I Had a Great Day

Fremont County, WY

31st July, 2009

Today I did most of the things I came to WY to do.

I slept as late as I wanted, read a little from two different books. I ate a healthy breakfast and packed a healthy lunch. I left my hotel only half an hour later than I originally intended, and I put gas in my little rental car. I had my walkman plugged into the car radio and my Wyoming map folded to the appropriate section on the seat beside me. I was ready for a day on the road.

I had two potential road trips in mind. One, a Circle Tour all the way around the Wind River Mountains, part of the greater Rocky Mountain chain, would take at least six hours, much too long given my late start. Also, it would mean I would spend a lot of my time away from the mountains and behind the wheel. Finally, the day’s forecast suggested that roads along higher elevations would be subject to high winds, something I was not eager to deal with. I decided to put this off until Saturday, which seemed likely to be warmer, and which also gave me another try at a truly early start.

Instead, I decided to make two smaller trips. First, I would travel to Lander, WY, which is the gateway to Sinks National Park. This park is interesting because a local river, the Popo Agie, “sinks” into a series of underwater caves and openings only to emerge at the “Rise” several hundred feet downstream. Additionally, it serves as a gateway into the Southern Wind River Mountains which form the Continental Divide in about half of Wyoming.

Later I would drive southeast down part of US 287, which runs from Yellowstone to Laramie, WY, then north on WY 135 back to Riverton. The attraction of this drive was that it would take me along and over Beaver Rim, which has both geological and historical interest.

So I headed down WY 789 to Lander, then up WY 131 into the park. It was a great day for this; the weather was very sunny, with some fluffy clouds to accent the clarity of the blue sky. I drove in a leisurely fashion as far up the canyon as the road allowed. Then, in a moment of inspiration, I decided to walk a short way up the foot trail to the Popo Agie Falls. This mountain path runs along the river for about one and a quarter miles, climbing about 600 feet before it reaches the falls.

I didn’t feel brave enough – nor was I properly equipped – to walk all the way to the falls, but I wanted to at least get around one bend to see what another part of the valley looked like. I intended to spend only about half an hour doing this because I wanted to stop at the Sinks and the Rise on the way down. However, I had to force myself to turn back after 25 minutes or so, and the round trip ended up taking practically an hour.

Nevertheless, this was a particularly exhilarating part of the day for me, because instead of becoming increasingly short of breath, I seemed to breathe more easily as my walk progressed. I experienced a liberating sense of adventure and a correspondingly keen awareness of the natural world around me. By the time I returned to the car, I was in possession of twin feelings of self-accomplishment and a keen appetite for my lunch.

Driving down the park to find a picnic table at which I could consume my sandwich, fruit and water, I ended up in the upper campground of the park. After all, it’s a logical place for a picnic table. I spotted the table – at the same time I also spotted the bighorn ram standing beside the road! I quickly decided this was not the table for me, but less than five minutes later I found myself forced to pass the ram again, this time in HIS lane. He gave me the “are u invading my territory or just passing through” stare as I drove by in as non-aggressive a manner as possible. I did, however, manage to get one decent shot of him once I had gone by.

This, as u can imagine, was a major highlight of the day…..

I did eventually leave Sinks Park and make my detour drive over Beaver Rim. This was really an enjoyable drive with lots to look at and even a few places on the road where one could pull over to snap a few photos of the breath-taking landscapes.

Unfortunately, as I began to drive up WY 135, I got rained out for the second time this week (the first was on Monday afternoon, when I drove from Casper to Riverton). The views of the Wind Mountains would be spectacular, if one could only see them instead of some intervening rain showers. This was my only disappointment of the day.

I got back to Riverton in lots of time to enjoy the third part of my day, which was the Rancher’s Rodeo. Unlike the earlier PRCA competitions, the Ranchers’ Rodeo is a team competition, with teams from local ranches (ten this year) taking part in a variety of events. Each event has individual winners, and points are also accrued so that at the end of the evening an overall winner is selected. Tonight’s rodeo also differed from the PRCA events because men and women competed equally as part of the teams. Best of all, though, there were novel events like Wild Cow Milking and Team Branding which were hilarious and exciting. Even the wild bronc riding was different from the norm because each team was expected to come up with some unusual costume idea as well as have a good bronc ride. One team had a feather trail; another had a bride and groom, with the groom as the bronc rider!

In terms of what I got to do today, this was probably the best day of my trip so far.

It's about the Journey, Not the Destination

21 - 23 July, 2009
Hollywood, FL to Washington, DC

Someone somewhere once said, "It's not about the destination, it's about how you get there". For me, "getting there" involves a three-train, two-bus, one-car trip from South Florida to Central Wyoming. This year's trip took six travel days, crossed parts of 16 US states, and covered in excess of 4000 miles. So torturous a trip, you marvel! Have I found the evidence of the TravelHaunter's inherent mental instability which I have been seeking? But of course, as usual, there is madness, but method also to it all.

I've discovered from experience - both mine and others' - that a sea-level dweller like me is usually better off taking time with a journey to 7000+ feet above sea level. So my pragmatic reason for the lengthy trip is that by allowing my body to become acclimatized to the changes in height gradually, I can avoid the nefarious effects of altitude sickness, which has been known to ruin many a mountain visitor's best vacation days.

But that's really just the excuse. The REAL reasons for the long trip are first so I get to ride trains, Trains, TRAINS!!! and second, so I can take as many pictures of interesting sights and sites as I possibly can. So the first week of my vacation was spent doing just that: riding trains (well, I admit to the buses also, but only because I couldn't get Amtrak to take me any closer to my destination), taking pictures, and, well, just "soaking up the local colour".

I started my journey on Tuesday 21 July at Amtrak's Hollywood, FL station.




My first train, the Silver Meteor #98, was scheduled to depart shortly after 9 a.m., and I was on time and ready to go. I'd checked a couple of my fave websites and found that this train had been either on time or early in both its departure from Hollywood and its arrival in Washington, DC early the next morning. I had wonderful plans of riding the DC Metrorail and glimpsing the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and walking on the Mall.

So of course the train was three hours late due to equipment failure.

We did leave that morning, but only barely - at 11:55 a.m. - and we never really picked up any time. Our arrival at Union Station in Washington the next morning was closer to 10 a.m. than the scheduled 7 a.m., putting paid to my fancy plans for the capital and the Capitol. Instead I wondered the wonderful mall they had there, eating some excellent suchi and buying the latest Nalini Singh.

That didn't mean the train ride itself was bad. On the contrary! I've ridden train 98 almost every time I've departed Florida by train, and this most recent trip was genuinely excellent. Once the train got going, the crew made our trip as comfortable and pleasant as possible. We got some complementary snack packets, and the cars themselves were clean, well appointed (power outlets at every seat!) and ran well along obviously well maintained tracks. I couldn't complain about my number one pet peeve, the restrooms, because they were very clean and actually smelled good all the way through the trip. This despite the fact that my car was almost always full of passengers.

That was another good thing. When I rode the train for the first time in 2004, I had no difficulty in keeping the seat beside me empty. This trip, there were very few empty seats, and they were usually not empty for long. It's more comfortable to have that extra seat to put stuff on, sure. But I'd rather see the full train; it gives me hope that the next time I want to take a train ride there will actually be a train there for me to ride.

Because I've ridden train 98 many times before (most recently this past February) I didn't take so many pictures as I had in the past. However, I did get a few decent shots of some of the more interesting and picturesque things I saw, and I will add those to the slideshow as I get them uploaded.

First Blog of the 2009 Trip

Welcome to the TravelHaunter's Blog of my 2009 trip. In this blog, I will write about my experiences, observations and thoughts. As important to me is the posting of pictures, because an vital part of my trip is my desire to capture both the natural beauty and the manmade wonders that surround us but which we sometimes overlook. I will try to add something to the blog every day, even if it is only a picture and a brief explanation thereof.

I started my travels on Tuesday last, departing Fort Lauderdale, FL via Amtrak train 98, the Silver Meteor. Since then I have passed through Washington DC, Chicago, IL, and Glacier National Park, among other places. I've had some very enjoyable moments so far, some awe-inspiring ones, and some downright annoying ones as well. So the first few blogs will mostly be about what has happened between Tuesday, 21st July, and Monday, 27 July. By the end of this week I should be caught up with photo editing, and I will try to add some kind of slideshow of the trip so far in the bar to the right. (Hopefully that works.)

I'd like to say a special thanks to some friends out there (no name, no blame :o) who encouraged me to start this blog and who I hope will read and enjoy it.

Casper, WY