We finished loading 'bout 5PM on May 31st. We've visited the Gulpha Gorge C/G at Hot Springs NP, AR lots of times & always promised ourselves we'd stay there sometime. Since it's only about 30mi away we decided this would be a good time, 'sides it'd give us a chance to 'remember' anything we'd forgotten & pick it up next morning as we passed by home on our way to Illinois (worked too as we thought of several things we'd missed)
. Spent a quiet, uneventful first nite out & got a pretty early start on June 1st. Things went well 'til about halfway to Memphis & traffic started 'backing up' on I-40 eastbound. Seems there'd been a rather bad accident involving a couple of semi's & several autos. We languished in traffic for more'n an hour 'til a State Trooper finally started directing vehicles to old US70 to bypass the wreck. Had a nice trip on to Pine Hills C/G in the Shawnee NF near Wolf Lake, IL where we set up camp for the weekend. Was great 'til the sun went down & then 'bout a million 'skeeters' descended upon us 
. I gotta tell ya, it ain't much fun putting up a screen house in the dark while slapping bugs (these seem to eat DEET) but we 'got 'er done' & foiled the pesky critters. Spent the weekend relaxing & exploring.
Monday June 4th, being our 47th wedding anniversary, we decided we'd not drive a long way so went about 100mi west to Lake Wappapello, MO where we found a nice COE C/G with hot showers as we surely needed a bath by that time (Baby Wipes & sponges from a pan only do the job for just sooo long
). Drove into Poplar Bluff, MO for supplies & ice, & treated ourselves to a nice anniversary dinner at a local steakhouse 
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Wandered on thru Missouri the next day & then headed across Kansas toward Colo/Wyo & the Rocky Mts. Not a lot you can say 'bout driving across Kansas 'cept this time we had very strong quartering headwinds (30-40mph) that really played havoc with power/fuel mileage in my little P/U for a couple of days there. Finally reached the high country SW of Laramie, WY on Friday PM & settled in at the Boswell Creek C/G in the Medicine Bow NF. This C/G is 3mi back on a very rough dirt road. It is only unofficially open as it's being 'phased out' so there was no drinking water & the 'pit' toilets weren't being serviced regularly. I'm really upset that this C/G is being closed as it's in a beautiful setting at 9000' elevation with lots of country to explore (which we did for 2 days).
On Monday we found a nice commercial C/G in Riverside, WY for showers & a restaurant meal. Tuesday we drove over to the high plains/desert country near Riverton to meet our friends. Met Jack & Hank & set up camp on BLM land near some old copper & coal mines. Jack spent part of his childhood on the nearby family homestead & provided lots of interesting information as well as guiding us on exploration tours of the area. Had lots of fun exploring around the old mines/mining camp areas, & meeting other 'cyber' friends that came to the "Encampment". This seemingly desolate area literally teems with a myriad of wildlife including, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, coyotes, rabbits (both jackrabbits & cottontails), great horned owls, hawks, badgers, lotsa lizards 'n bugs, & a few rattlesnakes. The sage had passed it's peak of blooming but was still beautiful, & there is a great variety of plant life, albiet scattered, as out there even blades of grass give each other a little room
. We spent a week (wellll, 5 days/6nites) exploring, target shooting/plinking with folks that quickly became fast friends. Really wanted to get to Minden for at least a day but it was 400mi away & it just didn't work out for us to get away early 
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Hated to leave but again we needed a real bath so on Monday Jun 18th we left Jack sittin' on the tailgate of his P/U & started the long trek toward home by headin' east at Shoshoni, WY on US 20 toward Nebraska. Camped that night at Ft Robinson, NE where we again got showers & replenished supplies. Explored the old (still commissioned) Army post where Oglalla Chief Crazy Horse was killed in 1871.
For next couple of days we worked our way south & east toward home, again crossing Kansas only this time north to south. Our route took us thru Greensberg, KS, the town destroyed by a Tornado last month. We didn't take any pix but the devastation is just unbelievable. No pictures or video can realistically depict it. I've been to a couple of war zones & several 'natural' disaster scenes but I've never seen anything like it! Absolute, total destruction. Everything destroyed except two buildings & they look as if they'd been 'wrung' out & then shaken & set back up.
We'd been heading toward the Wichita Mts of SW Okla but decided it was time to get home so we 'angled' across OK for a couple of days, arriving home about 3:30PM Friday Jun 22d.
We'd been a little hesitant about the physical aspects of an extended trip/stay in the TD but this outing alleviated a great deal of that. We've decided that with the right planning, we might even try the Alaska Highway trip next year
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Here's a few pix, with lots more in the 2007 Wyoming Trip album at the yahoo link http://new.photos.yahoo.com/
Pine Hills NF C/G IL
Beaver pond/lodge in WY
Lenora sitting in meadow of wildflowers & sagebrush
Old Bell coal mine near Sand Draw, WY - dark spot is steel door to the powder magazine
great pictures Harvey. Another place to drool over 
Thank you for posting and I am glad to hear you had such a good time.
