May 29, 2006 (Day 5)

Happy Memorial Day to all! Ours was spent “on the road”, traveling between Paxton, NE, and Cheyenne, WY. We awoke to blue skies and sunshine, but much cooler temps. A front came through in the night with heavy winds (some gusted at 63 mph). It brought cooler temps, so today we experienced temps 30 degrees cooler than yesterday…from 98 to 68 degrees. Everyone got out their long pants and sweaters and put away their shorts!

We had a continental breakfast at the campground before leaving. Travel on I-80 wasn’t as windy as yesterday, but some winds. This time winds were headwinds, not crosswinds. Gas mileage averaged 10 mpg today. The highest we paid for gas today was $2.60.

The landscape certainly is changing with rolling, grassy hills. Lots of cattle farms and grain fields were visible; also a very busy railroad that ran almost the length of our trip today. Some trains had 5 engines with many cars. Most were eastbound, but some westbound.

The wind blew tumbleweeds across the road for several miles. We certainly knew we were in higher terraine. The group stopped in Sidney, NE, and spent a little time (and $$) in Cabela’s, a sporting goods and outfitters mega store.

Our destination today was Terry Bison Ranch and Campground. It is in Cheyenne, WY. We all stopped to fuel at a Flying J, but found that electric was out all over Cheyenne, so we traveled on about 7 miles to the campground. Some of us went back tonight for fuel, so we will be ready to leave in the morning. Elevation here is around 6200 ft. For you walkers, try walking at that elevation! It is difficult.

There is a quaint restaurant here at the “ranch” called the “Senator’s Restaurant and Brass Buffalo Saloon”. A group of us went for supper and all had buffalo burgers! This was a first for me. Can’t say they were all that delicious. A working “modern day” cowboy entertained us with song and guitar while we ate. The ranch is over 47 square miles and contains domestic as well as wild buffalo, camels, ostriches, and other unusual animals. We were told a herd of moose were sighted near here last week. It is unusual for them to come down out of the mountains this far, but there were eleven in the herd.

After dinner, Dan and I played “joker”, a popular game among the Airstreamers, with a couple parked next to us. It was a nice evening. The weather is getting cold and we have heat on tonight, as compared to the air-conditioner last night! Low is to be in the low 40’s. We’ll be pulling the blankets up tonight!

Till tomorrow……..