Sunday
Beautiful, beautiful day! Wide open spaces, blue skies and lots of antelope. So far the roads have been straighter and nicer then Illinois roads.
We stopped a t a very nice rest area just outside Laramie,WY. They had a huge bust of Abe Lincoln. The rest area had lots of information on the Lincoln Highway which is now part of I-80. It was the first intercontinental highway and was completed in 1938.
We are spending 2 ½ days here and it is love at first site. The town is nice and flat at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. It has 27,000 residents and the University of Wyoming. Look across the planes and you can see snow topped mountains. (sigh).
In the afternoon we drove 40 miles up into the mountains to Centennial (elevation 8,700’) to a bar to hear 3 Blues bands. We were early so went further up the mountain. The forests look so pitiful as beetles are killing all the pines. Some recreation areas are closed where they are cutting the dead trees. We stopped to take pictures along a mountain stream and Bud spotted a deer peeking around a bush.
On to the bar we went. The whole evening was just surreal. The bands played in the side yard and it was so friendly and so casual. We got to talk to everybody involved in the performance. Google these guys up and you can see who we were with - Blinddog Smokin with Carl Gustafson, Gino Matteo and Carl Weathersby. We sat all night at a table with Carl Gustafson’s childhood friend and Carl!! The whole night was like a fantasy - awesome!!!!