"Where the deer and the antelope play..."

Good Morning Everyone!!!  It is a beautiful morning in Casper Wyoming :)  James Taylor is in the CD player and we are off, once again, on the open highway with no idea what to expect...but first, let me tell you about our interesting evening a couple nights ago and then our 'special' day, yesterday.

Well, as Adam had said, I was among the barefoot locals as he was writing the last blog, and we had anticipated heading out from there straight to a place to camp, however, on the road trip, nothing ever seems to go along with what we are anticipating..So from there we headed out on some dirt roads looking for the trail head to Crows Peak, a Mountain in Spearfish.  We drove, and drove, and drove...The roads weren't marked correctly, and by the time we reached what we thought was the trail, there were no signs so we felt a bit uncomfortable just sleeping there.  So we drove back into town and then back onto the dirt roads, making a complete circle, and just pulled off into the woods.  We had just pulled in, and were enjoying the stars when a truck came raging into the same little area...Adam had me roll down the window, because thankfully, it was just a ranger.  I wasn't sure what to say, so after fumbling my words around and sounding like an idiot, Adam simply said, "Is it okay to sleep here?"...The ranger was very nice, and told us that it was fine if we slept there.  We then asked him about the trail head, and a few other things, and as he was heading out, he made sure to tell us not to have any "open containers" while driving, we assured him we didn't and he then pointed his flashlight at my feet and said, "Really?  Because I see some right there."...They were old fashioned root beer bottles...After we told him this, he blushed a bit and quickly left.  As we were finally buttoning up, we found ourselves laughing pretty hard about the whole situation.

The next morning we headed out much later than we had originally planned, but we still made our way to the trail head, eating breakfast, and then heading up the mountain.  Adam led the way, as I was much slower than him : ) But, Adam being the good friend he is, stopped nearly every five seconds so I could catch up, and catch my breath : )  When we got halfway up the mountain, I was feeling very sick with chills, a tummy ache, and other 'flu-like' symptoms.  So we headed down from there, Adam gave me some medicine, and I fell asleep for the next few hours while he drove.  I awoke to a buttoned up van, a sleeping Tudela, and a massive storm.  Adam woke up as well, because the wind, thunder, and rain were so bad.  There were several tornado warnings, so we decided to leave, but not before my fingers got shut in the sliding door to the van...it's fine.  We were on the road after some ibuprofen and laughed about our reactions to the situation, while also marveling at the tumbleweeds blowing across the road.  We made our way towards Casper from there after seeing tons of antelope!  Yes antelope!!! : ) So awesome!  We also found ourselves driving in silence as a hazy sunset took place over the prairie on our right, and the Rockies created a shadowy blanket on our left...it was breathtaking, just like everything else we experience on the road trip.  We decided to go eat at Olive Garden upon arriving in Casper, because we felt we deserved it. : )  And after some delicious dinner, we made our way next door to the Walmart, and went to bed...and that, my friends, was our 'special' day yesterday, I hope it makes you chuckle to yourselves as it does us! : )

-Sierra

P.S.- Not tons of pictures, but we will upload some later!