Hot Springs, SD to Casper, WY--May 26th

Once again the weather Gods were not looking out for us...as usual on this trip we had to break camp in the rain.  Now that doesn't bother me much because I'm inside doing all the stuff that needs to be done, while Dan gets to be outside doing all the outside "duties"....I believe that's the way it was intended don't you!
The road out of Hot Springs were pretty good and not a lot of traffic, but the wind, was it ever blowing.  Dan says we were getting 30-35 gusts.  Now that's not bad if it's a tail wind 'cause then you make up time and get better gas mileage, which we are in desperate need of or we're gonna have to rob a bank along the way.  These were crosswinds, which I do believe are the worst kind when towing a 25' trailer.  It was real noticeable when the semi's would come whizzing by at 75 mph, yes you can do 75 in WY and SD, what are those people thinking!  Don't they know that at 55 mph you get better gas mileage and save lives, plus it would make us feel like we were keeping up.  Back to the winds...besides being pretty brisk, they were somewhat chilly, think the temps were in the 50's.  With that said the next thing we saw was a group of about a dozen crazy people riding their motorcycles and some of them didn't have on leather!  Guessin' their momma's didn't teach them to dress warm in the cold weather.
 It wasn't too long before we entered Wyoming...we made it

and here's the proof....

 There are a couple of things we saw along that way that were a tad unusual...   

We’re headed to Casper and plan on spending a couple of nights there because they have a MALL and I can shop...I’ve been so deprived the entire trip, no TV and no shopping.   Only a couple of things of interest, besides the gorgeous scenery.  There are tons of cottonwood trees and I mean tons, everywhere you turn there they are nestled in around a creek or a pond...

see anything wrong with this picture...all the trees are DEAD

 and that's the way it was at every site.  Having been trying to figure out why, but no one seems to know , they just accept it and go on.  

Can anyone tell me what this picture is of?  Now if you've lived in the west you probably know, but if you're from any where else, you still might know because you read Wikipedia or some other reference material.  For those of you who don't know what Wikipedia is I won't keep you in suspense any longer...are you ready, OK it's a snow fence.  There is just so much open, unobstructed land that when it snows and it does snow and when the wind blows and it does believe me and when they do it together the drifts can be as tall as the mountains.  I'm guessing the WYDOT people got tired of finding cars and other stuff when they started to plow the roads, covered up by the a fore mentioned drifts.  So with taxpayer money, WYDOT constructed miles and miles and miles of snow fence to prevent the snow from drifting on the highway and burying cars and cows alike.

So we make it to Casper and it's around 1:30 pm MDT, we get off the interstate and follow the bouncing ball to our campground...wait a minute, there's no campground on this road, lots of campers, but no campground

Guess I'm partly to blame for this mix up.  When I Googled the address it came back with two locations, same address but different zip codes.  Well, I had no clue what the zip code was so I just picked one...not the thing to do especially when the driver has been fighting 35mph crosswinds for the last 5 hours.  So we turn around and head back from where we came only to realize we should have made a left when we made a right.  OK, we see the sign and enter the park...wow the roads are full of pot holes and it's difficult to maneuver to the office.  I can see that Dan is having second thoughts about this place, but on we go to our site.  Understand that most campgrounds are used for both permanent residents and travelers like us.  We pull in behind all the permanent trailers and locate our spot....

Do you notice anything unusual about this spot....good eyesight, yes, it's a train within spittin' distance from us, and it came through town at 3:00am, yes that is AM as in the middle of the night!!  Dan did appreciate the graffiti and the sunsets, but that was about all...

 

Casper is a very industrial town, I'm sure there are some nice areas, but it wasn't in the cards for us to find them.  

  Dan decided after about 20 minutes of listening to the "noise" that we were not staying two nights in this PLACE.  He actually said something else which I will refrain from repeating...lol  He went and changed our stay and the office had no problem meaning that they most likely do this often.  Called the RV place in Thermopolis and got their last spot, after all it was a holiday weekend.  We shopped at a Wal-Mart to get some basic stuff, ate at a pretty miserable Mexican place... Dave you would have liked it!!!  I paid dearly for what I had...a salad and chicken tortilla soup...does that tell you anything.  Needless to say Casper is not on our list of places to visit again!  We left for Thermopolis at first light...it's got to be better....stay tuned.