You Know You Are In Wyoming When...

[FSW Forum Administrator]

My Mom has to hold the deer hitting record. EVERY single car she has owned since the mid-80's she's hit a deer with. Has maybe a half dozen deer to her name. The last one was the worst though. Brand new Tahoe, had it maybe a week. Hits a big deer dead center of the grill.

After fixing the Tahoe, she drove it a few years and traded it in on an Avalanche. No deer hit. Drove it a couple years, traded it in on a convertible. No deer hit. Unfortunately a telephone pole jumped in front of her about a month ago and totalled the convertible. So, we think she has broken the curse. Hopeing she hasn't shifted the curse from deer to telephone poles though.

Joseph

[walterc]

The misses hit a deer just a couple of days ago.  But it wasn't on the gravel road, it was on highway 50.  Actually she just clipped the doe's head with the bumper.  No visible damage to the bumper, not sure about the head.

[Vince]

My Mom has to hold the deer hitting record. EVERY single car she has owned since the mid-80's she's hit a deer with. Has maybe a half dozen deer to her name. The last one was the worst though. Brand new Tahoe, had it maybe a week. Hits a big deer dead center of the grill.

One of my co-workers tallied for several years running, more deer with his ford pickup than he did with bow or muzzle-loader.  We ribbed him mercilessly about it.  "Hey Sam!  Deer season opens next week, have you sharpened your bumper yet?"

[Paul Bonneau]

You know you are in Wyoming when the gravel roads connecting the two opposite directions of freeway travel do not say, "Authorized vehicles only".

[Vince]

You know you are in Wyoming when you see a mountain that looks like it's been gouged by a bear 

[Rich]

You know you are in Wyoming when the gravel roads connecting the two opposite directions of freeway travel do not say, "Authorized vehicles only".

It took me ForEver to start using those, having been SO conditioned that I would be ticketed
for even considering them... really helps out if you blow an exit...

Rich

[bobcat]

Some driving observations based on several trips over the years to MT/WY...

You know you are in Wyoming when:

Most pickup trucks have flatbeds instead of factory boxes.

Many dually pickup trucks that still have the factory box have missing or broken fender extensions, and look to have been that way for quite a while.

Many windshields are broken in some way or another. (gravel roads)

Most vehicles have a generous coating of dust/dirt even though it hasn't rained in who knows how long.

A drive on a rural highway yields little if any traffic and when you pass someone, particularly if they are driving a pickup, they wave.  (Maybe that's due to me driving a pickup also?)

Roads off the highways are all gravel and they all sorta look the same when you're trying to find someone's place.

A 'town' of any real size could be just a few hundred.  A big town is several thousand, i.e. Worland.

Diesel is readily availabgle and the pumps often actually sell straight #2, #1 and red dye.  Mix yer own.  I like this set-up!

A 70mph sign on the highway and a 25mph sign within sight of each other.  Eeek, get on the binders!!

25mph through town means exactly 25mph or you'll get an invitation to court.

[MamaLiberty]

You know you are in Wyoming when you pass the state line coming in and FEEL that thrill in your very soul, the deep joy of coming HOME - even though it might be another few hundred miles to your own door.

And that happens even in the dark, when someone else is driving and you've been asleep.

[bobcat]

You've got that right ML.

I let out a little yipee when I hit SD.  (first OC state heading West) 

I let out a loud yell when I hit MT or WY, because I know I'm more likely to be around like minded, self reliant individuals...  A VERY good feeling.

The last time I came through, there were double and triple rainbows as viewed from I-90 near Sundance looking East.  Wow, that was absolutely grand.  Yes, I stopped and camped right there.  Glorious.

[kylben]

the deep joy of coming HOME

You know, I'm still a furriner to those parts, but I felt the same thing on our trip.  We stopped at the state line sign and made a short video, and it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders.  The opposite happened on the way back out into Colorado. It feels like home, and now the only visual connection I get is the flag and scenery pictures on my computer desktop.

 

[MANUMIT]

High beam etiquette mandates you leave them on until the last possible moment, in constant search for roving four legged speed bumps.

MANUMIT

[Paul Bonneau]

I haven't noticed people doing that so much. However I do know that when driving around dawn or dusk, you had better focus on the shoulders of the road, rather than on the road itself. "Anything behind that sagebrush?"

[MichaelNotMike]

You Know You Are In Wyoming When...
....There are antelope hanging out in a city park.

DJ took these photos on her lunch hour. Just off of bustling downtown Casper.



Antelope butt!:

[MamaLiberty]

The really unique part of those photos is the fact that such rough prairie and scrub brush is considered a "city park!!" LOL  Only in Wyoming!

[MichaelNotMike]

I know! Anywhere else they'd raise taxes to grade the land and put up a bunch of ugly corporate art statues.

The public art in Casper is oil workers, and cowboys & military heroes with guns. And there's a few cannons.

My "favorite" piece of "ugly corporate art" is in front of the Bank of America world headquarters in San Francisco. It's a big, black cold, stone lump. Us bike messengers renamed it "banker's heart."

Apparently that name has caught on, according to wikipedia: