Trip #154 (4): Rough Riders Tour: CO, WY & Dakotas (still trying to escape the heat)

Trip #154 (4): Rough Riders Tour: CO, WY & Dakotas (still trying to escape the heat)

September 7 – x, 2026

Monday, September 7 - Leadville 2 nights
Santa Fe still daily blazing at 90, enough already!!!! Diesel WAY UP $5.69 gal. WTF. Got to Leadville about 3pm. CG on Turquoise Lake #36 but bathroom STINKS so moved to better spot down the road. Flatter too. Host has 2 big cats running around, one friendly one not.

Tuesday, September 8

Woke to about 39º up here. Took bikes to town about 10 am (she got up early!), about 4 miles away, and got in some shopping before hitting the 12-mile Mineral Trail bike loop. Almost cool when the sun's behind clouds but it was a nice ride, all paved, long inclines and declines, and fortunately the visitor center guy said to ride it clockwise. All sorts of old mining structuresd and lots of info signs THAT COULD USE LARGER HEADLINES WHEN YOU ARE RIDING PAST, geez, tiny letters on a busy sign - only walkers can read them all; we'd still be up there if I stopped for them all. Hence, I have no idea what went on up there. That was good advice, tho we were the only ones going that way. Thanks to e-bikes didn't even break a sweat. Back to town to get the cool mug I saw earlier then to Safeway; livin' the dream you know. Took a walk on the trail along the lake. Way in the distance the fire from earlier in the year is still smoldering on the side of the mountain. Not many critters, I fed a bird but took another day for a squirrel to find it. Host said these campgrounds will all close for the season a week from Sunday. 

Wednesday, September 9

Even colder this am - 37º. Pretty day and off we go to Encampment, to be about a 4 - 5 hour drive, and what do you know, thru Frisco and Silverthorne - you know what that means, no, not the outlet malls, but the Habitat for Humanity thrift store! They always have the best crap, and I came out with a big heavy red bowl for bread for $10 while he fill up the tank with $5.69 diesel next door. Well, it was next door and all... Loving crossing over the Wyoming state line, never another car on the road. Relaxing enough to coax him into listening to podcasts, yesssss. Nice day, not much over 75, and we arrived to Encampment, thrilled to find some freebie spots open in the little city campground. Elec, water and sewer all compliments of a $.35 donation. Talk about a step back in time, you can probably walk down the middle of any of the gravel roads. Went to the thrift store, the antique store, checked out the one restaurant on mainstreet, then drove around, remembering we did a hike last time here, couldn't find that and then ended up at the new (to us) Grub and Pub for an early dinner. Ooh boy, the locals... smoking on the patio, sitting around the bar. A wild time, no one under 50, except for the staff. Hanging out now, breezy and 71, sunny, no complaints. Except for the man who arrived at 2:30 to cut the grass at the senior center, and was just finishing up when we returned for all out excursions. Yes, a slower pace here. He was strapping everything own on his trailer, I bet he lives around the corner.

Thursday, September 10

Cleaning house before we move on north. What can I say about Encampment except if you want to hear the sound of blowers lawn mowers and tractors and nothing else, this is the place to be. The coach next-door has the cutest little puppy I worried about it all morning cause I thought the woman went to work every day but I see she's here now so I can relax. I was gonna crawl through the window and play with it. Another day of 4 - 5 hours driving, from Encampment, 130 to Saratoga (what's with all the private jets at that tiny airport?), to Rawlins, 287 on west of Muddy Gap, thru Jeffrey City, the rest stop at Sweetwater Station (Oregon Trail rut area, but not for us today unless that is what I saw in the distance), and up 135 to Riverton, then on up more on 789 to the north end of Boysen Reservoir. Looks a lot like Page AZ here: barren with a large lake, but this one has plenty of water. Went to one of the cg's we've been to before, tho I had no memory until I saw it -- oh yes, the green park with the big trees and green grass. They say they water every day May - Sept. On the warm side (78º) when we arrived about 3-ish, changed into shorts and sat out in the shade of the big tree of the handicap spot we snagged for one night, #69. Camp less than half full and so quiet. This is the CG that also had about 3 cabins to rent and looked empty, no cars, so we walked up to peek in the window... is that cleaning supplies? NO, SOMEONE IS STAYING HERE! OOPS). It is along the Wind River, where you can see the fish hanging out, and we have no poles. No elec here so a night of battery lights and kibbie (yeah, I finally won 2-1). Enough zooming to get here, time to slow down and enjoy a location we've not seen before. Let's hope at least.

Diesel in Rollins Walmart for 5.48 

Friday, Sept. 11 - Never Forget - Big Horn Mountains

**NEXT TIME: Make a trip with time at Thermopolis, Worland & Ten Sleep (Souix say this is mid-way between Y-stone and ___). Things to see & do, but they were not part of this plan - of continuous driving...

Sentiway, was a warm morning leaving that canyon, maybe 72º, as we drove north toward Thermopolis. All these towns were bigger and nicer that we expected, must come back, some dino museums, etc. Worland had a 9-11 service going on at a park as we plowed thru (big place), and Ten Sleeps was so green and cute I had to get a mug at Dirty Sally's Mercantile. Very clean here at the foot of the Big Horns, can only mean one thing: Mormons. Yep. Saw their church. The Big Horns look big! 13-ers, but driving into them was gradual with beautiful foothills and canyons, very pretty indeed. Drove Hwy 16 about halfway in and found a perfect forest svc spot #6 overlooking Meadowlark Lake. We wanted cool? We got it now - sunny but wind was blowing and it felt like in the 50s, time to change clothes. Stayed cool, we walked down to lake, then across the street to check out atv road we will bike tomorrow. Stayed in a lot, tired and grumpy -- getting a bit sick of no electric... you know, what is this, camping??? Anyway, no signal either to Starlink kept the podcasts and crochet hooks flipping. Oh yeah, I slipped on rocks on that atv road and landed on side of left thigh, that might leave a mark... carrying on. It was 55º in the trailer when I went to bed at 11.

Saturday, Sept. 12

Was 39º this am, but dang this Airstream-provided bedspread is very very warm, no worries there, plus a few layers. Today we will ride. Still on the anti-histamine diet so dining is no fun, neither is cooking in but we manage. He has his whisky, cookies and bread, no whining. That's my job.