Lessons

July 7, 2007
Denver, CO to Lusk, WY

283.4 miles
Lovely day!

I learned a lot today! About a half hour north of Denver I thought I spotted an oil bird –

your know, those funny looking birds that keep pecking the ground looking for oil?

I was surprised to see it, and then saw several more. I had no idea there was oil in Colorado – so I looked it up on the net when I stopped that night.


I learned it's been revealed that what is probably the world's largest oil source, yet untapped, is known to exist in our country and is now ready to be tapped - Colorado oil shale, in what may be over TWO TRILLION gallons of oil. According to The Wall Street Journal: "(When the oil is extracted)...America would become the world's single biggest oil source, exceeding Saudi Arabia's proven reserves of 261 billion barrels." More information can be found at http://www.rense.com/general70/doro.htm

The area is the Green River Formation — a barren stretch of land covering portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Each acre holds 2 million barrels of oil.
WOW!

I thought Colorado was famous for Coors beer – I’ve not seen a single Coors facility, but Budweiser is very present in almost every city I’ve driven through – like today in Ft. Collins, where CSU is located.


Again today, I passed thru miles and miles and miles of range land, rolling hills with nothing but grass, hardly a tree

– an occasional sign announcing so-and-so ranch, but not a ranch house in sight. I couldn’t help thinking of the settlers crossing the prairies so long ago in their covered wagons, wondering if they’d ever see water again. I’m sure they weren’t drinking the recommended eight glasses of water a day. Then suddenly the land ends, falls away, down to a little creek, green trees – they find a way down and chug down their first cool fresh drink in days to quench their parched throats - it’s so beautiful, some choose to stay. They name their little community Chugwater! Don’t you just love it when a story comes together!

And then I learned another lesson – two really neat lessons in one day!! There’s coal mining is this area! Lots of it! I started seeing trains pulling over a hundred cars each, full to the brim with coal! I found a study showing that Colorado and Wyoming are two of the largest producers of coal in the nation!

Colorado produces 85 percent of its electricity by burning coal to produce steam to turn steam turbines, compared to 52 percent nationwide. Pretty impressive! And strangely enough, Colorado utilities don’t burn much Colorado coal - low-sulfur Colorado coal is expensive because it is mined underground, but it is in demand in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky where the Clean Air Act is forcing utilities to burn lower-sulfur coal blends. Colorado utilities mostly buy cheaper surface-mined coal from the strip mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, which produces about 38% of the nation’s coal. If you want more info, check http://www.energybulletin.net/277.html and http://www.wma-minelife.com/coal/coalhome.html

Crossed the North Platte River near Douglas, WY, and passed the large metropolis of Lost Springs, with a population of 1 (as in ‘one’) at 4,995 feet. Interesting, ‘cause there was what appeared to be a small church, a home, a grocery and another building – a lot for one person!

Started passing a bunch of bicyclists, with jerseys saying “America by Bicycle” – probably about 30 of them, spread out over several miles…young and older. Quite a ride for them, because there are some serious steep grades here! I admire them their choice of adventure, but wish they’d stay in their own lane. Riding two or three abreast on the grades is kind of rude, I think, on these two lane roads. When I slow down for them, they can get back up to speed before I can!

Arrived in Lusk, Wyoming, “the gateway to the Black Hills of South Dakota to the north, and Yellowstone and the Grand Teton Parks to the west . . . where over 100 years ago the famous Cheyenne and Black Hills Trail and Texas Trail ran through the area giving us a strong western heritage.” As they say, if you like wide open spaces, fresh air and plenty of sunshine, you’ll like it here! That pretty much covers it! Lovely place to spend the night!