Westward ho. In the modern equivalent of a covered wagon — i.e. an RV — we continued plodding across the continent as our forebears had done; but unlike our forebears, we didn’t forbear to pause and take some side excursions when the fancy struck. And unlike them, we felt the need to make an effort to work in activities for the sake of physical fitness.

Kimberly began the day with an early morning yoga class in Fort Collins, and having thus worked out the kinks, prepared to acquire more by crawling behind the wheel of the RV and putting in a spell of driving.

On we pushed into Wyoming, taking our time because we were plowing through a storm. In Cheyenne, we pulled off long enough to do our laundry. There were a couple of dudes in the laundromat who were apparently Cambodian, because they were speaking to each other in Khmer — which we were able to recognize because we’d recently spent 4 months in their country, struggling to learn the language ourselves.

We holed up for a couple of nights near Laramie, at Curt Gowdy State Park (named after a distinguished TV sportscaster who was a Wyoming native). There was no electricity, but we spread out our portable fold-up solar panel (which became a hangout spot for some of the little critters). Kimberly stretched out her beloved slackline, and practiced some circus skills.

At one point in our stay, we were joined for a while by our friend Deb, who lives in Laramie. Dennis decided to make the outing even more of a challenge by indulging in some rucking, which he’d just read about. Rucking, which is reputed to have tremendous fitness benefits, is simply hiking while carrying weight on your back (or elsewhere). And while we are not up to Navy SEAL level, he did load up a backpack with a few cans of food and other items, bringing the total load up to 15 pounds or so. And he survived.

The next day, the two of us again went out for a hike, finding some scenic cascades and a stream. At one point we thought we saw and heard some moose in the brush. But they turned out to be just some run-of-the-mill bovines.

After a couple of days of being off-grid in the park, we headed on into Laramie to hang out at the library, taking advantage of its wi-fi to do some computer work. The Laramie Library had a distinctive piece of signature decor in the form of a stack of books, suspended form the ceiling, to which it almost reached.

Later, taking a walk around town, we tried some suspending (suspense?) of our own. We’d also read recently that the ability to hang from bars by your hands is an indicator of expected longevity. And for our… er…. chronological demographic, one should be able to hang for two minutes. Well, we gave it our best shot, and could manage only a minute and a half. Still, not too shabby, and we feel confident we can work up to the target.

Maybe we just need to do some more intensive rucking.

7/1-18/2023