Adventures of an Air_Cooled_Nut: Wyoming: The Land Of Nothingness!

Day 4 – This is being posted today instead of last night because we had NO internet service. I wrote this up last night.

Wyoming: The Land Of Nothingness!

Okay, at least the southern part. More on that later…

I topped up my brake fluid reservoir and also got a spare gallon of 15w-40 diesel motor oil (cuz it’s high in Zinc) and Brian got some bungee cords to secure his hood, then we left south Ogden, Utah, and finally trekked eastward into hills and valleys…you know, scenery and winding roads. It was a very nice change of pace.

No need to click the picture, it's just the welcome sign to Wyoming.

After we crossed into Wyoming -- along with +35mph winds -- Brian’s hood popped up AGAIN so we pulled into Evanston to put some more bungee cords on it. The parking lot we used was an old gas station converted into a fireworks store so we went inside to check it out and use the restroom. Ended up chatting with the owner and we saw a LOT of super-duper-really-cool fireworks – the kind that would land me 25 to life in prison if I shot them off in Oregon. We did buy some non-fireball shooting types that are Oregon legal: They launch little army men that parachute down. I got some neon sparklers and some other parachute-style fireworks that I think the kids (okay, me) will like.

If there was only some way I could sneak these puppies into Oregon.

Three different parachute, Oregon-safe, fireworks for me, er, the kids.

We stopped in Green River at Penny’s Diner for lunch. That was one of our stops from the last Invasion two years ago. Nothing exciting put probably what contributed to our future sleepiness. Oh, the NASCAR contingent was west bound. We stopped at Little America so I could check it out and saw more NASCAR haulers. I wanted to get a picture of my car with one of them as a backdrop but by the time we got out of the gift shop they were done fueling and were parked next to other trucks so there wasn’t any space. Bummer.

Penny's Diner.

We eventually got out into the greater vastness of nothingness known as southern Wyoming. Driving in the winds with 18-wheelers screaming by us was fatiguing and we were really sleepy so we took a 30-minute nap at a parking lot on the side of the road (literally). That really helped out and we were able to trudge onward. I commented that there seemed to be far too many trucks on the road and they were getting annoying, like pulling in front of a line of cars so they could pass another trucker 2mph faster. When the 2012 Corvette in front of you mashes on his brakes to an 18-wheeler cutting him off you know they don’t care about anyone but themselves (which seems to be much of society today). Anyway, Brian told me later he decided to count the cars & truck coming the opposite direction and he stopped at 60 trucks vs. 40 cars.

We hit Laramie at about 7pm and filled up. Brian was deep into his gas reserves and that last stretch of nothingness (where some trailer folk actually eek out a living) was 219 [actual] miles and had my baby gulping down 8.37 gallons of fermented dino juice. We decided to hit Cheyenne and spend the night there but when Brian turned on his headlights he got a plume of smoke from under his dash sooooo we’re now spending the night in Laramie…in a motel that has no internet service and no Sprint phone service. Oh yeah, the winds picked back up and there’s no where to have a cigar. And the bathroom fan doesn’t work so we have that door and our room door open to air out the failed fumigation experiment Brian and his butt executed in there.