Sunday 9-21-25 Kaycee City Park & Relaxing

 

Sunset at Kaycee City Park

 

We woke up to the temperature of 54 degrees at Riverside Park in Douglas WY. It took a bit for the temperature to drop last night but it was very comfortable for sleeping. When Larry woke up he turned on the Wave3 to warm up the house part of the Minnie. The temperature in the cab was in the 40's but the house was in the 54. 

I crawled out of bed at 7:30 and got dressed. Afterwards we had a quick breakfast of Hostess Donettes Fritter Rings. Then we got ready to leave Riverside Park. It was a great place to spend the night. It's free, they didn't even have a donation box. You can stay there for three nights. Once we got everything put away and secured we were on the road by 8:00. 

We were going to drive 175 miles to Douglas WY but we ended up going 125 miles to Kaycee WY to the city park. The drive was interstate and the scenery was rolling hills and plains. At times we saw nice mountains, they reminded me of the Escalante National Monument in Utah. We saw a lot of Pronghorns in the fields. They were very healthy. 

We stopped at the Walmart in Casper to pick up a few things because we weren't sure how long it's going to be before we see another Walmart. We spent the gift card we got from Larry's mom (Shirley). Thank you very much Shirley.

When we bought gas yesterday we had trouble with one of our credit cards. The same card would not work at Walmart today. We ended up using another one. Larry called the credit card company. The lady said she couldn't see anything wrong. She offered to send a new card but Larry told her we were on the road. The lady said let them know when and if he needed the new card.

We got to Kaycee at 11:30 and pulled into their Fairgrounds for lunch. After lunch we walked around to see if we could camp in the parking lot. There was a sign, that said "No Camping". So we moved a block over to the city park where you can stay overnight. You can park anywhere because there are only a few places that look like a site. One of them was being used already. We parked the Minnie and set it up for the night. It's another free park, you can stay for three nights. 

Kaycee City Park is small but really nice. It has a few trees and a playground. The bathroom is a Port-A-Potty, which is very clean. 

It got up to 85 degrees. It wasn't bad because we had a bit of shade and there was a small breeze. We opened the door, windows and vents to keep it comfortable. I went up above the cab to take a nap about 1:00. It was a little warm but I was able to sleep for an hour. In the evening it cooled off nicely.

We spent the day relaxing with a book. I asked Larry to choose a book for me yesterday and he selected The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe. The story takes place back in the 1800's and so far it's a good book.

When we first got to the park we watched two guys training their five dogs to herd cattle. We enjoyed it until Larry saw one of the guys beating one of the dogs with a stick because he didn't do what it was suppose to do. I know you need to correct dogs when they do something wrong but you don't need to beat it with a stick. One of the dogs, that was black and white looked like it knew what to do. We watched them for awhile and we didn't see the guy beat any of the dogs again. The neighbors had a couple of horses, a goat, a few heads of cattle and five dogs.

After dinner I took a few pictures of the park. I didn't do too many steps, only 2,000.

 

 

Kaycee City Park playground

 

 

 

Neighbor's horses

 

Camping at Kaycee City Park

                

Saturday 9-20-25 Cheyenne & Douglas Wy. Riverside Park

 

Awesome Day

 

We had an awesome day. We woke up to the temperature in the high 40's at Tie City Campground. The high in Douglas Wy. was 77, which was about 175 miles from Tie City Campground.

We had a super time at Tie City Campground. We decided to move on down the road. I got up at 7:30 and got dressed. Then we had a quick breakfast of Hostess Coffee Cakes. We put things away and secured. We were on the road by 8:15. 

We drove to Cheyenne to do some site seeing, which was 41 miles from Tie City Campground. First stop was at the Wyoming State Museum. The downtown in Cheyenne isn't RV friendly because there's not a lot of parking except on the street. The visitor parking at the Wyoming State Museum is small. We were there early enough we could park on the end. There was a sign for buses so Larry went and checked it out. It was more like a place to unload buses not a parking area. The museum was located in a beautiful building. It has two floors. The lady who greeted us was very nice and friendly. She told us how the museum worked. The museum exhibits were about the history of Wyoming. They had miniature exhibits on the history, artifacts on the history, displays of Wyoming wildlife, a nice exhibit of dinosaurs and had exhibits on the old west era. It was very nice.

 

Wyoming State Museum

 

 Head pieces and moccasins of the Native Americans in the early times of Wyoming

 

A miniature copy of an old west town in Wyoming

 

The exhibit of Triceratops dinosaur 

 

Sheep wagon back in the early times of Wyoming

 

Exhibit of the Dorothy Satterfield and Prairie Rose Henderson 

ladies from the old west shows

 

 

Margie Earlywine and Gene Krieg Creed more women from the wild west shows

 

Some of the wildlife in the Wyoming area

 

Next stop was the Capitol Building, it was across the street from the Wyoming State Museum. It's a beautiful building. It has three stories and a basement. When we entered in the front doors of the Capitol Building we were greeted by a friendly lady who told us a little history of the Capitol Building and what was on each floor. Then she told us to enjoy walking around. We walked up a gorgeous staircase to the second floor where the Senate Chamber, House of Representatives Chamber and the Historic Supreme Court are located. Then we walked up another set of stairs to the gallery of the Senate and House was located. We walked back down the staircases and down another set of stairs to the basement, where there were meeting rooms and the governor's office. There were safes in the basement where the archives are kept. The tour was self-guided. They had a great book on the Wyoming State Capitol history and extensions. 

 

The State Capitol Building

 

Part of the Senate Chamber 

 

The House of Representatives Chamber from the gallery

 

The historic Supreme Court Chamber

 

The staircase to the second floor

The third and final stop was the State of Wyoming Historic Governors' Mansion. It was a few blocks away from the Capitol Building. The walk was very nice. As we walked we saw beautiful statues on every corner about the history of Wyoming. The State of Wyoming Historic Governors' Mansion was a gorgeous two story house with an attic and basement. We were greeted by Terry, who took us to room and talked about the history of the mansion and Wyoming Governors, who lived in the mansion and who didn't. Terry also explained that Wyoming was the first state that had a woman as a governor. Her name was Nellie Tayloe Ross, she took over for her husband after he died. She served as governor for two years. Terry was very friendly and knowledgeable on the history of Wyoming. We did a self-guided tour of the mansion. It was very nice. At the end of the tour she told us a story about one of the governors and how he was elected. We had a great tour.

 

Native American Girl statue we saw on the way to the Governors' Mansion

 

Street name chiseled in the curb

 

First woman governor Nellie Tayloe Ross

 

 State of Wyoming Historic Governors' Mansion

  

Nursery

 

Daughters room in the attic

 

The kitchen in the mansion

 After touring the governors' mansion we walked back to the Minnie. Once there we had lunch. After lunch we continued our adventure to Douglas Wyoming. The drive was for another 144 miles on the divided highway. We stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs and go to the restroom. The rest area was very nice. They had enclosed picnic tables with walls on three sides to protect you from the wind if you wanted to use them. When we arrived in Douglas we stopped at a Conoco to fill the Minnie with gas. 

We arrived at Riverside Park at 3:30. It's a very nice park with a lot of trees and the river is right there. You park anywhere around a circular drive. It has restrooms with showers. There's a dump station and potable water. Everything is free. We had no problem finding someplace to park the Minnie for the night. We had to block the passenger side one block to get level. Once we were settled in we went over and took a shower. On the way to take a shower I ended up talking with a lady from Canada. Larry was getting worried because I usually only take a few minutes to take a shower but when I get to talking it takes a lot longer. The showers were great.

 

Camping at Riverside Park in Douglas

 

Jackalopes

 

 

North Platte River

 

A deer statue by the restrooms

 

Door to the ladies room
 

When I got back we had dinner.

After dinner we walked around the park and by the river. Larry walked around one lap and I continued to walk around one lap. I was going to do more but I ended up talking to a gentleman, who was staying at the park for a night. By the end of the day I only did 8,000 steps.    

    

 

        

 

Friday 9-19-25 Lincoln Memorial Trail, Walking & Relaxing

 

Gorgeous Day

 

We had a gorgeous day with sunshine. We woke up with the temperature of 36 degrees and the high of 69 degrees.

We had slept with the Wave3 on so when we woke up with the temperature of 36 degrees it didn't feel like it. I crawled out of bed at 7:00 and made biscuits for breakfast. After breakfast we got ready to go on a hike.

We left on our hike at 8:00 am. We started the hike from the campground, where the trail sign was for Alden. We didn't take that trail instead we took an unmarked trail to the right of it. We hiked this trail to the Lincoln Memorial rest area. The trail took us through the trees and out in the open through a field of stage brush. When we got to the rancher's fence we could see the memorial. In order to get to the memorial we had climb over the split-rail fence. Larry helped me over it. Then we hiked through a field to the memorial. It was 1.5 miles to get there. We rested, used the restroom and took a picture of Lincoln. I got a better picture of him today because the sun was shining and it wasn't cold and windy. After resting we went to the Summit Trailhead. The entrance to the parking lot was a cattle guard. There was a little opening so we could walk around the cattle guard. At the trailhead we got on an unmarked trail to get us back to the campground. We didn't go on the same trail as we did to get there. We took the unmarked trail through the open field to Upper U W trail. We hiked this trail through the trees the opposite direction then yesterday, we hadn't been on this section of the trail. We met up with another small trail, that wasn't marked. We hiked to Aspen Trail. The trails were through the trees and up and down hills. They were very nice. From the Aspen Trail to Black Jack Trail we hiked another small trail. When we got to Black Jack Trail we hiked a section we didn't hike yesterday and opposite direction. Then we met up with Pole Creek Trail and went back to the campground. By the end of the hike we had hiked 4 miles.

 

 

 

Lincoln Memorial 

 

Hammocks we saw during our hike

 

When we got to the trailhead we met a couple from Ohio, who was just getting ready to hike the trails. They asked which trails we hiked. We told them we hiked a few of them. Larry told them they needed a map of the trails because there were so many of them. The gentleman said that the trails weren't on All Trails. Larry said that was correct but they were on another application called Gaia GPS. Gaia is what we have been using. Then Larry helped him get the maps. They thanked us and went on their hike and we went to the Minnie.

Last night when I was doing my Blog the computer shut off because of low power. So I had to change from the Lithium battery to the Led Acid battery. When we got back from our hike Larry got all three of our solar panels out to charge the Lithium battery. It was so low it took all day. He is trying to figure out what happened, this is the second time this has happened on this trip. He is not sure if we have a problem with the actual battery or with our monitoring system. We've been watching the percentage left on the battery instead of the voltage. Now we'll watched the voltage. 

It took the entire day to charge the lithium battery using all three solar panels. 

I finished reading The Oceans and the Seas by Mark Helprin. It was a great book. 

 

   Reading is fun

 

After dinner we walked around the campground for 44 minutes for 1 mile. Larry walked one lap with me and I walked another two laps. I stopped and talked to a lady so it took me longer to walk a mile. The cows walked through our campsite and down the road. They were very active this evening. The campers like seeing them except sometimes they won't get off the trails.

By the end of the day I had done 14,500 steps.  

 

Thursday 9-18-25 New Campground, Hiking & Reading

 

Tie City Campground

 

We woke up to a gorgeous morning with sunshine. The temperature was 36 degrees and it got up to 65 degrees. It was cool all day because there was a little breeze. 

It was very comfortable sleeping last because we had the Wave3 running all night. I crawled out of bed at 7:30 and got dressed. I asked Larry what he wanted for breakfast and he said oatmeal. So that's what we had. We had maple brown sugar oatmeal and added raisins to it.

After breakfast we took our time getting ready to move on. We put things away and secured. We were only going 8 miles down the road up the mountain pass to Tie City Campground. We were ready to go by 8:45. 

We arrived at the campground about 9:00 and had no problem finding a site. There were only 16 sites but most of them were empty. We decided to take site #14 because it had more sun. Most of the sites were in the shade because of trees. We backed the Minnie into the site and set it up for a couple nights. Then we walked down the entrance to pay for two nights. There was young forest ranger fixing the pay station. She was switching the signs around so people could understand the information better. She screwed the board in the structure and then painted them where needed. We talked to her about what she was doing and the campground. We told her the only wildlife we saw were the cows in front of us. There was a trailhead at the entrance and the cattle were there. One of the cow crossed over a small cattle guard with no problem. They were a little intimating because they were running, mooing and very big. The forest ranger said she didn't know the rules on where the cows could go. 

We didn't go straight back to the Minnie we decided to go for hike. There are a lot of trails at the campground. We went to the trailhead, which is a couple of sites from us at a gate. While we were looking at what trails we wanted to take a lady came by. She asked if we needed any help. She lives in Laramie and hikes the trails all the time. She uses the same program we use, which is Gaia GPS. She had all the trails on her phone. Larry said we wanted to hike about three miles and she suggested the trails to take. We thanked her and started our hike. We hiked for 2.19 miles on three trails, which were Alder, Lower UW and Meadow. The trails took us through the forest and up and down hills. The were very nice trails and all loops. The trails here you can combine them together to make your hikes as long as you want. The trails had sand, rocks and roots in them but they were very nice. We saw cows laying in the grass and along the fence line. We had a great hike.

 

Cows in the grass 

 

When we got back to the Minnie it was time for lunch. I made chili for lunch. After lunch we relaxed in the Minnie with a book. I took an hour and half nap.

 

Relaxing

 

After dinner we went for another hike. This time we hiked for 2.30 miles. We hiked pieces of multiple trails, which were Pole Creek, Black Jack, Ridge, Upper UW and Meadow. The trails took us through the forest and up and down hills. We weaved through the trees and hiked some cross-country ski trails. At the beginning of the hike we heard a gentleman talking to the cows to get out of the way. We thought this might be a problem but it wasn't. The cattle when they saw us just looked at us. They didn't challenge us. We saw another guy on the trail with his dog. It was another good hike.

When we got to our site there was some cattle on the campground road. I went inside and they walked through our campsite. When I went outside to take a picture of them the moved off a little. This was fun to watch. 

 

Cattle walking the road

 

Cattle in our campsite

 

By the end of the day I had done 13,000 steps. 

 

             

Wednesday 9-17-25 Dreary Day & Errands

 

Rainy Day

 

It was a nasty day. We woke up to a brisk morning with the low of 39 degrees with wind. It barely got out of the 40's, only got to 50 degrees. The forecast had called for some sun and a high of 63.. It sprinkled on and off all day. The wind stayed around. 

I crawled out of bed around 7:45 and made pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast we started to put things away and secured. We were leaving Vedauwoo Campground after three marvelous days of camping and hiking. We're not going too far. We're going back to Laramie to doing laundry, get propane and a little grocery shopping.  

We left Vedauwoo Campground this morning about 8:45. We drove 16 miles back to Laramie. Larry drove through the mountain pass to get there. The mountain pass had fog so Larry had to turn on his lights. 

Larry had programmed Ace Hardware Store in the GPS so we can fill the Minnie with propane. Due to construction there were road closures around Ace Hardware making it a bit difficult to get to. Ace Hardware and Advance Auto Parts are next door to each other and the parking lot was small. We found the propane filling station so we parked the Minnie there. Larry went inside and they said they would send someone out to help us. Three employees showed up, two of them were in training. The guy explained to the two females how to fill the tank and to wear the safety gear (a face shield and gloves). He also told them to make sure everything is turned off before you fill the tank and make sure the pets are out of the vehicle. He explained the different types of tanks, that are in RVs. He did an excellent job of training. After the tank was filled one of the trainees gave Larry the ticket and told him to go inside and pay for the propane. When he finished paying he slowly drove out of the parking lot. He had to drive out at an angle because there was a big dip.  

Next we stopped by Spic and Span to do laundry. It had a small parking lot so we had to park on the street. The Minnie was not level and we were going to be there for awhile so Larry turned off the refrigerator. Spic and Span was a very nice laundromat. It was well taken care of and clean. They had a worker there to help you if you needed help. He made sure everything was clean. It was coined operated, a load to be washed cost $3.75 and to dry the clothes it was $.25 for eight minutes. The dryers worked great. We were there for a couple of hours.

 

Spic and Span from the web

 After doing laundry we went to the Walmart. We wanted to do a little grocery shopping. While we were doing our shopping it started to rain. By the time we got to the Minnie we were a little wet and cold because the wind was blowing hard. I put the groceries away and then made lunch. We shared a ham sandwich and I baked Great Value Potato Skins. We decided to hang around a little while because the rain was suppose to go away. Larry started the Wave3 because it was cold. 

By 4:30 the rain hadn't gone away so we decided to stay at Walmart for the night. We could have went to our next campground but why drive in the rain just to sit at the campground.

For the rest of the day we read. I ended up only doing 3,000 steps. I didn't feel like walking in the rain.

  

 

 

      

Tuesday 9-16-25 Camping, 2 Hikes & Rain

 

Rain and Sunshine

 

We had a very nice day. It started out at 42 degrees with a little breeze. It got up to 62. When the front came in at 4:00 the temperature dropped to 46 degrees.

I crawled out of bed at 7:00 because I had to go to the bathroom so I stayed up. I made french toast sticks for breakfast.

At 8:00 we went on a hike. It was chilly so we wore a light jacket. We hiked for an hour and forty-five minutes for 3 miles. We started the hike on the trail to Turtle Rock Trail. From the trailhead for Turtle Rock we hiked the trail for about a mile. The trail Y'd off left for Turtle Rock and right to a longer loop trail. We went to the right. We hiked the trail about .25 mile when we got to a creek we had to cross. The creek was too wide to jump and flowing way to fast to try and cross, we decided to turn around. Yesterday, we walked by the creek and it wasn't flowing fast at all. Today, while hiking Turtle Rock we heard the creek and checked it out. It was really flowing. We hiked back to where we saw a marshy area hoping to cross there but there was nowhere to cross. We went back on Turtle Rock trail. Once we got back to the trailhead we hiked the trail we took yesterday around the boundaries of the campgrounds. Even though we couldn't do the trail we planned to we still had a great hike. Because we hiked the trail the opposite way we saw things we missed going the other way. The rock formations even looked different. 

 

Beautiful meadow 

Crossing the creek to the other side

 

When we got home it was a little before 10:00 so we read a bit before having lunch.

After lunch we decided to go on another hike, it was suppose to start raining between 3:00 and 4:00 so if we wanted to do a second hike we had to do it early. The rain was suppose to hang around all evening. Larry had found another possible trail called the Pipeline Trail. We decided we would hike it. We started from the campground and hiked to where the Nautilus Loop Trail begins. We hiked Nautilus Trail until it Y's off. We went to the right because it was where the Pipeline Trail was. This trail was down an old pipeline road and we saw a lot of vent pipes. The trail was out in the open. As we hiked the road we saw three snakes. I couldn't get a picture of them because they were too fast. They just slithered across the road in front of us and disappeared in the small growth. The road took us up and down hills and curved around to the creek. We crossed the creek by taking a giant step. It took me awhile because I over thought it. Larry showed me what I had to do. Once I did it, it wasn't that hard. The trail took us along a fence line and up a hill. We were grateful Larry had the map because we would have missed where to get off the road and get on Nautilus Loop Trail. We hiked Nautilus Trail for about 1 mile. Nautilus Trail took us through trees and up over boulder and in between boulders. The last mile we hiked faster because we saw that the sky was getting dark and we heard thunder. By the end of the hike we had gone 2.3 miles for an hour and fifteen minutes. We made it back in time because it started to sprinkle.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing with a book. Larry started a new book and I continued reading The Oceans and the Stars by Mark Helprin. So far it's a good book about two people finding each other and falling in love. The gentleman was 51 and the lady was 48. It's also about being in the Navy.  

In the evening we turned on the Wave3 because it was getting cold. The heater warmed it right up. I also baked cookies so the oven helped.   

 

 Reading is fun

 

By the end of the day I had done 14,200 steps. 

     

    

      

Monday 9-15-25 Hiking Turtle Rock Trail, Camping & Reading

 

Camping at Vedauwoo Campground

 

Last night when I went to bed about 11:15 I was cold so I wore my sweat paints and socks to bed. When I woke the temperature was in the 40's and the Wave3 was running. I guess I didn't have to be all bundled up. Most of the time when I go to bed I'm cold but once I'm under the covers and next to Larry I get warm and comfortable. When the temperatures are in the 40's its perfect for sleeping.

I got up at 7:15 and made french toast sticks for breakfast. Afterwards we went on a hike. Today we hiked the Turtle Rock Loop Trail, which is 3 miles long. We started the hike from our campsite and walked to the East Trail Head. It was a beautiful trail, that took us through the forest of pines and aspens. We climbed in between boulders and over them. We climbed on big slabs of granite. We saw a few meadows. Some of the meadows had ponds and others the ponds were dry. Larry had read some people saw moose (cows and calves) while hiking the trail a month ago. The meadows looked like the perfect place to see them but we didn't see any. Most of the trail was easy. At places it was challenging because you had to climb up hill and in between the boulders. This made the hike fun. We saw a lot of beautiful rock formations. We saw the same rock formation on all of it's sides and it looked different. We stopped now and  then to look at the scenery. When we were about a mile from the end of the loop we met a group of mothers (4) hiking with their children and dogs. They babies in front of them, on their backs and holding hands. It was very nice to see them enjoying their hike. We also met a couple of couples. When we got to the trailhead we saw three people climbing Turtle Rock. After watching the climbers we took the trail to the Minnie. We had a super hike.

 

One of the ponds we saw

 

A little waterfall

 

Turtle Rock

 

A couple of climbers on Turtle Rock

  

When we got back to the Minnie we had hiked four miles, took us two hours. We were back by 10:30 we relaxed for a little bit. 

I wanted to finish reading Forever by Pete Hamil. I had a half hour left in the book. It was an excellent book about a man who lived forever and the wonderful changes  of New York City history. Then Larry chose another book for me. It is The Oceans and the Stars by Mark Helprin. 

After finishing the book I made soup for lunch. After lunch I took a couple hours nap. Larry went outside and read. It was a beautiful day with the high of 73 degrees. He said it didn't feel like it outside because there was a little breeze.

After dinner we went on another hike/walk for 1.33 miles. We started from the campground and took the trail from yesterday the Nautilus Loop Trail to its trailhead. Then we picked up a trail, that doesn't have a name. It took us to the entrance and to turtle rock trail. The trail weaved us around the boundaries of the campground. We hiked through trees and had beautiful view of Turtle Rock. The view was different from the views we had earlier because we were coming from a different direction. We hiked to a bench at the end of Turtle Rock Trail. While sitting on the bench a lady came by and asked if we had hiked Turtle Rock Trail. We said no. She was worried about an Asian lady she had seen earlier in the day hiking the trail and her vehicle was still in the parking lot. After resting we took Turtle Rock Trail back to the campground. We had another wonderful hike.   

 

             A pedestal rock

 

 By the end of the day I had done 14,200 steps. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing with a book.