Day 13

A final scenery shot as we leave the Black Hills on our way back south.

They have been fighting a fire right along the Wyoming and South Dakota border. This is the fire camp. The fire crews work 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Their 12 hours off are spent here sleeping in tents.

Lunch today was at the Old Mill Inn restaurant in Newcastle, WY. The mill used to grind wheat to make flour. They had 10 different kinds of homemade pies so we tried two. Yum.

This is a somewhat scenic shot but notice the lone cow in the center of the frame. This image demonstrates the ranching rule of thumb in Wyoming of one cow for every 10-12 acres.

This huge truck was working the Black Thunder coal mine in the Powder River coal region. The bed of this truck can hold 4 Suburbans.

This leads us to our first train picture of the day. This BNSF empty coal train is heading for the loading chute of the Black Thunder mine.

This UP (Union Pacific) empty trains is moving up to the loading chute of the Jacob's Ranch mine.

A south bound loaded BNSF train meets a north bound empty UP train. Another empty train waits on the siding to the left. This picture was taken at Bill, Wy.