Day 25....looooong day

day 25
570 miles today, boy am I tired. That's a workout!
For Pam...we sure miss having you here...Now we have to make our own breakfast, wash our own clothes and fold up our own tents.
Jim wants to know who's going to make him coffee in the morning?
How's he going to get by on his own? Y'all know this could be serious right?
Anyway.....
This was one long day! There are snow storm warnings for the Rockies in Colorado, and Wyoming. There are storm warnings for the area around Cheyenne Wyoming. We were in Lyman Wyoming this morning.
The KOA in Lyman by the way is a very nice one. The tent camp sites are big and covered with thick grass. The common room has a couple of computers for guests to use. The common room also is open as long as you need it. That helped us a great deal. We were told to just turn out the lights when we left. Don't lock the door in case we want to go back in.
In the morning, the temp was down in the 40's. Fairly chilly. The mornings ride was going to be cold. Pulled my left shoulder out while trying to put on my chaps for the ride. It took a few minutes to figure out which way to move things to get me put back together. Eventually that was accomplished. This was the first time this trip that I had real problems with my shoulders. No lasting problems, a few aspirin and I'm on my way.
We decided in a "corporate decision" that we should ride down to the Flaming Gorge before turning east. So, off to the south to see the Flaming Gorged Dam and surrounding area.
We started off with breakfast at a local eatery. Much too much food, but, GOOD! Then...on to highway 414. Right outside of town we saw, of all things, a moose!
You'll need to enlarge these to see anything. We were running about 50 or 60 mph and he wasn't standing still.
This guy was just running along a fence line, apparently trying to get out of the fenced field
There were also horses in the field with the moose and they weren't happy at all!
We continued on down the road.....This road was supposed to be quite boring. It wasn't! Not at all! This road runs through active ranch land, so there are numerous fields with large numbers of cattle and horses. There are also many different land formations that are incredible sights! Canyons, meadows, ridge lines, hills, cliffs, anything you might associate with the west, it's here. The entire length of this road is a fascinating ride. The speed limit is generally 65 mph. The road surface is good and the road is gently winding, so it's also a comfortable ride, even for me.
Be very aware of the ranch vehicals that may come onto the highway from seemingly anywhere!

View along highway 414
Near the southern end of 414 there is a nondescript turn off labled Sheeps Creek Geological Route. This turns off to the right into a campground just off the road. From here the road continues through some extremely dramatic land formations. This is one cool ride!Views along Sheep Creek
Doug and Jim at Sheep Creek Campground

One heck of a nice surprise! This is a must do for anyone going down 414 to the Flaming Gorge Dam! The road is not always the best, some gravel and dirt,some black top. You should also leave the 30+ ft. motor home at the campground and drive the towed car. Narrow winding road. Well worth seeing.
At Flaming Gorge Dam, we stopped at the visitors center to ask about access to the dam.
View of bridge to dam from western approach
View of dam from the east side
The bridge to the dam area, west side
Approaching the bridge
At the visitors center we were informed that the only way to see the dam was with a formal tour. We all kindof did an awe' nuts type thing then the
lady ranger said that's not a problem, we're not busy, we can give you your own tour with just the 3 of you. This is way too cool! A private tour of the dam! Free! Then we found out we had to go through the metal detector and be searched just like the airports. Oh well, not too bad. A ranger completed these tasks and we were off to the dam!
We went down an elevator 6 stories to the top of the turbines.
From here we went out to the lower observation walkway just above the river. The white trucks have their noses right up to the fence of the visitors walkway.
From here we could see all the way to the top of the dam.
These are mainly trout gathered at the bottom of the dam.
Our tour guide was able to relate many facts concerning the dam and surrounding area. She was also able to field all of our questions.
Very neat tour!
View of eastern exit from the DamOnce through with the tour it was on the road again.
This time we meant business! We had storms to leave behind.
This detour took about 150 miles and 4 hours. We would travel another 420 miles before stopping to set up camp. We traveled interstate 80 to get as far ahead of the storms as possible.
We were very late and decided it would be easier to get a hotel than try to find a camp ground.
This we did. We had a very good dinner at a nearby steak house, then turned in for the night.
Tomorrows another day....we'll see where the storms are in the morning.