Gillette, Wyoming, United StatesArbuckle Lodge
| 1400 South Garner Lake Road, Gillette, WY, US |
| 1-307-685-6363 |
Am I just now getting confused as to where I have been? Last night I was at the Sunrise Motor Inn in Cody WY.
...I was up at 6:45 am. It is still dark then. By the time I got ready for breakfast, it had gotten light out, but not sun-shiny yet. The hotel owners did not have a map of Wyoming, but their breakfast was pretty adequate: OJ, hard-boiled eggs, a choice of bread - I got the whole wheatish sliced bread to toast. The coffee was good. I carried it all on a tray back to my room. The owners and the guests who ate breakfast in the breakfast room did not wear masks. Wyoming seems to be an anti-mask state except for the National Parks. I managed to get on the road by 8:45 am when it was sun-shiny but not blindingly so since I was hoping to go east. It took me awhile to sort out my route since I wanted to go on rt14, not I-90 and the GPS kept steering me to I-90.
I was stunned by the scenery between Cody and Sheridan. It was very diverse - from rocky canyons to sagebrush country to farmland. I drove into a deep canyon and found a pull-over. When I checked it out there seemed to be a trail past a little bridge over the Shell Creek.
Was it Shell? I may have to look it up - well, it was Shell River, Shell Canyon and it was all in the Bighorn National Forest. Another National Forest with some trees and without trees. I met a couple walking their dog on the trail and asked them if they had found anything interesting. They said "no." I went up the trail to a point where I could take a photo of something interesting and then turned around since the trail had a lot of loose gravel and was on a cliff. It was either here or at another stop where I met a couple who told me that there was a waterfall at a visitor center that said it was closed but everyone just went behind the fence anyway. They were from Virginia and she liked my glasses.
The Shell Falls Interpretive center had a little trail overlooking the canyon that had some local plants labeled and that is where I saw the couple who had been walking their dog. They accused me of following them. In jest. I asked where they were going next. We chatted for awhile - they were from eastern Washington State.
He grew up in some town, Washama maybe? - a rival of Yakima. They were very nice. We talked about our respective weather and our trips. They had been to Yellowstone this year and Glacier last year when it was thronged with people and litter. We wished each other well on our respective travels.
Just before Shell Falls Canyon on US-14, there were all kinds of interesting rock formations - mesas or buttes - I am not sure of the difference, but there were some really strange round, brown ones with rocky ridge edging in one town. Then there were striated ones that were mostly black and then more brownish ones. After the Shell Falls canyon, I came out into some mountainous pass with heights to climb and curves to round. Then I seemed to be in pastureland...or not...because there were no cattle or other livestock there. Then I was in farmland with irrigation sprinklers, maybe soybeans, corn and regular fields. I started making some generalizations about farms in the various states. Most farms seem to have the house as a center surrounded by trees, especially in the plains area I would imagine, to reduce the wind effects.
North Dakota farms seemed very modern with their farm structures. Montana seemed more traditional. Maybe similarly with Idaho and Eastern Washington State. I felt that Wyoming farms were more haphazard with buildings and equipment all lying around willy-nilly with no thought to esthetics....that was probably felt to be elitism, those Yankees. Not to say that Wyoming isn't beautiful and I myself am partial to haphazard. Anyway, some of the Wyoming farmyards looked like junkyards to me. Out west there are more junkyards - I think they have been cleared up a lot in the east - maybe to make room for housing developments.
After the farms, there were more wilderness areas with sagebrush and mountains, cliffs and rocks, etc. There might still be fences. There was a lot of land that I went through that was part of the Bighorn National Forest,...and maybe some other one earlier on. I passed one campground that was closed and missed signs for some of the other ones. I did see RVs in one campground though.
Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to camp, and maybe I will have lost my opportunity since Zoe, the deskclerk here said a cold front was coming in from Colorado tomorrow.
I went through Sheridan WY and found a supermarket for a pit stop and some food for lunch but was disappointed with the slim pickings there. I had enough though to serve as dinner as well since this hotel is some distance from the regular assortment of restauans so it was good I had food to eat in my room. I was lucky enough to spot two deer along side the road outside of Sheridan I think and then again just before getting to Gillette, a man in a black & red Buffalo plaid shirt on a motorcycle passed me for the second time and then slowed down for a little herd of deer so I was able to snag a few more photos of them. They are definitely cute. And it was nice to add to my wildlife sightings, but I think these are also black-tailed deer, which I saw in North Dakota (I think). I have done very poorly with my fauna and flora identification this trip.
I was uncertain of how far I would get today. I had planned to make it as far as Mt Rushmore, but my dalliance in the Bighorn National Forest put an end to that goal. I don't think I am that far away. The light started getting so nice by the end of my drive that I was so tempted to take some photos of the landscape in that golden light that Candae loves, but I was afraid I wouldn't make it to a hotel by dark. I had a bit of trouble finding the back road rt 14 out of Sheridan. The GPS kept directing me to I-90 and I definitely wanted the backroad experience. I waited until I reached Gillette city limits to find a hotel. I opted for a 3 star with a 4 out of 5 rating and it was still not any more than yesterday's slightly dated but OK Sunrise Motor Inn in Cody. I like that it has an elevator to my second floor room. It has a fitness center, pool and spa which I will not avail myself of. It offers breakfast so we shall see how that is. Otherwise I like my spacious room and microwave and refrigerator with freezer compartment and all is well. The end...for today.
2025-05-22