If you recall from the last blog post, we stopped in Gillette to get a new toilet (love it!!!). We took time to see a couple of sights before we left the area. On the town’s tourism website, they list a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks as something to visit. You know us…anything engineering related…we are there. So let’s see what that was about.
This is a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks that run through the center of town. You have to almost enter the train yard to access the bridge!
On the bridge. I’m not sure if we were on the right side or the wrong side (a little joke there).
Looking through the chain link fence, you could see the tracks…not much going on.
But we did see groups of people gathered around small samples of tracks. Are these Training classes? No pun intended.
The city of Gillette calls itself the “Energy Capital of the Nation”. There is a LOT of coal in the area. Jim found out that the Eagle Butte Coal Mine gave tours of the mine. Great! Unfortunately, the tours ended at Labor Day. We are find a lot of that happening…the high season is over so stuff shuts down. No matter, we took a drive out to a viewing platform and, well, viewed.
Eagle Butte Coal Mine…from afar. Still, we spent 30 minutes where watching the large dump trucks go back and forth.
In town there is a park with old mining equipment. This here is a SMALL mining dump truck. It is tiny compared to the ones used now.
Every little town seems to have its own historical museum. Gillette was no different. We paid a visit to the Rockpile Museum. We were getting tired of western history museums, but this one had something of note. This is a Sheep Wagon. There are a lot of sheep in Wyoming, and they needed to be watched before modern technology could assist. So the sheep herder would live in a sheep wagon. They are similar to modern day RVs. In fact, if you do a google search on Sheep Wagons, you find they are becoming part of the Tiny Homes craze!
Exterior of a sheep wagon
Inside the sheep wagon. There’s the bed and a table in the background. Our RV has both of those. But we DON’T have a cast iron stove like this wagon does. I can’t imagine the amount of weight that stove added to the wagon!
We moved on to Douglas, Wyoming next. I found listed in a book a blurb about the Ayers Natural Bridge. It is one of only three natural bridges in the USA with water running underneath it. Hey, let’s check it out!
The Ayers Natural Bridge. There is free camping next to the arch, but it was limited to RVs smaller than 30 feet in length. We don’t qualify!
Me standing next to the bridge gives you an idea of it’s size.
The Oregon Trail cut through the Douglas area. Jim and I took a drive on some back ranch roads where the Oregon Trail crossed. This is some very inhospitable countryside. Can you imagine taking a covered wagon across this land? It’s rocky, dusty, and hilly. It was bad enough in our air conditioned Jeep!
This pile of rocks is called Knob Hill. It is said Brigham Young preached from here during his journey on the Oregon Trail.
That sums up Wyoming. We are trying to travel slower. The miles driven are less and we like to spend a few days in a spot to explore what is there. Life is less stressful that way! It’s amazing what you can find in these little towns!
Nice sheep wagon. Looks like you left out a little something.
We left out the cast iron stove? No thanks! But they are putting gas fireplaces in RVs now!!!
No — I meant that you left out the “bump in the road.”
I love that sheep wagon!
The sheep wagon was cute. But I think Jim is too tall for the bed!