the big big horns

On Wednesday we headed off to ride a bit along route 16 headed west.  Route 16 here in Wyoming is an alternative to Interstate 90 headed to Yellowstone.  It does, however, cross the Big Horn Mountain range so we were a bit concerned doing it in the coach (of course towing the trailer).  Plus Rick had ridden eight miles of it on his bike on Tuesday.  So off we went to explore.  

We stopped at one of the many National Park campgrounds (no hook ups and $14.00 night).  Gorgeous, secluded and peaceful sites they are.  With a creek running through the one camping area we stopped at ~ a refreshing stop for Sir Arlo.

Photo below was taken at one of the "scenic" turn offs - scenic indeed do you think?

And, as King Richard pointed out "look Tracey, they named a canyon road after YOU" ....  Interesting legends abound about the "crazy woman" who got a canyon and a creek named in her "honor" (not this crazy woman, the one from days gone by, from Wyoming!).  We did not attempt Crazy Woman Canyon Road ~ word has it that it is a very badly rutted dirt road several miles into the canyon and it was suggested to us that perhaps the escape didn't have clearance enough to safely (for the escape) travel it!

As we traveled we kept going up and up and up ... to the highest elevation of route 16 over the Big Horns ~ Rick believes this is the highest elevation we've traveled since our full time journey began October 2, 2007!

The road really wasn't all that bad in the car, but we did decide that we will not be traversing it in the coach.  The steep down grades just seemed a bit much for coach and driver and I didn't want to "deal" with a totally stressed husband at the end of a travel day - just not worth it!

The sights are absolutely outstanding, and I'm so happy we did it in the car.

Below, another of the abandoned buildings that I am so intrigued by these days.

By the way, Rick did the photography on this journey.  I was driving and it seemed a bit unsafe for me to be multi~tasking to that degree.  Good job huh!

Our destination ended up being ...... Tensleep, WY.  Check out that link for some interesting info about Tensleep and how the town got its name.

I can't imagine a town named Tensleep without a "local joint" named "Dirty Sally's" - just sort of fits doesn't it?

Scenery on the return to Buffalo.

An aspen (I believe) grove ....

So we come to the end of post number two for the day.  I think there likely won't be a third one today - stick a fork in me, I'm done, headed to the shower and soon to bed.  I will try to finish up with the photos loaded for pending posts tomorrow ~ we shall see, however, as we are headed out tomorrow for Hardin, MT, but I am working on catching up posting ... seems just so much to post about and I've been on a sewing roll these days as well ~ creating some pretty things.