OOPS! I think I've gotten mixed up about our route!

Without reliable wifi available on any kinda dependable schedule, I got ahead of myself on the postings.
Before leaving Wyoming, we stopped in Sage to see the geyser located in a small park just off the main highway.  Shortly after it was discovered, the National Park Service advised the local government that this one was messing up the timing of Old Faithful so kindly do something about it.  So they put it on a timer which lets it spew for exactly five minutes on the hour.

This little building was used in the late 1950's as a 'spotter' for incoming enemy aircraft or fired missiles.

Then we entered Idaho...

Wyoming

As we cruised west on US 26 out of Ogallata, NE, we took a detour north to visit a roadside oddity just north of Alliance:  Carhenge created by a guy and modeled after Stonehenge.
Entering Wyoming, we stopped to see the Guernsey Ruts where we saw the deep ruts cut into the rocks on the Oregon Trail.  I followed them for several yards over some rocky land.

Still on US 26, we passed through Casper and headed to Riverton and Lander to spend the night in Sinks Canyon.  This is where the yellow-bellied marmot kept popping out of the rocks and looking at us all evening.  The sites (maybe two) that were anywhere near level had tents in them, even though the tent sites had raised level platforms for the tents.  Why do they take the level RV sites?  We have run into this at several state and national parks.

The next day we viewed the Sinks, where the river rushed into a mountain wall (or so it seems during the spring runoff) before dropping into a cavern only to exit into the river a few miles further on.  

After seeing all we could see in the park, we headed down the road to check out Atlantic City and South Pass City which are advertised as being ‘ghost towns’.  We followed a dirty winding road to get to them.  Alongside the road were huge patches of snow! The present population in Atlantic City is about 57 according to the sign.  South Pass City is mostly restored.  Maybe about fifteen people do still live there as we saw. 

We got back on I-80 following US 191 and got off at Rock Springs to travel around the Flaming Gorge.  This took us into Utah for about twenty miles.  The road has a lot of nine percent grades and winding switchback sections. The gorge is not easily seen from the road (US 191, Utah 44, and Wyoming 530).  These are paved mountain roads with some passing lanes.  At the dam was the visitor center and a great view point.  We did get a space in Deer Run campground  at the Cedar Springs Marina several miles down the road that was again not very level but it was paved.  Some of the campsites were ‘doubles’ and a couple of level looking sites had tents in them.

The next morning when I turned on the furnace (it was COLD!), it made a horrific noise like it was grinding something up.  When I tried again, the fan worked but no heat.  We could hear the igniter trying to light the gas.  The guy at the local repair shop who looked at it said it happens often that the wire comes loose and gets sucked in to the fan blades.  Fifteen minutes later we were good to go again.

We headed further up the road to Fossil Butte National Monument outside Sage.  The visitor center is where all the fossils are that we could actually see.  Again this was a very winding paved road up a mountain then back down again.  

At the topmost viewing area, the rangers were hosting a ‘fossil dig’ for some students that day.  We could also see some of the trail ruts from the top of the hill.

We were seeing wind farms all along the mountains.  Signs that promised elk, deer, etc., crossing the roads, were lies. We still hadn’t seen any buffalo.  Seems the antelope out number any cattle that we saw.  The wind was still very strong either as a cross wind or head wind, and at times it seemed like both at the same time.

Idaho ... I think

I'm having so much trouble locating accessable WiFi that this might be the last post til we get to VA at my sister's.  I'm in McD's right now (Wed, May 20) and therefore do not have my maps and notes with me.

We arrived at the American Falls view point to find that these falls are now behind the dam which had been built after the 1919 drought.  We were also seeing many windmills across the ridges of the mountains.

We stopped at Register Rock which is in a wayside park and enclosed in a pavilion with a chain link fence around it to protect it from vandals.  Even though we wanted to take the City of Rocks trail around Burley, we had to pass it up because of the heavy rain and the road conditions.

The city of Twin Falls was a mess of streets to try to navigate to find what we had come to see and the GPS was no help because we didn’t have a street address for the viewpoint park and, without internet service, I couldn’t find it.

We finally got directions to the Twin Falls Park and Dam; then a few streets away was the Shoshone Falls Park which was, again, a steep winding road down and back.  We also saw many streamlet falls alongside the main road.

Several times we saw signs for a snow zone and chain up areas along I-84 while travelling through the state.  When we ascended the road to the view of the Hagerman Fossil Beds, we could also see the Oregon Trail wagon ruts along the lower levels.  The park rangers were getting set up to have some school kids ‘dig’ for fossils.  All the real fossils are in the mountains across the valley and in the museums.

 

North Platte and Buffalo Bill State HIstorical Park

Arriving in North Platte, NE, we spent the night in the campground in Buffalo Bill State Historical Park along the Platte River.  We spotted several geese along the river banks.  Before leaving the park the next  day, I toured Buffalo Bill’s retirement home, a beautiful Queen Ann style with a large dining room because he liked to entertain his fellow range hands as well as heads of state.  His younger daughter was the last to live in it and had it upgraded(!) with water and electric.   Rodeos are still held across the street.

 We then went to the Golden Spike Tower to view the Bailey Rail Yard in operation.  We watched as the loaded cars were being pushed  onto a hump and down into a bowl where they are sorted and attached automatically to their next destination train.

We returned to the Interstate and left it for US 26 (the Oregon Trail) at Ogallala.

We took  short side trips to view the Court House and Jail Rocks and Chimney Rock just outside

Bayard.  The dirt roads to these sites are graveled and narrow without any level space to park. But we did see geese along the riverbank and could hear them frequently.

Nebraska's Great River Road Gateway Arch

 The exhibits start at the top of a steep escalator, continues across the interstate, then up a short flight of stairs back across and down another escalator.

There is even a 50's diner exhibit upstairs, bringing it 'up-to-date'

Falling Waters State Park, FL

 The path to the falls begins with a nice downward slope to a fork.  The left is to the other sinkholes, the right takes you up a flight of steps, then down again to the overlook platform.

Then you have to reverse your trek up hill (like at Monticello in Virginia) to the parking lot.  When we were last here, the drought had dried up the falls.