Buffalo, WY-June 23, 2012

We arrived here this afternoon to some pretty intense heat. Such is life. Leaving beautiful South Dakota and driving into Wyoming was like walking through an open door and closing it behind us. South Dakota really is very pretty and welcoming. We crossed the state line and the scenery changed dramatically in an instant. The pretty green grass, trees and meadows turned to brown grass and black soil. That means lots of coal which means oil. That in iteself is good for Wyoming. The entire drive here all we saw was endless natural gas wells. It was surprising. I wonder how many people in how many cities depend on this natural gas? The land is not good for anything else. We did go past a huge power plant near Gillette that had no emmisions at all. We both saw that right away. But the interesting part about this big power plant was that it was connected to its own coal mine. And it was a gigantic strip coal mine, the likes of which neither of us has ever seen. They had their own little rail line of ore carts to move the coal to the power plant. It was just amazing. How effecient is that to not depend on an outside source for the coal it takes to run the power plant? We stayed in this park last year but we are in a different section. It's clean and quiet. We think we can see it all here in Buffalo in a week and then we will head to Montana. I am certain going from Wyoming to wonderful Montana will be like opening and closing yet another door. We are excited to do that. I wish you a restful and peaceful Sunday.