DAY #3: (SATURDAY): CHEYENNE - BUFORD - SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

PEOPLE WE MET:    This morning I discovered that I must have left my prescription glasses somewhere in Deadwood as I couldn't find them, so had to stop in Walgreens to pick up some reading glasses.  Only in Cheyenne, Wyoming do you enter Walgreens and see a real live cowboy: about 70 years old, weathered face, white hat, jeans, worn cowboy boots, long sleeved shirt in 98 degree weather.  As I was shopping I overheard him talking to the clerk, telling her about some Russians who used to live in Wyoming many years ago (???)  The comment from the clerk was priceless: "Well, I don't know about that. I haven't lived any other place but Cheyenne, and if I can't find it in Cheyenne, then I don't need it."  Drove by a Farmers Market in the middle of town and nowhere had I seen so many cowboy hats.  We fit right in!!! 

Our lunch stop was in Rawlins, Wyoming, a town of about 10,000 people.  It was Saturday around noon on Labor Day Weekend and the town was pretty quiet.  We did find a restaurant that was open and had a good lunch.  Before we got in the car, Kathryn wanted to walk around the block and stretch her legs before getting back on the road again.  Since it was 99 degrees (!!) I chose to sit on the bench and wait for her.  (Sorry, folks, I'm not 27 and the heat bothers me!!)

As I was sitting on the bench, out of a building next to the restaurant came a guy carrying a "POLICE" bag.  I mentioned to him that I didn't know there was a police department next door.  He said  he was a police officer with the Rawlins PD who had just finished working out.  As I had just retired from a police department, we proceeded to have a very fun and informative conversation about Minnesota and Wyoming police departments, how many sworn officers they had ( 22!), court appearances, evidence rooms, nasty cases....he even shared with me his concerns about how being a police officer was different than what he first thought.   We were strangers but also immediate friends brought together by our similarities, in a place in the middle of nowhere.  What a dear young man he turned out to be who was just leaving for his cabin with his family for the weekend.  He got into his truck (of course!) and we got into our car.  And for a split second, I wondered if he ran our plates (SOCCER)....just in case!!!!  (P.S. -- No, cops don't wear cowboy boots in Wyoming.... I checked!!)

As we left Cheyenne, I commented to Kathryn that I hated to leave Wyoming as I really liked the town and the people.  It was then that she showed me a picture she took of, you guessed it, the cowboy that I met the night before next to the fitness room!  She took a picture of him while he was eating breakfast!!!  What a daughter!!!

SCENERY:  Just after leaving Cheyenne, we noticed we needed gas so we stopped at the next town called Buford, which turned out to be a "read find" on the road!!  Turns out Buford Trading Post is the "Nation's Smallest Town" with a population of 1, first established in 1856!  It is also the highest town between New York City and San Francisco on I-80 with an elevation of 8000 feet.  (I felt it when I got out of the car!!)  It was recently sold in an internet auction in 2012 to another guy from it's original owner for $900,000.  Famous people who have visited here were:  President Ulysses S. Grant in 1869, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Butch Cassidy, the infamous outlaw who apparently robbed the Buford Trading Post, was caught and spent time in the Laramie prison.    Oh....and most recently Barb and Kathryn, infamously known as the "Goerges Gals of the Roadside Ramblings." 

On this day we traveled west in Wyoming for about 6 hours.  This part of Wyoming consisted of ranches,  oil wells, wind farms, acres of sunflowers and antelope running on the prairie.  One time as we were driving on the highway, a train was also going the same way alongside our car....very picturesque!   Also beautiful cliffs in Chugwater and the Ty basin, a panoramic view that was absolutely breathtaking!   Every turn was something new, every moment was peaceful.   No photos were taken... no photos could do it justice.  Some things must only be felt, experienced, appreciated.

HOTEL:  Fairfield Inn by Marriott.   Arrived in Salt Lake City, UT around 7 pm.

LESSON FOR THE DAY:    Even after 3 days in the car with me, my daughter is still an awesome young woman!  And cowboys still are cool!!