WY, CO – Aug 2022

Ah the wondrous beauty of the mid west.  Lots of blue skies and mountains provide seemingly endless majestic views.  It really is so very scenic and beautiful out here.  This particular photo I took within the San Isabel National Forest in south central Colorado.  Just spectacular!  Since my last blog, I wrapped up my visit to Casper, WY, spent a week in Cheyenne, WY, then off to Pueblo, CO for yet another week.  So much to see and experience out here.  I checked off another national park, a couple of museums, and a dozen or so Roadside America sites.  All in all, a very productive couple of weeks.

Casper, WY

I wrapped up my stay in Casper with a visit to a place called Hell’s Half Acre.  Formally known as “The Devil’s Kitchen”, “The Pits of Hades”, and “The Baby Grand Canyon”, this actual 320 acre geologic oddity consists of deep ravines, caves, and crazy rock formations.  This area also used to include a restaurant and motel/campground, but they were shuttered and torn down in the early 2000’s.  Today all that remains is a dirt parking area with a large snake infested gorge that is fenced in to keep tourists out.  Besides being a scenic spot, its major claim to fame is that it was also the fictional alien bug planet known as Klendathu in the 1997 film Starship Troopers.  Bug battle scenes were filmed here after the crew hauled props and equipment down into into the hole.  If you are interested in seeing this bug battle scene from Starship Troopers, you can view it from YouTube  HERE.

Cheyenne, WY

My next stop on the journey was to Cheyenne, WY.  I’ve not been here before, and it certainly did not disappoint.  My first venture was out west towards Laramie where I hit up few Roadside America sites along the way.  First up was a visit to the Dome on the Range.  This dome cupola was originally constructed in 1917 and once adorned the top of the state capital building in Cheyenne.  Sometime thereafter, the capital dome was replaced and this one ended up here – some 20 miles west in the unincorporated town of Granite.  A local man restored it and placed it on the grounds of this landmark 1892 school house.  There had not been any reported sighting of this artifact on Roadside since 2015, and sadly, the dome has succumbed to lots of wear and tear, and even some apparent vandalism as the eagle that was featured at the top in older photos is no longer present.  Hopefully someone will take on the role of savior and restore this to its former glory.  A bit further down the road was the town of Buford, WY – billed as the nations smallest town (?) with population 1, a single house, and a combo store/gas station.  It also claims to be the highest town (elevation 8000 ft) between New York City and San Francisco on Interstate 80.  Obviously not much to see there, so it was a quick visit.

As I continued my trek west, I came upon a couple other Roadside sites to visit.  First up was a tree in a rock.  First discovered in 1867 by Union Pacific railway workers, this Limber Pine tree appears to be growing out of a giant granite boulder.  It was such an anomaly that the track layers jogged the railroad a bit sideways to preserve it.  Long after the railroad was moved several miles south, the Tree Rock remained a tourist favorite during the days of the wagon trails, then as the Lincoln Highway, and now Interstate 80.  Definitely odd.  Further west, then up a few miles on an old dirt road will bring you to the site of the Ames Brothers Pyramid.  Oliver Ames was the president of the Union Pacific Railroad and his brother Oakes was a Massachusetts congressman, and the railroads point man in Washington.  They were both later involved in a scandal that bilked taxpayers out of an estimated $50 million  When the fraud was uncovered in 1872, Oakes quickly died, and his brother Oliver a few years later.  Then in the 1880s, after the scandal had subsided, Union Pacific had the pyramid built as a way to clean up the tarnished reputations of its ex-officials.  The pyramid is 60 ft at its base and 60 ft tall, and cost an estimated $65,000 to build.  It has a plaque of Oliver facing west towards California and one of Oakes facing east towards his buddies in DC.  This was a popular stop along the railroad, and was intended to immortalize the Ames brothers.  However, the railroad went bankrupt in 1890, and the tracks were moved several miles to the south.  So today, the Ames brothers are as forgotten as the desolate and lonely pyramid that was built in their honor.  Given their corrupt lifestyle, seems kinda fitting to me!

Still further west on I-80 is a rest stop with an interesting monument.  Sitting high atop a rock wall is the head of Abraham Lincoln.  Situated on Sherman Summit, the highest point on the old coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway at 8,878 feet above sea level, the monument was initiated by the Wyoming Parks Commission to celebrate Lincoln’s 150 birthday in 1959. It is also known to be the only monument to Abraham Lincoln along the Lincoln Highway, and the largest bronze head in the US.  Pretty cool!

I then arrived in the town of Laramie, WY.  With a population of just over 31,000, this makes it the third largest town in WY after Cheyenne and Casper.  Like many other WY towns, Rodeos and other cowboy related fun is a big part of the local culture.  Located at the War Memorial Stadium where rodeo events are held is the art piece titled “Breaking Through” which depicts a cow girl crashing through a sandstone brick wall – paying tribute to Wyoming being the first state to have a female governor, a female justice of the peace, and the first to allow woman to vote.  A very well done monument.  Down the road a ways on the campus of the University of Wyoming is the Chief Washakie statue.  The inscription at the base reads “I fought to keep our land, our water, and our hunting grounds.  Today, education is the weapon my people need to protect them”.  His prowess in battle, his efforts for peace, and his commitment to his people’s welfare made him one of the most respected leaders in Native American history.

Louisa Ann Swain (statue shown at left – bottom left) was 68 years old in 1870 when she happened past a polling place in Laramie and, on impulse, decided to go in and vote.  No one stopped her, making Louisa the first woman in U.S. history to cast a vote in a general election.  Another 50 years would pass before most American woman would have the same option.  Good for her!  As I was wondering the streets of quaint historic downtown Laramie to find Louisa’s statue, I happened upon a car show which was a nice bonus.  Also downtown was a large railroad area that had a few engines and other pieces on static display.  One of which was this what I believe to be a snow pusher train.  I imagine they get enough snow in this area to require such dedicated equipment.  A few miles outside of town I found the Big Twig Head (at left, top right).  This 13.5 feet tall head is made from cottonwood bark.  It was created by artist Sarah Deppe and is titled “Exhaling Dissolution”.  It was built of bark gathered from fallen trees destroyed in a storm and is said to be “giving a voice to nature”.  I have to admit, it was kinda creepy!

When I first arrived in Cheyenne, I noted that I was right next to F.E. Warren Air Force Base.  I further noted that they had an ICBM Museum that was on base, and those not otherwise allowed on base were required to contact them a few days in advance to obtain base access to visit the museum.  So I setup an appointment for several days later, and gave then all the necessary personal info for them to complete a background check.  Having been prior Air Force, and also having had a prior advanced security clearance that allowed me to work at the countries most sensitive intelligence agency, I had no doubt I would be approved.  With that approved, and subsequent picture taking, finger printing, and a review of my drivers license and truck registration, I was able to secure access to the AFB to visit the museum.  The mission of Warren AFB, as one of three strategic missile bases in the US, is to manage and maintain a fleet of 150 Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (aka Nukes) via what are known as Missile Alert Facilities.  These facilities are located all around eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. It was fun to be on an Air Base again after more than 40 years.  The museum was very interesting with tons of missile history and components, as well as several retired launch control stations.  I found the history of the base to be interesting also.  It was originally known as Fort Russell from 1867-1927, and was established to provide protection to railway workers who were building the transcontinental railroad from at the time hostile Indians.  Interesting that from those pioneer roots, it would became the largest and most modern strategic missile facility in the US Air Force.  Quite the transition!

Next was a visit to downtown Cheyenne.  First up would take me to Cheyenne Depot Plaza – an outdoor venue known for its local music performances, markets, and even a splash pad for the kids.  What really brought me here though was to see many of the Cheyenne Big Boots art pieces that are present throughout the town.  These 8 foot tall cowboy boots are hand painted by local artists to show the history of Cheyenne and Wyoming. There are 25 of the boots throughout town that were auctioned off to raise money for the Depot Museum.  The theme of the project was “if this boot could talk, what story would it tell”.  There is an associated audio tour that accompanies each boot that allows each artists to tell that story.  I didn’t chase down all the boots, but the plaza had over a half dozen of them right in the area, so I got a good representative glimpse of them.  Very artsy!

Next up was  a visit to the venue that hosts the Cheyenne Frontier Days festivities – a hugely popular annual 10-day event that has been going on here in Cheyenne since 1896.  This event is billed as the worlds largest outdoor rodeo and western celebration.  The Frontier Days Arena seats 19,000 and hosts rodeo championship events, as well as numerous other western themed activities such as the ever popular chuckwagon races.  I actually had difficulty securing my RV site reservation as I had inadvertently picked one of the weeks during this festival.  So I juggled things around to avoid this event in order to secure my site.  Anyway, at the arena are a number of beautiful bronze statues of various popular people.  One in particular was a bronze of Lane Frost riding on a bull.  Lane, an Oklohama native, was a rodeo hero and legend who lost his life at the tender age of 27 during the 1989 Frontier Days event.  He did so doing what he loved most – being a cowboy riding bulls in a rodeo.  Following his successful 89-point ride, he was hit in the back by the bull’s horns and subsequently died of internal injuries. He had already achieved world champion bull rider status in 1987, and won numerous other championships and awards in his short time.  A musician named Aaron Watson wrote a song titled “July in Cheyenne” to honor the memory of this skilled rider.  The video of his last ride with the song playing tribute in the background can be found on YouTube HERE.

Next I visited a few Roadside America attractions in the local area.  The first, just south of Cheyenne on I-25, are a pair of 13 foot statues – a Big Indian facing a Big Mountain Man.  Situated on a pair of roundabouts on either side of I-25 (see Google satellite view – at left, lower right) have these statues as their center piece.  Titled “The Greeting and the Gift”, the two each share a friendly gesture, while also keeping a safe distance.  Sculpted for the US Bicentennial by Robert Russian, these were dedicated on Jan 30, 1977 by Wyoming’s governor.  Later, I visited a place called Little America – apparently a chain of hotels offering travelers a resort style get-a-way.  In the entrance to the one located in Cheyenne was a penguin and an Indian.  The penguin, of the Emperor variety, was reportedly shipped from the Antarctic in the 1930’s by Admiral Byrd’s Expedition to the South Pole.  It was intended to survive and become sort of a local novelty, but sadly succumbed to the change in climate.  So instead, he was stuffed and has been adorning this hotel for decades.  As for the Indian, there was little information about him, but he too was in a glass case and was on display on the opposite wall from the penguin.  Sorry, but I’ve got nothing else to share on that one.

Lastly and on a sad note, I discovered a really cool place that I would have loved to have visited, but alas all tours had been suspended either still due to Covid, or because the visitor center portion was being rebuilt.  I’m not sure which reason for the closure is true, but probably a combination of both.  Located just outside of Cheyenne is the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Wyoming Supercomputing Center.  Sort of like a candy store for kids for us geeks.  This center was opened in 2012 and since then more than 4,000 users from more than 575 universities and other institutions across the nation and overseas have used its advanced computing and data storage resources for research in the Earth system sciences.  They are even in the process of upgrading their supercomputer to a super powerful new one named Derecho.  For my geek friends, this is an HPE-Cray EX cluster supercomputer having 19.87 petaflops of processing power (theoretical ability to perform 19.87 quadrillion calculations per second – or in layman terms, the equivalent of every man, woman, and child on the planet solving one equation every second for a month), 323,712 processor cores, 692 terabytes of system memory, and 60 petabytes of external storage.  At a cost between $35-$40 million, this system is slated to come online sometime in 2023, and will be 3.5 times faster than the current supercomputer system at the facility.  So, you can imagine how disappointed I was that I was not able to get a tour.  I did drive there and tried to get inside for a personal tour, but I was run off by the security folks.  Oh well, I had to try.

Pueblo, CO

My last stop in this leg of the 2022 adventure takes me to Pueblo, CO, and access to another one of this nation’s great national parks.  The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, located in Mosca, CO – just under a 2 hr drive west of Pueblo, is home to the nations tallest sand dunes.  Dunes up to 750 feet tall lie on the eastern edge of the San Luis Vally.  Originally designated as a national monument in 1932 by President Herbert Hoover, it protected some 35,000 acres.  Later in 2004, its designation was changed to a national park and preserve, and the protected area was increased to over 149,000 acres.  The dunes, some reaching the tallest in North America, cover an area of about 30 square miles.  To reach the dunes, visitors have to walk across the wide and shallow Medano Creek – or as some opt to do, simply just sit or play in the water.  The dunes are popular for lots of activities including hiking and sand boarding and sledding.  It was a vast and beautiful place and one that should not be missed.

Next up was a visit to the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum.  Located within the area of the Pueblo Airport, this museum not only shares the history of lots of different aircraft, but also the history of the airport.  The airport began as the Pueblo Army Airbase during WW II.  Construction began in Mar 1942, and by Aug of that year, training of bomber crews began.  The training was mostly focused on the B-24 Liberator, but some training for B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress crews were also served.  In all 8,000 aircrew were trained at this facility.  At the end of the war, the base was closed and the complex was turned over to the city of Pueblo.  The museum was started in the early 1970’s by the then Pueblo City Manager Fred Weisbrod.  Today the museum is managed by the Pueblo Historical Aircraft Society.  It’s a very cool place and featured a B-29 bomber that you are actually able to climb into to get up close and personal with the insides.  This is the first time I’ve ever been inside one, and it was fascinating.  I was afforded an inside view of the pilot, navigator, and bombardier positions, as well as the bomb payload area and the crawl tube used to traverse the planes various areas.  It was fascinating!  This particular B-29 named Peachy is roughly only one of about 22 fully restored B-29 airframes currently on display, of the 3,970 that were built during production.  There are over 30 different aircraft on display between an outside area, and two large indoor hangers, built in 2001 and 2010.  A third hanger is currently under construction which will provide additional display area, as well as an indoor restoration facility.  In addition to the aircraft, this museum had lots of other displays such as uniforms of the era, arms of the American wars, and a number of utility vehicles that were present in both airport operations and military use.  They even had a full model of the original Army Airfield as it existed in the 1940’s.  The other thing I found unique to this museum was the knowledge and helpfulness of its volunteers – most of whom are military vets or otherwise aviation experts.  When I first arrived, I was guided in and introduced to several areas of the museum, and even quizzed in a few things about WW II history (which sadly I failed miserably).  But in the end I got a fresh education, and got to see a bunch of aircraft including the inside of the B-29.  Definitely a worthwhile stop!

Next up was a visit to a couple Roadside items.  If you remember from a couple blog posts ago, I learned about a series of some 200 mini Statue of Liberty monuments that were scattered around the country by the Boy Scouts of America back in the 1960s.  Well, here’s one of them in downtown Pueblo located in front of the county courthouse.  I also visited a a Virgin Mary Grotto located on US Highway 160 near Walsenburg, CO.  A natural rock alcove formation was transformed into this roadside sharing to Mary.  It is believed that this has been here for at least the past 60 years.  Very cool!  Last up, I bring you a failed Roadside attraction.  This, to show you that not all are current.  In fact, this particular Roadside entry has had no confirmed sittings since the original Roadside America story published in 2012.  It also had no pictures with the entry.  So, I had to go and visit to bring this one up to date.  It was supposed to be  that of a 1960’s era A&W Papa Burger statue.  It was noted from 2012 that some restoration had been done, but the burger and root beer mug were missing at the time.  Sadly, some 10 year later, I find the statue laying down tied to a pallet sitting next to a shed.  It appears not only has the restoration efforts stopped, but so too has the display.  Oh well, at least I’ve got pictures and an updated situation submitted to Roadside.

Well, it would appear this blog has once again turned into a marathon writing session.  I really need to get a better handle on when to publish to keep these a bit more bite size.  Anyway, my last visit while here in Pueblo was to a place called Bishop Castle.  Wow – what an incredible place!  It all started in 1959 when then 15 year old Jim Bishop used $450 of lawn mowing and paper route money to purchase a 2.5 acre parcel of land surrounded by the San Isabel National Forest.  The intent was for he and his family to build a family cabin.  Over the next 10 summers, he and his dad cleared the land in preparation for the build.  In 1969, they began building the one-room stone cabin.  As the structure took shape, friends and family commented that it looked like a castle.  By 1972, Jim had heard this comment so many times, that he got it in his head that he would in fact build a castle.  His father did not see his vision, so he went on solo from then on.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Here we are some 50 years later and Jim continues to work on his vision.  And oh how he has delivered on it so far.  He has single-handedly gathered and set over 1,000 tons of rock to create this stone and iron fortress.  What an amazing place, 9,000 feet above sea level nestled in the mountains.  It’s a huge free admission tourist attraction these days, and for Jim, he hopes to finish it complete with moat and drawbridge, and a roller coaster mounted on the castle’s outer wall.  Jim grew up in the family business of ironwork, so he is well versed with welding and bending metal.  That is clearly demonstrated in what he’s built.  You can climb to the top of the tower for what is said to be a spectacular view (too scary and high for me) and traverse to other towers via an outside bridge of sorts (also way to scary for me).  But it was cool to look at from the safety of the ground.  I did venture into the main structure up a couple of floors which were also spectacular.  I really hope he’s able to complete this one-man project to fully realize his dreams.  He’s certainly well on his way there!

Final Thoughts

Well, once again, if you’ve made it to the end, I appreciate your commitment.  It never really seems like I’ve accomplished so much in just a couple of weeks, but when I pull together all the notes and pictures, it would seem that I’ve covered way more territory than I give myself credit for.  Oh well – such is the life of a retired RV nomad.  I head next into New Mexico for a month and a half stay spread across 4 different cities.  I’ve got friends and former co-workers in this area, and look forward to catching up with them.  I’m also looking forward to meeting up with my brother Gerry as he travels back to FL from his summer venture to Washington state.  I’ve wrapped up 18 weeks so far in this journey, with 11 weeks left to go.  Lots more for me to see and do before settling back to central FL for the winter hibernation.  Till next time, be well and safe travels

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!