We rolled along into Caspar WY where we stopped at the National Historic Trails Interpretative Center which is located at the junction of the Oregon, California, Mormon Trails and the Pony Express Route. In this area US 20 follows the general route of the those trails as they started in St Louis and ran roughly together until they reached Independence Rock about fifty miles from the Center at which point they diverged to reach California, Salt Lake City or Oregon. This is another extraordinary presentation using historic materials and recreations to tell the several stories of these emigrations.
A local charity was having a fundraiser at the Center the in evening and had set up a tent across the driveway which rather flummoxed us as there was no way to turn around without that piece of driveway unless we disconnected the car. After touring we came out and had lunch on the coach then we set about breaking down the tow and turning everything around, we were closely observed by the local herd of Prong Horn Antelope who were curious about our activities.
Rolling along we found that US 20 joined I 25 for a while and then to our relief it departed the expressway, and us with it, to continue on to Lusk WY. I suppose I could say nowhere and be almost as accurate. Lusk had two features for us, first was the report of free camping in a city park and the second was The Stagecoach Museum. We called ahead to be sure the museum would be open, to confirm directions and possibilities for parking. We were warned that if we had driven two blocks we would be out of town and that there was plenty of parking. The first was a bit of an exaggeration, the town must have extended 10 blocks east to west and we passed a substantial Elks Lodge (at least the building was substantial) on our way to the museum.
The museum turns out to be a Grandma’s Attic of everything the towns folk did not know what to do with when they moved, died, ran out of room. It includes one of the last two stage coaches that actually were in use in eastern Wyoming before the railroads and cars pushed them out. It was made on the east coast and shipped around the Horn to the west coast and placed in service there before being sold and driven cross country to Wyoming to serve out its existence there.
After spending the night in the Elks lot we got an early start on 20, along with many of the motorcyclists leaving Sturgis, SD and migrating back to wherever they had come from. Don’t ask, I have yet to figure out how they were on US 20 when Sturgis is a couple of hours north, but they are bikers and can do anything. We missed Fort Robinson in Crawford although we stopped at the Crawford Visitor Center to get Nebraska Information. We decided we have seen enough forts, including Niagara and Ticonderoga so chose to give this one a miss. Next time we will reconsider given the information we have, that this fort was in active use through WWII when it served as a POW camp for captured Germans! We did stop at the Museum of the Fur Trade which was established in the early ‘50s on the site of a fur trading post and its location seemed great as it is right on US 20 (this was before Interstates). It is now in a backwater, but it is definitely worth going out of your way, if you are not staying on 20, for a several hour visit. It details the fur trade on the North American Continent from the first trading with the Indians in the east to the discovery and conquest of the west by the fur traders and their explorers. We dragged ourselves away after a couple of hours. Once again I chose not to examine the hundreds of original weapons collected in their weapons gallery. As we rolled west we realized that it was Sunday and most of the museums we might have stopped for were closed.
We settled for the night In Valentine, NE at Wacky West Camp Ground. We may actually stay a second night as we have been on the roll for more than two days without a break and there are things to do here.