Granny and Grandpa
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Sheila's road trip notes
2007 Road Trip Notes
Sunday, July 29th, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007 We got up at 5:00 AM and the kids got up at 5:30. It was cold in the camper. We did not need the fan, and had shut most of the windows the night before. Grandpa and Ron said it was 60 degrees, but it was really like 40 degrees. We left the campground at 6:02. Grandpa and Granny were going to leave later. We had to be home today so Ron could go back to work tomorrow. Grandpa and Granny thought they might take 2 days to get to our house. It was 44 degrees and the sun was coming up. Ron had to stop and let 4 bucks cross the road in front of us. When we passed them, we saw 4 more down by the Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake is really pretty. We are going out the east entrance today. We saw more elk and more deer. Ron waved at a doe, but she DD ‘ed him (doe dissed). The road to the east entrance is under construction and part of it is gravel. At 6:43, we started listening to Sarah’s iPod. We left the park at 6:45. It was 45 degrees, sunny with a few clouds. At 6:49 we saw a moose. The first one of our trip. Of course he did not have antlers. We never see a moose with antlers. We saw a turkey next to the road. We passed the Buffalo Bill State Park and the Buffalo Bill Dam Visitor Center. We passed through 3 tunnels by the dam. We reached Cody, Wyoming at 7:40. The population of Cody is 8,835. We stopped at a Wal-Mart for our 67 ½ BB at 7:43. Wal-Mart’s are good places to stop for bathroom breaks. We got drinks, muffins, Oreos – strawberry ones (if you have never tried them, you should. They are very good.), and Sarah got a princess coloring and activity book and twist up crayons for $2 each. We left at 7:57. We stopped at a Chevron station for gas at 8:06. It was $3.01 a gallon. We have been 113.7 miles since our last fill up. We have been a total of 4,527.5 miles. We left at 8:08. We took Highway 120/14/16/20 east at 8:09. At 8:12 we took just Highway 120 east. It is not easy driving on so many roads. At 8:28 we saw a fox next to the road eating some kind of road kill. Yuck! We saw 2 does cross the road in front of us at 8:38. Ron blew the horn trying to get them to run across the road. They just stopped and looked at us. After we passed them, he saw 2 fawns cross the road, too. We reached Meeteetse at 8:39. I don’t know it was just a fun word to say. Sarah is coloring and doing activities. She shared and let Zach do some activities. We saw some antelope out in the cow pasture with the cows. Saw a big rabbit scooting across the road in front of us. We still have not thought of a name for our vacation. Oceans, Mountains, and Cheese, Eh. Oh well, we will keep trying. Sarah let Zach do a word scramble in her princess coloring book. Zach’s letters were n g i s. Zach made the word sign. Sarah said that did not go with the Princess theme. The correct word was sing. At 9:29 we took 20 east at Thermopolis. It is a very pretty drive after leaving Thermopolis. You drive through the Wind River Canyon which is really pretty. We also drove by the Boysen State Park which is on a big reservoir. We stopped at a gas station in Shoshoni for our 68 ½ BB at 10:06. We have stopped at this station before. Ron and the kids got milk to drink. We left at 10:22 and took Highway 20/26 east which is also the Sand Creek Massacre Trail. Sounds like a fun road. We passed through Hiland, Wyoming with a population of 10 at 10:59. We listened to Mitch Hedberg, a comedian on Sarah’s iPod. At 11:05 we saw our first Wall Drug sign. If you did not know, Wall Drug is in Wall, South Dakota. We have been there. It is an interesting drug store. If you get the chance, you should go there. We passed Hell’s Half Acre which is now closed. We have stopped there before and looked at it. It looks a lot like the Badlands. At 11:48 we took Highway 81/20/26 east toward interstate 25. At 11:51 we took interstate 25 south and at 11:52 we reached Casper, Wyoming. We decided to stop at a McDonald’s for lunch. We have stopped at this McDonald’s before also. We stopped at exit 185 at 11:55. There was construction around the exit. We stopped at an Exxon Station next to the McDonald’s to get gas for the Suburban at 11:56. We’re getting our gas from the McDonald’s. Gas was $2.89 a gallon. We have been 217.5 miles since our last fill up. Ron is very happy. We have been getting about 23 miles to the gallon. We have been a total of 4,745.0 miles. Sarah and I walked over to the McDonald’s to use the bathroom and get our lunch. Ron and Zach came over after filling the Suburban up and used the restroom also. We have now had our 69 ½ BB. We got our lunch to go and left at 12:10 and returned to interstate 25. We saw lots of antelopes. Wyoming must be the antelope capital of the world. We passed a Chevrolet Cavalier that had a TV tied to the trunk, chairs tied on the roof of the car and the inside was full, too. We stopped at a rest area for our 70 ½ BB at 1:33. We had to follow a semi-like RV pulling a trailer with a full size truck and a giant boat on the trailer into the parking lot. We left at 1:40. We reached Cheyenne at 2:47. See if you hurry you can always make Cheyenne. They are having Cheyenne Frontier Days. We are going to go one year. We always see a sign for the Curt Gowdy State Park and wonder who is. We think he was in the Olympics. He was not. He was a sportscaster. We entered Colorado at 2:57. It is 77 degrees and cloudy. We stopped at a rest area for our 71 ½ BB at 3:22. It is a new rest area next to the Colorado Welcome Center. We left at 3:28. At 3:36 we were passed by a Highway Patrol car with his lights flashing. We could see another car with lights flashing ahead of us. We wondered if there had been a wreck, but traffic was still moving. We exited at Loveland because we could see a lot of brake lights ahead of us and we did not want to get caught up in traffic. We could not tell for sure if traffic was stopping, but we decided to go the rest of the way home on Highway 287. We took Highway 287 south at 3:49. This goes through downtown Longmont, which is a pretty downtown. We got home at 4:42. It was 77 degrees and cloudy. We had been a total of 5,017.4 miles in 14 days. Whew! We all had a really good time and enjoyed everything we did. Grandpa and Granny decided to drive all the way to our house. They got here in the early evening. Everyone had a really good time on our vacation.