Sorry for the silly title - I was feeling "rhymey"! And for the record - Cheyenne is about 200 miles south of the Gillette area and is not experiencing the horrific drought that that area's been experiencing.
We went directly from the Homestead in Nebraska to Curt Gowdy State Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Cheyenne had a total HELBERG twist to it. First of all it is where Karl's son, Kurt, had lived when he was stationed there in the Air Force. And now Karl's niece, Marie, presently lives there! When we made our reservations back in March, we planned to stay in Cheyenne for two weeks so that we could make sure we overlapped our time with Marie's parents, Gwen (Karl's sister) & George, to get some family time in when they made their yearly trek to Cheyenne. I think the universe approved of our plan because on the night that we arrived we were greeted by a double rainbow!
Curt Gowdy State Park had some awesome walking trails, and Karl and Penny and I had some amazing walks throughout our stay with some breathtaking views: including gorgeous wild flowers, rainbows, sunsets and wildlife (ESPECIALLY prairie dogs)! This area was truly prairie dog paradise and whether it was due to the weather and/or landscape - these little guys were in their element! It was fun throughout our two week stay to watch them in action and see their elaborate tunnel systems wherever we walked. (I've included some tunnel holes and a cute little guy in the attached pics.) The park is famous for it's "epic biking trails" (all 35 of them) but given we haven't used our bikes since early in our adventure, I wasn't going to attempt the off road terrains; the searing sun also served as a welcome excuse not to do so! But the early morning walks were PRICELESS.
We also did some little day adventures since we were in Wyoming's state capital. We went to see the Big Boy steam engine (very cool) and had a great walk around a pond that was interrupted by massive black clouds with a sudden thunder and lightning storm, followed by hail (a very frequent occurrence in this area). In the city we also had an all important trip to the laundromat and then searched out some local coffee beans. Buying local beans has been my fun thing to do since I discovered the awesome coffee shop in Sturgis, SD. I can't buy souvenirs (due to space issues) but I can support the local small shops and enjoy the down home taste of their java! It's fun to open a bag after we have left a particular state too - because then I can envision where I got it and revisit the memories!
I should mention that during the two week stay at this particular state park we only had an electric hook-up and not a water or sewer connection. In our trailer we do NOT have a black water tank (as we have a composting toilet) so we only have grey water from the water that we use in our shower and sinks. Usually, when you arrive at a campground there is a dump station so that you can dump your black or grey tanks before arrival and/or upon departure. . Unfortunately, there was no dump station here so we had to decide if we wanted to travel a half hour to a "nearby" dumb station or decide to be conservative for the 2 weeks...Given that our grey tank was partially full from our previous campsite we pondered for a brief moment - but conservation won out! Luckily, our site was located near the fresh water source for the park so we could walk over and fill up water bottles, or the teakettle whenever needed. However, we had to be very conscious of water usage in the trailer itself. It was actually a lot of fun doing the dishes outside in the sunshine in our little dish basin so as not to add to the grey water tank - and we easily kept within our usage limits.
Karl's sister's family had made a reservation at Curt Gowdy for the first weekend of our stay. Their campsite was across the reservoir, but we hooked up for dinner each night at "our place" and enjoyed walks and time together. Marie & her boyfriend Cole provided us with the main courses - i.e., deer meat (of both the burger and steak variety), and Karl cooked it up deliciously! Deer hunting is a big part of the Wyoming way of life and Cole had hunted for said deer, so it was even more exiting to taste and enjoy the fruits of his labor!
To make the timing of our visit to Cheyenne even more significant, Marie had just purchased a cute little fixer upper house the week before we arrived. So a few of our days were spent with (primarily Karl) helping them out with the "before" status of the house. On the two days when Penny and I stayed back I unfortunately couldn't work on my blog because reception was almost non-existent here. However, although my hotspot was useless, my ability to blab on the phone wasn't - so I got to spend some quality time chatting with my Bestie SisTER and my dear dear friend, Peggy. Not to mention my weekly FaceTime call with my BELOVED "Fab 5" from high school...Staying connected to people makes my heart sing!!!!
Since the sun was so hot, Penny and I couldn't entertain ourselves in our alone time with long walks - but we COULD go on a few enjoyable short ones! The campground had a "Camp Store" which was actually a few different trailers and a food truck. One of the first nights I had walked over to get a Klondike bar (when's the last time you had one of those?!... not to mention the mint chip variety!) Penny had come with me and they had nicely given her a milk bone. So when Karl was off helping Marie & Co. I decided I would be lazy and walk over to the "store" for lunch - while simultaneously getting Penny and I a little exercise! Well Penny REMEMBERED the highlight of visiting said truck and immediately pushed her way to the front of the line so she could park her butt with an impressive "sit" and wait for her impending reward!!! Luckily the family she cut in front of thought it was adorable and she pretty much made everybody's day! Needless to say, after that whenever Penny & I went on a solo walk she pulled us in the direction of the truck and INSISTED I get an egg sandwich the next morning, and then some ice for our cooler, oh and some bottled water on another trip...(she's a smart one, my puppy!!!!!)
However, Penny and I weren't total lazy bones - as we DID help out one day with the renovations. It was a fun team effort and a pleasure to help Marie and Cole in this venture. It should be noted that Penny was verrrryyy helpful in the painting process as well - she supervised exquisitely and it was, um, only the last moments that she used her tail to paint Gwen & George's dog, Bow...ALL OVER...!!!!!...
Our final evening was spent celebrating George's birthday. Karl's brother-in-law is sincerely one of the nicest humans on the planet and we went out for some yummy Mexican food during which we had the true pleasure of meeting Cole's parents and sister. It was a fun, laughter filled celebration and the perfect exclamation point to the visit. Good times and good memories indeed!
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