Today’s destination is Laramie, WY. On the way, we stopped to check out Carhenge in Alliance, NE. One man’s tribute to a place he once called home. With no “stones”, he used what was readily available – cars. There are also a few sculptures made from car parts that have been added to the site. It’s very silly, and a good distraction from the long drive.
Having your house behind your car on your travels is very convenient. We pulled into a nice park in Kimball, NE for our lunch stop. Pop into the camper, make some sandwiches, set up chairs in the park and enjoy a pleasant lunch. Plus, the bathroom facilities are always there – and always clean!
On the way to Laramie, we stopped in to see Chimney Rock in Bayard, NE. Since we were towing the camper, we weren’t daring enough to drive the road all the way out to the rock. It was still a neat sight from the visitor’s center.
The final leg into Laramie was not as we had expected. Just east of the city, we drove into a thick cloud of smoke from the wildfires. We didn’t have any windows open, yet our eyes were burning from the smoke. There was no way we could drive further into this and expect to camp. So, time to backtrack to Cheyenne. We were able to find a last minute Hipcamp reservation just north of Cheyenne, at Last Chance Camp. We filled our water tanks and parked out in the field where 2 other campers were set up. We could smell the smoke and the sky was socked in, but it wasn’t enough to be much of a bother.
Although we didn’t have an electrical hookup, our camper battery runs our lights and water pump, and the propane cools the fridge and heats the water. With a fairly good cell signal, we spent some time working on the blog while John is teaching me some of the code involved.
We awoke to a surprising amount of soot and ashes on the camper and car. I’m not sure how far away the fire is, but that stuff is traveling quite a distance. Our current campsite wasn’t more than camping in someone’s back yard, so we decided to venture into the unknown – Boondocking!
Since our plan is to be in Boulder, CO on Sunday, we looked for some public lands between Cheyenne and there to try our first boondocking – totally off the grid. We weren’t sure that we would be able to tell where camping is allowed in these areas, but I found a map of Pawnee National Grasslands that shows exactly where it is allowed. There is private land mixed in with public, and you need to be sure you are not on the private land. So, off we go to Pawnee. Grasslands is right – hardly a tree in sight! Paved roads give way to dirt roads, and we found a well-used site near a small watering hole. We both gave a go at practicing our trailer backing and were able to park it on a level spot.
As we pulled in there was a pronghorn on the ridge behind our spot, but he didn’t stick around for me to get my camera out. Being near the water hole, we hope to see some wildlife. I did spot 2 birds at the water’s edge, and using our new Peterson’s Bird Guide, identified them as a black-necked stilt and killdeer. Tracks in the mud show cows, deer, and something with some good claws. There was also a cool snake at the water’s edge.
We felt like we were settling into our new spot, had lunch and a little nap, but noticed an increase in the smoke and even ash falling around us. The sky was now brown with smoke and it was getting uncomfortable to breathe. I checked in with our camping hosts for the next night in Boulder, and was able to reserve a spot for the night. So, everything got packed up and we were back on the road. The drive to Boulder through Fort Collins was really smoky, and we hoped that Boulder would be clearer. We were in luck! We set up camp in a field in the back of large horse stables – I counted 27 horses in the paddocks around us. Oh, and the sun was out! Kat lives 20 minutes from here – she’s celebrating her birthday with her roommates tonight, so we’ll see her tomorrow.
