Windy Wyoming

 We started our day with a walk in Thermopolis State Park, home to mineral hot springs and a bison herd. We walked across the Swinging Bridge footbridge over the Bighorn River, and stopped by the Teepee Fountain, built in 1909 to cool the hot mineral water. As the hot mineral water flows over the stone base, it cools and deposits layers of travertine.

Once on the BMW, we headed south on US 20 through the Wind River Canyon, a gorgeous ride where the rock cliffs rise 2500' with the 2-lane highway, Wind River, and train tracks winding along the bottom of the canyon.

Some of these rocks date from the Precambrian period, more than 2.9 billion years ago. The road passes through three short tunnels before coming out on the south side of the canyon and the Boysen Dam and Reservoir.

Boysen State Park covers more than 35,000 acres, including the huge reservoir. Backed by the snow-capped mountains to the West, it's a gorgeous spot - and we saw hardly any traffic.

We turned west onto US 26, spotting numerous antelope as the road wound up through hills, then down long flat stretches.

There are still patches of snow on the north-facing hills, even though we were never higher than 7000'.

We stopped at Sweetwater Station at the junction of WY 135 and US 287 for a bathroom break, and thanks to the several interpretive signs, we learned about prehistoric people who lived here for hundreds of years and the Mormon/Oregon Trail that passed nearby. This is a wide-open, empty part of the country and it was a very welcome stop.

We continued on US 287 toward Rawlin, passing through more open land on roads that stretched ahead of us as far as we could see.

We stopped for lunch in Rawlin where we realized we had veered away from our planned route. We regrouped, rode a few short miles on I-80, then got back on track on US 30 toward Laramie.

On the way to Laramie several huge tractor trailers carrying wind turbine blades passed us going the other direction, and then we came up groups of wind turbines as far as we could see. We've been buffeted by strong winds every day in Wyoming, and it makes sense to use that wind for energy.

We rode 298 miles, ending the day in Laramie. This was the first day of the trip that we didn't need our rain gear and we enjoyed the sunny skies and wide-open landscape.

Back on the bike after a weekend in Denver

We spent the weekend in Denver with our kids, using Lyft to get around instead of our motorcycle.

The first 40 miles today were on busy, congested, Monday-morning Denver traffic highways so we could get out of the city and on our way northwest. Today's destination is Thermopolis, Wyoming, the site of the world's largest mineral hot springs.

The real fun started when we turned onto US Route 40, riding what Butler Motorcycle Maps calls one of the most fun and difficult rides in the country.

Route 40 twists and turns up and over the Continental Divide through Berthoud Pass at 11,307'. The temperature dropped to 42 degrees at one point as we descended down the shady side of the pass.

This wasn't the only pass we climbed, or the only time we crossed the Continental Divide today. Route 40 continued on over Muddy Pass at 8,772' and Rabbit Ears Pass at 9,426', each time crossing the Continental Divide.

Along the way we saw numerous road signs advertising F.M. Light & Sons cowboy outfitters since 1905 in Steamboat, and then the actual store on the main street. The signs are a good reminder that this area was popular long before it became a tourist and ski destination.

Once we rode through the busy traffic in Steamboat Springs, we continued on Route 40 along the Yampa River, a mostly wide and shallow river that flows through the green countryside.

We crossed into Wyoming with wide-open views to the horizon, clear blue skies, and pronghorn antelope munching the grass along the side of the mostly open road with almost no traffic.

We continued on WY 287 North through Sweetwater Station, near where the Oregon/Mormon trail crossed the Sweetwater River during the Mormons westward migration from Illinois in 1846-47. This road is named after Shoshone Chief Washakie who was instrumental in signing important treaties and establishing this trade route.

We stopped at the scenic lookout on the top of the Beaver Rim Escarpment where trappers and traders met in the 1830's to exchange goods. We could see over the Wind River Basin to the Absaroke Mountain Range 120 miles away at the border of Montana and Wyoming.

We wound our way down the escarpment into the Wind River Valley and the Shoshone Reservation. Route 20 is the Wind River Scenic Byway, and scenic doesn't even come close to describing the twisting road that snakes along the river through the steep and rocky gorge.

The scenic byway ends at the town of Thermopolis, our stopping point for the night. It's the first time we've been on the motorcycle in Wyoming, and we loved the changing scenery and roads tailor-made for motorcycles.