I made it to Laramie and decided to check out the Wyoming Territorial State Prison. Laramie is a small college town and there isn’t a whole lot to do there, but there is the prison. I was actually really happy I checked it out! There are a ton of cool old buildings on the site and the audio tour is very informative. Some outlaws make infamous by western movies (such as Butch Cassidy) were incarcerated there and the truth was normally not quite as exciting as the legends. The prison ran a broom factory on site and part of the prison had been used by the university at one point, so not only could you learn about prison life, but you could also find out about farming and old-fashioned broom making.
I walked around downtown Laramie checking out a few shops before they closed. Random fact – the first woman to vote in the world cast her ballot in Laramie! Pretty cool! Scooter’s (from Jackson, WY) friend met me, along with several others at a sports bar. Across the street was the apartment building he owned, well that he DID own until that day. Scooter’s friend had just accepted a job out of state and everything was quite chaotic. Everyone was super nice despite the fact that everything was up in the air. The building was a large historic building that you could tell was absolutely gorgeous in the ’20s, but it had seen it’s day. It was about eight stories tall and half the rooms were vacant. The stairs and doors were in need of some major maintenance. The new owner seemed overwhelmed with his purchase as we walked the halls trying to figure out who actually was a tenant to what room.
I was given lots of options as to where I could sleep. There were so many empty rooms in this apartment building. Finally, I was introduced to a couple of people that rented one of the apartments. On the inside the apartment was beautifully redone with hardwood floors and modern countertops. They were friendly and gave me access to an air mattress and an empty room. After chatting with a few girls who loved to talk about their midwifery/nursing jobs… which I found both absolutely fascinating and disgusting I hit the floor in a state of exhaustion.
I woke early and planned to drive the 10 hours to Kansas City. My whole trip I never drove over 6 and a half hours in one day. The 10 hour all day idea was overly ambitious and didn’t happen.
Where is Whitney? 