a Lunch date.  The night spent is Gillette was nice, and I was up and on the road to Casper by 9AM.  Between the two cities is whole lot of mostly nothing, sagebrush, and Pronghorns.  I saw a lot of pronghorns!  In fact, I saw twice as many dead ones along the road as did other vehicles.  Later, I was told that pronghorns have a habit of charging vehicles--and from the available evidence, it doesn't go well for the antelopes...

 One of the highlights of the day overall was getting to meet a couple of longtime Facebook friends for the first time.  And I started in Casper with my good friend, Shoshoni--who recommended our lunch date spot.  The Cottage is a absolutely lovely, one of a kind, healthy eatery with a casual atmosphere, a loyal clientele, and a super friendly staff.  I loved it.  And meeting Shoshoni was everything I had imagined it would be--at the risk of embarrassing her--a lovely and intelligent young woman with a heart as big as Wyoming.  Such a delightful, if too short of a, meeting.

After lunch Shoshoni was off to work first aid for an event in downtown Casper, and I was off to visit the Casper Welcome Center/Museum and await the arrive of my next longtime Facebook friend and host, Pamela.  

 My traveling companion and I were meeting up with she and her husband Greg, and some members of his extended family for the caravan to their cabin on the Wind River just this side of Dubois.  This Teepee, just outside the Welcome Center, sat atop a hill with a grand view of Casper.

 More of Casper.

 The Welcome Center is quite impressive and the accompanying museum depicting the history of the place with additional artifacts on the grounds was honestly a perfect introduction to the place.  If you're ever in Casper I would recommend lunch at The Cottage followed by a tour of the Welcome Center.

 One oddity...A found pioneer's gravestone. Apparently washed away from the woman's now lost burial site.

 Another artifact on the Welcome Center's grounds was this Covered Wagon.

 After meeting up with Pam & Greg and crew we were off to Dubois, and stopped at this scenic overlook on the way.  A good example of badlands in Wyoming.

My friend's cabin backed up to the Wind River.  This is the view from about 40 feet off the back of their second home.  The fresh air, the sound of the water flowing by, the view of swallows ridding the  sky of bugs and returning to their mud nests on the opposite side...  Ah, heaven.