Route 30 to Route 40 and Westward

Although on my first night I rolled my sleeping bag out behind a Freightliner at a truckstop in Nebraska, Route 30 has a broad selection of fine accommodations, albeit adventurous at times. After passing through Sidney, NE I had to turn around to check out Dude's.

Road-side supper club, Sidney, Nebraska

Unfortunately, it was a bit early in the day. Quick stops in Gothenburg where they have a restored Pony Express station in their town park, Lodgepole, and Kimball, where Eisenhower once slept, I crossed into Wyoming at Pine Bluffs. This was a major gas-and-food stop on the old Lincoln Highway and one of the larger service stations remains as a sort of gas pump graveyard, welding shop and purveyor of road-side ephemera.

What you see is what you get

Kimball, NE hosted President Eisenhower here in the early 1950's

Service since 1924

Who couldn't love this place?!

Pine Bluffs, Wyoming...1951?

Customer's car parked in 1924

At one point in Wyoming, where Route 30 is buried under I-80, an amazing prehistoric living relic comes into view.  Tree Rock is located on Interstate 80, and I mean in the median, smack-dab in the middle of the Interstate. It lies on a stretch between Cheyenne and Laramie, in southeast Wyoming. Tree Rock has fascinated passers-by since the 1860′s when the first Union Pacific trains rolled by. It is said that the tracks were once diverted to pass by Tree Rock. Trainmen in the 1800's are said to have stopped to pour water on the tree to insure its survival. In 1901, the railroad line moved south, but a wagon road remained. Then in 1913, the old Lincoln Highway came by Tree Rock, and by the 1920′s, the Lincoln Highway gave way to U.S. Highway 30. Finally, in the 1960′s, Interstate 80 was built, and Tree Rock was guaranteed a large audience for years to come.

Road post marking the Lincoln Highway in Wyoming

 Population of 1. And the gas station is closed.

Lodgings in Laramie, WY are not hard to find. But it would be worth the traveler's trouble to seek out the Gas Lite Motel where for $49 one can sleep surrounded by deer antlers, native American arrow heads, and kitschy cowboy art. Sure beats the Motel 6.

Abandoning I-80, I headed out of Laramie to the southwest to reach US Route 40 at the Continental Divide in Colorado. Passing near Dinosaur National Monument, I stopped for a corn dog at the little outpost of Dinosaur, CO which had at one time been known as Artesia, CO, the hub of the post-war NW Colorado oil boom. Although thousands of people lived here after World War II, only 88 families remain.

Dinosaur, Colorado...seen better days

Downtown Maybelle, CO and the Victory Hotel

The Michigan River runs through Walden, Colorado in the Medicine Bow National Forest

At a very hot and dry gas stop, I shared greetings with an older couple from eastern Ontario riding a couple of BMW's to the national BMW rally in Salem, Oregon. They noticed my old BMW K75 strapped to the back of the truck. I was a bit envious that they were up on two wheels. Then I turned on the a/c and cranked up the stereo. Next stop: Bonneville, Utah.