BEAM ME UP!

                                                          Beam me up, Scotty!

     Who would have thought there could be a traffic jam in Wyoming, the most sparsely populated state? The totality lasted only about 2 and a half minutes, so the group began moving out. We thought a half day of travel would give us a head start on our trip back east. We left about 1:30 PM. It was fine until we got to Casper, WY, a town also in the Path of Totality and a straight shot to Denver on I-25. It seems everybody and his brother had the same idea.

     Notice the bumper to bumper traffic. No danger of going over the speed limit. We averaged 2 to 30 miles per hour for 9 hours.

     Uni-cycle man was a bit of a diversion as we inched along. As night fell, the tail lights on the slow moving traffic looked like a river of red lava winding through the valley. I texted my church friends to pray that we would not run out of gas in the middle of no-where [we did not!]. Meanwhile back at the ranch, Kate was searching online for someplace for us to stay. There was not a hotel room to be had, due to the overwhelming crowd. We were saved from disaster by the kindness of strangers. Kate's brother Patrick, who lives in Wyoming, contacted friends in Cheyenne. Gary and Mary graciously took us in for the night (we arrived shortly after midnight).

Today's Travel: 290 miles (it took us 11 hours, normal time would be 4 hours 15 minutes)
Shoshoni Wyoming to Cheyenne Wyoming
TRIP TOTAL: 3,748

     Tuesday 8-22-17 we were up and on the road by 9 AM. We drove down I-25 to Denver, then took I-70 east. Today we actually saw bison, but they were domestic in fenced fields. Probably fattening up to be served as bison burgers at Wall Drug.

     What a difference a day makes! Here is the absolutely empty I-70 in Kansas.
Today's Travel (8-23-17) Cheyenne WY to Salina Kansas= 523 miles
TRIP TOTAL= 4,271 miles