Day 2: Nebraska to Thermopolis, WY

Day 2: Lake McConaughy, Nebraska to Thermopolis, Wyoming via US-25 and US-20

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Today, after an early breakfast in our RV, we left the interstate behind and took quieter, smaller highways through western Nebraska, into Wyoming, and north to Thermopolis. As Alle said, she didn’t set foot outside our RV the whole time we were parked at the RV Lodge at Lake McConaughy. It was not an inspiring location. Once on the road, the boys were most taken with the long and frequent coal carrying freight trains we saw. Along the US highway 26 heading out of Nebraska, we followed a number of old trails: The Pony Express and the Oregon and Mormon Trails. It was also the track of the Union Pacific Railroad carrying coal to help provide the two coasts’ need for power. We saw a 150 car coal train heading east about every 10 minutes in the early part of our journey.

Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming were barren, rocky, stark, mostly flat and harsh. We didn’t see much other traffic or signs of life. We rode past farms of some corn, some sugar beet and cattle. The land is big and open and looks best for ranching and grazing herds.

I mostly kept the boys entertained, which on day 2 of our long driving days was not as easy to do. We played games, drew some pictures, attempted naps (I did; the boys did not) and ate snacks. In the end, we all watched the movie Cars for the last two hours of the ride, while Ricardo drove. The boys have not seen that or any full length movie before, so it was novel. Peter’s bump is better today and both boys continue to be excited about our trip.

Our last hour of driving was the most interesting. We passed through the Windy River Canyon in Wyoming starting near Shoshoni on our way north to Thermopolis. It is a very deep canyon, carved by the Windy River, exposing layers of stone about 500 million years old. We are visiting Thermopolis to see and hopefully feel the largest natural hot springs in the world. The park here has at least five, which we hope to see and perhaps dip into tomorrow, before we make our way to our first National Park on this trip, Yellowstone.