We celebrated the evening of the 4^th at our campground. They were giving out free Huckleberry ice cream and we have really come to love it. They had a fireworks display but it didn’t start until 10:30 since it doesn’t get dark around here until then. We went to bed thinking there wouldn’t be much too it, but were we surprised! We woke up to a great fireworks show and watched from our camper window.

We started heading back down on Saturday morning. We have gone almost 7000 miles so far and still have a long way home. We drove back roads in Montana for most of the way down from Glacier until we got to I-90. We went past lots of lakes and between two mountain ranges. The scenery was beautiful and much better than going on the interstate. However, the beautiful blue skies that we had seen on our way up were no longer to be seen because of all the fires in California. The past 2 weeks we have experienced a smoky haze over the entire area.

Sunday we decided to take a different direction and headed south toward Cheyenne, Wyoming instead of going back through S. Dakota. There wasn’t much to see from Casper, Wyoming until Cheyenne. Mostly rolling hills with lots of sagebrush and few trees. Also, we saw lots of pronghorn on this part of the trip.

OLD HOMESTEAD

Did you know that Wyoming is the least populated state with only about 500,000 people? You would believe this if you had driven that stretch of highway with us. There were not many houses and very few side roads.

We stopped at a RV park in Cheyenne. David was very tired. It had been a hard drive because of the wind and the difficulty of pulling the trailer over many passes during the day. We didn’t see much of Cheyenne, but did go down to the historic downtown district before leaving on Monday morning.

CHEYENNE DEPOT PLAZA


OLD TRAIN DEPOT, NOW WELCOME CENTER


SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS UP TO A GUN FIGHT


NEVER WAS A "BOOT GUY"....EXCEPT FOR HIKING BOOTS!

We drove on through Nebraska and stopped at a very nice state park near Lincoln. It was a much easier drive than yesterday. We are now near Joplin, Missouri and hope to be at our cabin in Arkansas tomorrow (Wednesday). We will check on things there and then head back to Baton Rouge.

As we headed back down to the South, we hated to leave the beauty and coolness of the mountains, but look forward to seeing our family and friends that we have missed so much. The temps have changed from the 40s at night to the 60s and from the 70s during the days to the high 80s. No more coats, longsleeves, or ski hats. We are now in shorts and trying to get used to the high humidity once again.

It’s good to be back in the South and we have a small bit of Southern trivia for ya’ll.

"The song that became the anthem for the Confederate states was written by a Northerner named Daniel Decatur Emmett, who was born and raised in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He originally wrote "Dixie" as part of a New York minstrel show, but the song took on a life of its own when it was rewarded with a standing ovation at each performance. Even though "Dixie" was adopted by the Southern states as their call to arms, the sprightly melody was so infectious that it was popular in the North as well. In fact, "Dixie" was Abraham Lincoln’s favorite song, and was played at his inauguration per his request.

Oh, as you can see, we found our mule!

THESE GUYS WERE REALLY BEGGING TO GO HOME WITH SOMEONE!


WE KINDA LIKE HIM....WHAT YA THINK?



I GUESS WE WILL HAVE TO GET SOME NEW TIRES....BEFORE HE WILL PULL IT?

Hope to see you all soon!

God Bless….