From Cheyenne to Yellowstone

We continue north on I-25. We last travelled this road (south)  in late December 2009 when we drove from Rapid City, South Dakota to Denver ... in a snow storm. It looked rather different then!

We are passing through undulating plains, open fields and very small towns. Wheatland -  population 3,500 - was the home of the horse Steamboat - a bucking bronco featured on Wyoming license plates

I knew someone was watching!!

We stop for lunch at Chugwater - popn. 250. They are holding their annual Chilli Cook Off. It looks as if the whole town is out on the park to celebrate. We wander through the festival. The smells are wonderful with a distinct hint of chilli! We don't taste but we have a hotdog and a beer.

Chugwater is very small. In a 2005 promotion to attract people to the town, building lots were offered for $100 provided the new owner built a house within a year and lived on the property for at least 2 years. Four lots were sold.

Chugwater lost its only grocery and gas station when a SUV crashed into Horton's Corner on 30 December 2012. The resultant fire burned the convenience store. Chugwater Chilli which employs 15 people, lost a major seller of its packets of chilli mix with the closing of Horton's Corner.


It's a pretty place in the middle of unbelievable emptiness!






We arrive in the town of Fort Laramie late in the afternoon. The Chuck Wagon RV Park is small and sits right beside a railway line which we quickly learn is very busy night and day! The trains are hauling coal; very long trains which sound their horns as they approach the railway crossing near by.  Incredible!!

Showing the RV park right on the tracks!!

We visit Fort Laramie National Historic Site. First a trading post then a US military post, Fort Laramie was a prime point of contact between Europeans, Americans and Native Americans from the 1830's to the 1890's. It was a stopping point for wagon trains travelling west on the Oregon Trail. Many of the buildings have been restored; reenactors act out roles from the fort's history.

Fort Laramie played an important role as host to several treaty negotiations with Northern Plains Indian Nations.
However, relations that began amicably between Native Americans and the Army changed as the number of emigrants using the overland trails swelled.

As conflicts grew, major military campaigns were launched from Fort Laramie against the Northern Plains tribes who fought to defend their homeland against further encroachment.
With the end of the Indian Wars, Fort Laramie's importance diminished and the post was abandoned and sold at public auction in 1890.

We were fascinated by the fur trade reenactors who (accurately I believe) recreate aspects of the fur trade over the period - pre 1840.

The participants are from all walks of life essentially pursuing history as a hobby. It is a very exact hobby; they aim to be as authentic as they can.

 We continue our travels - now moving west. We pass by a preserved site of wagon ruts - Oregon Trail Ruts - on the North Platte River. They are said to be the 'best-preserved set of Oregon trail ruts anywhere along its former length.'