I'm up early this morning, but I'm having trouble getting motivated to pack up. I make coffee and cook myself a full breakfast...eggs, bacon and toast.Lots of dew this morning, so my tent fly is wet...that goes over the picnic table to dry out. Roll up the sleeping bag, liner and pad...into the Escape. I use one of my "Sham Wow!" towels to wipe the moisture off of my tent before taking that down and stowing it away.
It's cloudy this morning, so my rain fly has not dried off after a few hours...so...I wipe it down by hand. My plan was to be on the road by 7:00 or 8:00AM but, before I know it, it's almost 10:30...no early start today.
Now I'm on the road heading north back into Yellowstone...between construction and heavy traffic, it's slow going. By the time that I get to the East Entrance (Exit) of Yellowstone, it's almost 1:00PM...camping near Devils Tower is looking doubtful.
Exiting the Park, I'm now going through the Bighorns, last of the mountains for this trip. They are fairly steep...lots of those pleasant vertical drops. I drive through the town of Cody (founded by Buffalo Bill), then I'm in some very steep canyons before gradually descending near a huge man-made lake. I have never driven through this part of Wyoming...it's gorgeous. Signs along the way tell me the age of the exposed rock formations...the Cambrian period, the Pennsylvania period...pretty ancient.
Around 6:00PM or so, I'm coming to the town of Gillette, and I figure that it's time to stop for the evening. From my room at the Days Inn, it's only about a mile or so walk to the "Prime Rib Restaurant and Blue Martini Lounge"...my last meal of Western beef for awhile. The restaurant is nice...friendly bartender, chat with the owner about wine, have an extra-dry Stoli Martini with anchovy-stuffed olives...very relaxing. Given that I'm siting in a restaurant called "The Prime Rib, I figure that's the best thing to order...I'm right...it's perfectly cooked and really, really good. They have an excellent wine list...everything is well chosen, and I get a bottle of 2005 L'Ecole #41 Cab....I had this wine at the Winery in Walla Walla last year, so I know that it's good...it is!
I leave stuffed, happy and with that particular feeling of satisfaction that only comes with a meal of beef. There's an Applebee's next to my hotel, so I stop in there for a few beers...the perfect "cap" for a nice evening. The bartender, Meg, is friendly and her "pour" is most generous. I also meet a guy named Steve, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama and is up here working on the big coal-fired generating plant here in Gillette. I saw it on the way in, and it's a impressive sight...train car-loads of coal for as far as the eye can see. I ask Meg about the economy of Gillette...what do they do here? I figure that maybe there's a college here...nope...here, it's all about mining, oil drilling and power generation. Meg points out that they are even reopening some old uranium mines in anticipation of more nuclear power plant construction in the future. I've passed a number of wind generating plants along the way but, it should be noted, when the blades aren't moving, they are not producing any power. Steve and I spend a fair bit of time discussing the finer points of Alabama BBQ...open pit vs. closed pit, pork vs. beef, ketchup-based sauce vs. mustard-based, hickory vs. oak...it doesn't matter because they're all good.
And, soon, I'm back at the Days Inn and climbing into a real bed again...boy, that feels good. I'm out like a light.
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