Wild, Wonderful, Maskless Wyoming!
I met up with Julie & Brad in Laramie September 6th, just in time for the season’s first cold front and snowfall. The 18 inches forecast didn’t happen but about 3-4 inches accumulated. It was nice. The day after the snow we drove around the Snowy Range south of Laramie looking at properties, mainly to get a feel for different regions within Wyoming. Why? In case the country makes a horrible mistake in November by electing democrats to the White House and Senate. That would certainly F America. Take a look at any of the democrat-run cities and states to see how well their loony policies work out.
We liked a couple areas, namely Ryan Park and the Mortenson Lake Wildlife Refuge area south of Laramie but no particular properties lit us up. On to Casper…
The drive north to Casper was beautiful with snow covering the hills and fields. Casper is a cool town along the North Platt River. One of its most attractive areas is Casper Mountain. The mountain is a quick 10-15 minutes from town and the day before we got there had received up to two feet of snow. Many of the roads are private which kept us from seeing the specific properties Julie had researched. It’s one thing to explain that you’re on a private road looking at potential properties to buy; it’s another to ask for a tow. We opted for discretion over valor… Plus, we were in Brad’s Ram truck and I was concerned it’d get stuck (it’s simply not a Ford!) 😂 Anyway, we spent the afternoon checking out Casper’s breweries and then in the morning we were on to Greybull, east of Yellowstone.
Greybull, well, you can keep it. It’s pretty enough but just too small. There’s really nothing there to compel a 365 day-a-year commitment. The drive to Lovell and through the Bighorn National Forest was pretty but no particular places hit us as investment worthy. We enjoyed a simple lunch in Shell after viewing Shell Falls. But it was time to head on through Cody & Yellowstone to Dubois.
I’m very glad I’d visited Yellowstone last year because it was so smoky from fires dues to California’s forest mismanagement; it was hard to even see across the lake. We did see a couple elk fighting it out for mating rights. Very cool. We might’ve done the southeast section of Yellowstone in record time, just rolling through. With the rigs in tow pulling off to see sights we’d visited just last year didn’t make sense. We continued on toward Dubois.
Dubois is a nice small town but, like Greybull, not too much there for year-round living. Did see some nice lots and homes up on the hill, but the Dubois/Lander region wasn’t quite cutting it either. While in Dubois for the three nights we made ourselves regulars at the Rustic Pine Tavern. Cool 100+ year old joint with a cool and pretty bartender. Played lots of dominoes. From Dubois… back to Casper to meet with a realtor for access to some of Casper Mountain’s properties.
About 100 people live full-time on the mountain and there are a couple vacant lots we liked but they had water access challenges—like about 500 feet of drilling challenges. Just not sure I’m willing to throw $40K at a water source… Other lots did not have year-round access. Gonna keep Casper Mountain on the short list but I’m not convinced just yet.
Julie & Brad headed back to Frisco and I headed to Saratoga for the night and then into Beaver Creek for a couple/few weeks. Frankly, I was a little tired of driving and my truck had developed a steady oil leak that I needed to get fixed. So, as I post this I’m hanging at friends’ awesome condo in Beaver Creek just chilling, hiking and watching football and hockey. Mid-October I’m heading back to G’Vine for the fall and winter so unless something exciting happens I’ll post a trip summary then, which will be it for a while. Until the road beckons once again… (And I gotta say, I already miss maskless Wyoming. Hopefully the rest of the country soon finds its senses on the stupid mask charade.)
