1993/07 Rockies trip - Fort Laramie |
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Saturday July 17th
The morning was cold and misty, which made it a little easier to leave the mountains and head for home. Just over a thousand miles to go. The original plan had been to take freeways across Nebraska and Iowa to Des Moines and then head north to St Paul. 
But, just by chance, I'd mentioned this at a rest stop to another couple, and they'd told us to steer clear of Des Moines as it was under water. So, we bought a newspaper and found out that the floods in Minnesota had moved south to Iowa and Missouri, and we changed our plan. Instead, we were to go north to Wyoming and east across South Dakota. This would take us back into Minnesota's flood zone, but that should be drying out after a month.
We headed north on 25 through Cheyenne, but got diverted by a sign for Fort Laramie. We were still being 
tourists! Fort Laramie is on what was the Oregon Trail, so it’s a big part of the West's history. The fort has been partially restored, so there is a lot to see there and we spent more time than we could really afford, but looking is more interesting than driving! The contrast with our own Fort Snelling was interesting, as accommodations had certainly improved for the soldiers between 1820 and 1865.
We then headed north through Lusk towards Hot Springs in South Dakota, through a couple of big thunderstorms. At one time we were driving down what looked like a black tunnel under a perfect double rainbow. It was too dark for the film I had loaded and I only captured the main bow.
We stopped for dinner in Hot Springs, but Edna was not feeling too well, so she spent the time sleeping.
From there we skirted Rapid City, looking for a quick route onto 1-90. We'd originally intended to head into the Badlands, but it was now too dark and wet, so we gave up at the first sight of a campground, in Wasta. I'm sure this is where we also flaked out into a motel back in 1977 on our first trip west. It hasn't changed much in 16 years.