October 11     152 miles     LARAMIE, KOA RV Park, WYOMING     ($28.71)

From the Colorado Rockies to the Prairies of Wyoming: the Cowboy State

Pausing only for a final hour on the WiFi internet, we drove through Estes Park and east on US.34, gradually descending as we followed the beautifully wooded gorge of the Big Thompson River for 33 miles to the city of Loveland. Green and gold trees and snow-roofed wooden cabins lined the banks of the tumbling river. There was an RV Park 11 miles along near the Sleepy Hollow Park, and a few miles further at Drake a restaurant and camping by the river, where we parked for lunch and watched a pair of fishermen casting their lines.

It was downhill all the way, from over 8,000 ft to 6,000 ft by the small Idylwilde Dam on the Big Thompson. The snow line was still visible in the pines and rocky slopes above us but the threat of heavy falls has moved south to Boulder and Denver. We emerged from the rocky defile about 7 miles before Loveland, passed a couple of RV Parks and drove straight through the city (at about 5,000 ft). It had all the usual stores and motels, parks and a lake. The Loveland RV Park was about 3 miles east of town, a mile before reaching the Interstate which runs north-south.

Turning north on I-25, the transition from winding Rocky Mountain roads to the arrow-straight highways of the plains and prairies was sudden and dramatic. We drove by fields of wheat and sunflowers, with a receding view of snowy peaks. Past the exits for Fort Collins, then Wellington (with a KOA), we rose gently to 6,150 ft at the Colorado-Wyoming State Border after about 40 miles on the Interstate, welcomed by adverts for fireworks – yes, gunpowder is OK in Wyoming!

A  break to collect free maps and information at the State Visitor Centre, just by exit 7 (about 2 miles before the State capital, Cheyenne). Our first time in Wyoming, a name evoking images of cowboys out on the range, and the furthest point east reached this tour.

Turning west on I-80 just before Cheyenne, at about 6,300 ft, we crossed the snow-flecked prairies dotted with black cattle (and the odd deer) under a vast threatening sky.  The busy Interstate rushed across the empty landscape, its lanes clear of snow: a major trans-continental route from San Francisco to Chicago.  At 8,300 ft a sign announced entry to Medicine Bow Forest – a quaint name, but no trees yet!

At the top of the Laramie Range at 8,640 ft (the highest point on the whole length of the trans-continental I-80) is the Summit Rest Area, complete with a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln poised on a 30 ft high stone base. Then a descent to Laramie (about 50 miles from Cheyenne), a historic railroad town at 7,166 ft, in the shadow of the Rockies again, which loom eerily from the misty, snowy shadows to merge with the clouds. The territorial prison here once held such desperadoes as Butch Cassidy.  See www.laramie.org.

We shopped at Wal Mart, the main purchase being an electric fan heater, made in China, for the princely sum of $9.99 (or £5.90 - less than a refill of propane!) and just the thing for these mountain nights. Just learnt that Wal Mart is the largest employer in the USA: it's hard work keeping war with China at bay! There was a small gathering of monster RVs in a corner of its massive car park, settling in for the night, generators running.   

The KOA here is set hard against Interstate junction 310 next to a large truckstop and filling station – not the most scenic location and way overpriced, but convenient for our onward route. Rain set in after dark and the WiFi internet wasn't working – no scratch cards available!