Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Day 4, Cheyenne, WY to Belle Fourche, SD or Armageddon outa here.

After meeting John's cousin Paul, and his 3 traveling partners for diner last night, we headed back to the KOA and went to bed early. We got up early and packed. We were gone by a little after 0700. We had breakfast at the Subway next to the Interstate. We gassed up and headed north.

Yesterday we went past at least 12 Minuteman missile silos. Today we went by at least another 7 or 8. These are not your typical abandoned South Dakota, Ellsworth AFB silos. These are the real deal. Still live and active. They are under the control of Warren AFB in Wyoming. If they are layed out like the ones in South Dakota, there are 150 live missiles in the area. The USAF will admit to 450 Minuteman between WY, ND, and MT.
One of the silos had service vehicles and people inside the fence. I wanted to take a picture, but I rethought that idea. I did snap a quick pic of one that no one was at. That's as close as I want to get.



We continued north towards Torrington, WY. We stopped at the Meridian Rest Area, on Hwy. 85 to stretch a bit.




A few miles outside of Lusk, WY I snapped this picture of John at a nice scenic overlook.



We got to the Mule Creek Junction, WY and turned east towards South Dakota. I got 2 more state signs.




We followed 18 into Edgemont. I could start to smell the sweet scent of pine over the bitter smell of the sage brush. By the time we got to Hot Springs it was all pine. We stopped at the jewelry store run by the Whitaker's. John had to get a few things. While we were there, the skies turned black and we heard thunder. Time to put on the rain suits. A few miles up the road it started to rain. We followed 385 north. When we were driving through Deadwood there was so much hail on the ground it looked like it had snowed. I really wanted a picture of that, but there's no way I was going to try and dig out the camera. They had used a snowplow to clear the streets before we got there.

We made it to Wyatt's Hideaway. After setting up camp and hanging a few things from the trees to dry, we went to eat. Rancher Tips from the American West. mmmmmmm.