August 1st Wheatland, WY & Fort Laramie National Historical Site

We had the best intentions to be on the road early in the morning but I did not wake up until 8:00am. Once I realized I had overslept I moved into high gear preparing the inside of the trailer for travel while Leon dumped our holding tanks, filled the fresh water tank, unhooked from city water and electric, hooked the TV to the trailer, cranked up the stabilizers and removed the BAL wheel chocks. By 9:00am we were on our way, I was so glad to be leaving the dump of a campground I had been based at for the last 4 days! It was an easy, pleasant run up Route 25 from Brighton, CO to Wheatland, WY and we arrived in town a little passed noontime. Now, Wheatland is not a hot spot (though it is a very nice little town, population of 3500). I selected it because it has a small campground within it's city park which received great reviews on www.freecampgrounds.com. There isn't a set rate for sites, only a donation box at the entrance and length of stay is limited to three days. As we pulled in we were pleased to see how well kept the campground and park was. We saw families enjoying picnic lunches on the lawns and folks playing horse shoes at the parks many horse shoe pits. We selected a site and backed it. It was a bit tight due to the number of large trees on both sides but after a couple of attempts we were able to back the trailer right up next to the cement pad that holds the site's picnic table and grill. After getting settled in we enjoyed lunch at the picnic table and then heading out to Fort Laramie National Historical Site. The Fort is under an hours drive from Wheatland and along the way there are marked historical sites where we viewed the ruts left in the soft sandstone by the metal banded wheels of covered wagons which passed through these parts on the Oregon / California / Mormon Trails. These truly fascinated me! We were able to stand in and touch the same worn, stone paths the settlers took 160 years ago, amazing! We also stopped and viewed sites where the settlers camped after they left Fort Laramie (they only moved 10 to 12 miles a day so the encampments were not far from the Fort at all). After taking in the ruts and encampments we arrived at Fort Laramie where our National Park Interagency Pass was accepted as payment (yippee!). The NHS is very well done with some of the buildings being restored and others being only ruins. Fort Laramie was established as a private fur trading post in 1834 and was sold to the military in 1849. The first wagon train came to the Fort in 1841 and from then until the end of the migration west via covered wagon it played a crucial role by providing supplies and safety to the emigrants that passed through. We spent a few hours walking through the restored buildings and talking to park interpreters. All in all a great way to learn about the great western migration and the hardships of the settlers along with a day in the life of the solders based in this wilderness outpost. It was nearly 6:00pm when we arrived back in Wheatland and Leon suggested we see if we could find a local watering hole for an adult beverage. As we were traveling through the business center of town we both spotted a small Establishment named the Landmark Bar so we stopped in. What a hoot! It's a local place, a real coyboy bar. The bartender was colorful and wore a 10 gallon hat and huge belt buckle. He talked about all the guns he owns and the number of game he has shot. The number of times he was married and how he got rid of his wives without losing a dime. Like a said, this was one colorful guy. We each had two drinks, beer for Leon and wine for me and our total bill before tip was $7.50 - wow! We don't see prices this low in New Hampshire! Once we had finished our beverages we went back to our trailer, made dinner and watched a movie before retiring for the evening.

Note to our Airstream friends: The campground in Wheatland is named Lewis City Park and has 9 RV sites. There are some sites where the trees are far enough apart that backing into the the site would be easy, others not so much. The park offers 30 amp electric and a dump station, no water or sewer though you'd be able to fill your fresh water tank from one of the spickets located around the park as long as you have a "water thief".