Day 4: Rock Springs, WY to Casper, WY

Today started rather uneventfully. We got the usual continental breakfast at the hotel and hit the road by 9:30. We made some seriously good time on I-80 straight through Rawlins with a slight detour for road construction, and up WY798 into another small salt flat. It was in the middle of this flat that Geevee decided she needed a snack break, so we stopped at the first opportunity, which ended up being a 'town' called Lamont. In the tradition of small desert towns it was a trailer home and a half cafe/half derelict structure that would be flattered to be labeled a building. All told, it was not that bad of a place and reasonably popular if only because it was the only thing for 30 miles around. We ate a small picnic lunch in the surprisingly chilly wind, took a few snapshots, made a few comments, and moved on.

Today was the first day we really got a glimpse of wildlife. There were antelope scattered every mile or so in some places. They often hung out with the cows pasturing in the flats, which didn't seem to bother the cows one bit. We spotted a few prairie dog towns along the way as well and Jess nearly hit one little guy who was luckily smart enough to stop short of the white line. Though I believe we're now officially in buffalo country, there were none to be seen.

There were also more spectacular specimens of Wyoming geology. Unlike other rocky areas where the rock formations remain largely the same for many many miles, southern Wyoming seems to want to change things up every 20 or so miles just to keep it interesting. There was even a monument class formation called Devil's Gate (the devil apparently lays claim to much of Wyoming's geology) that was quite impressive.


We made spectacularly good time today (since there is literally no where to stop anyway) and ended up arriving in the Casper area by 1:00 local time. As with previous days the girls were both crying and we all really needed to get out of the car and into the hotel pool. There was a pool, unfortunately it was empty. The tension was through the roof as Tessa begged for bathroom breaks (yes, plural) while Terence madly tried to book a new reservation and fought with Orbitz to cancel the one we had booked.

At last we got a refund and made our way to the hotel just across the street. The new hotel is perfect and didn't cost much more, it feels like a paradise compared to yesterday with a working ice machine, a warm pool, soft beds, fluffy pillows, and a REAL breakfast with waffles and fruit for tomorrow morning. Geevee took to the pool a little better this time, getting up to her waist and floating around a bit before crying. Tessa was in love with the pool after the previous two ice-cold pools. She splashed and kicked and played and had a great time. It was exactly what she needed.

We had dinner at the Applebee's up the street which was quite tasty after the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we had for lunch in the middle of nowhere. Tessa performed a beautiful impromptu predinner concert for us as well. She was off by a few states but her rendition of 'Oh, what a beautiful morning' from Oklahoma was well worth recording. We then went back to the room for some more swimming, relaxing and repacking. Tessa was WAY beyond tired and had broken down to hysterics by bed time came. Once we convinced her she actually wanted to go to bed, she didn't even make it through her story time though.



Thanks again to everyone who's following along.

The Clarks