CURT GOWDY STATE PARK (WY)



FRIDAY - We have a short, less than 100-mile travel day today, so we hung out on our campsite until just before check-out time at 11:30AM.

We drove west through the rest of the Pawneee National Grassland along CO-14 until we reached the town of Ault (pop. 1887).

I don't know? This part of Colorado looks just like Nebraska did.

In the town of Ault we stopped at a McDonalds for lunch. It was the only place in town that had parking for truck drivers and therefore our little 50' rig.

After lunch we were back on the road, this time heading north on US-85, back into Wyoming. We skirted around the capitol city of Cheyenne, WT (pop. 65,132) before heading west 24-miles outside of town to Curt Gowdy State Park.


CURT GOWDY STATE PARK


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Now that's how you make a GRAND entrance.
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This is the view from up on the hill at the Visitor Center.
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There are 10-campgrounds located all around the shoreline of Granite Springs Reservoir.
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This is our view through both the screen and outside doors.
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This is our view with both doors open.
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The campsites are staggered and tiered, so no one has an obstructed view of the water.
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We are on the top level with an awesome overview of the surroundings.
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The sites are a bit unlevel, but nothing we couldn't adjust for.


The State Park is of course named after the legendary sportscaster Curt Gowdy (1919-2006), born in Green River, WY and moved to Cheyenne, WY at age of six.

He excelled in basketball during his high school years, and then went on to attend the University of Wyoming in Laramie where he started and lettered in basketball and tennis 3 straight years.

In 1943, while recovering from back surgery, his sportscasting debut occurred when we was asked to radio broadcast a 6-man football game in Cheyenne. Let's just say the rest is history!

Curt Gowdy's radio and television sportscasting career spanned from the 1950s into the 1980s, and included covering Pro Football, Major League Baseball, 13 World Series, 16 Baseball All-Star Games, 14 Rose Bowls, 9 Super Bowls, 8 Olympic Games and 24 NCAA Final Fours.

With a résumé like that he deserves to have this beautiful Wyoming State Park named after him.



SATURDAY - Well it's officially the weekend. We arrived early yesterday afternoon and the park was barely half full, but it's a whole different story now that it's Saturday morning. This campground is full!

That means when Tricia goes for her early morning walk today she's going to head straight out of the campground and head for the Visitor Center, far away from the campers so she doesn't disturb their sleep with her phone conversation.


TRICIA'S MORNING WALK AND TALK


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A 6:15AM sunrise over the Granite Springs Reservoir outside of Cheyenne, WY.
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Just 15-minutes later the place is starting to come alive.
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That bridge down there gives access to the opposite shore of the reservoir.
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Tricia wasn't the only one awake early this morning.
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This handsome young buck will have his choice of mates later this season.
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Hey! The sidewalks are reserved for humans only.
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That's right! I'm talking about you.
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It looks like the word is out...
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...there's a human among us with a camera.


The temperatures got down into the upper 30°Fs last night and I'm sure glad we had electricity to run our small space heater. It's forecast to be a full 10°F warmer tonight which will be much appreciated.

After lunch today we'll be driving around the park and checking out the other 9 campgrounds, just in case we have a return visit here in the future.



MONDAY - Today, like yesterday, we're going to keep it chill. Only today we have a few errands to take care of before we can chill.

We need to be out of THE POD by 9:00AM in order for me to have time to drop Tricia off at the laundromat and I make it back to FORD by 10:00AM to get ROVER's oil changed.

Then if I have time I'll get our 30-lb. propane bottle filled before retrieving Tricia. Then we can both go grocery shopping for two weeks worth of food, because tomorrow we head up into the Rocky Mountains and I don't think we'll have as many grocery options up there.



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