And now back to our regular travelogue posts…
While the weather outside is cold in a lot of places, I thought it would be fun to hearken back to warmer days of August.
After a break from the road in Colorado, I was eager to get back on the road and finish the tour. I had 3 performances in Wyoming (Laramie, Rock Springs, and Evanston), and they all proved to be amazing on so many levels.
Driving the route in Wyoming proved to be pretty fascinating as well. Similar to what Michael Grass noted in this post, I found sections of Wyoming not on the interstate to be more isolated than what I noticed driving in Nevada (so much for it being America’s “Loneliest Highway”). With Nebraska and Colorado, you know that you’ll run into towns/populations of people regularly along the route. In Wyoming, this all changes. You’re checking your gas tank with every town you drive through to make sure you might have enough, especially if you’re thinking of off-roading it. The sky and the road would blur together at times (especially in the Medicine Bow Loop), and there were times that I thought I was driving into the sky itself.
Here’s 10 favorite memories of Eastern Wyoming:
1) I spent most of my time in Laramie, and I have to say the people were so warm and lovely. My dear friend Jen was an instrumental person to this part of the tour, and I wish there were more people like her in the world. It was wonderful to have the chance to sing with her again, and I hope that if you are in Laramie you’ll get the chance to hear her sing.
2) The bullet holes in bar mirrors at the Buckhorn Bar.
3) Driving my first section of real interstate on this tour again (parts of the Lincoln are directly under I-80), and really feeling weird about it.
4) My interview on Wyoming Public Radio was a blast!
5) The Medicine Bow loop. Everything about this stretch of the road is remarkable. You will definitely get a taste of what it was like to drive the Lincoln 100 years ago in this part of the route.
6) The abandoned gas station at the Nebraska/Wyoming State Line (you can see a photo of it in my Western Nebraska Post).
7) That part of the Lincoln Highway is called “Otto Road”! It’s just west of Cheyenne.
8) Standing at Sherman Summit on the original route – the view was breathtaking.
9) Stopping at the Fossil Cabin and listening to the wind rumble across the land. The cabin is awesome, and again the view is quite beautiful.
10) I was granted permission to wander around the Virginian Hotel to check out and photograph the rooms freely. There weren’t many people around, so it truly felt liked I stepped back in time.
There’s plenty more I could list, but this should hopefully give you some highlights to look forward to when driving this stretch of the road. Now onto the photos!
Western Wyoming is up next, so until then stay warm and enjoy your weekend!
Jennifer Sopko says
Sometimes I wish I lived in Buford, LOL.
I would like to know more about the Medicine Bow Loop! :-)
Cece says
Buford has a gas station, food mart/souvenir store, and a bunch of mailboxes, ha ha ha! They have the original resident’s home still on site, but it’s not open to the public. Many people miss the Medicine Bow Loop and drive on I-80, which is very sad. There’s part of the loop on private ranches, so you have to obtain permission to see those parts of the road, but overall it’s a really nice stretch of the route. You should definitely drive it if you can-I’d love to see it again.