Adventures on state borders

Wildfires came within a mile of Ft. Laramie a few weeks later

Outside the Black Hills, many don’t realize the stark beauty of the state borders shared by Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado. 

Turn at U.S. 85, and leave the traffic behind. If you have escaped the traffic of Denver, Fort Collins and Cheyenne, the dropoff is stunning. You might pass a truck or a slow-moving tourist following the GPS. Depending on the mood, but it’s either a peaceful drive or a lonely drive. Services will wait for 50 miles, as they often do in this part of the country. Torrington and its handful of traffic lights will feel metropolitan after those 77 miles. 

But it’s a city. Torrington can boast Open Barrel Brewing, a brewery/restaurant with a full menu and some fine sessions brews. To its east, Lingle continued the break from rangeland and crumbling mesas. Some clouds rolled in as I reached Fort Laramie, cutting some of the blazing heat. 

Weeks later Fort Laramie would face possible destruction from a wildfire. Another wildfire would claim the homestead of Wyoming's at-large congresswoman. I agree with very little she says, but I can't imagine the pain of losing a homestead in the family for generations. When the west runs dry, fire fear brings real fear. 

I passed several wide loads carrying massive wind turbine blades, finally passing the last one at an intersection in tiny but lovable Lusk. By this time, I only had eyes for Newcastle, my stop for the night. Another long, city-less stretch ensued. 

I sped by my usual turn for South Dakota, where I first gazed on the pine-covered peaks of the Black Hills. The Black Hills get labeled as a South Dakota range, but they extend into Wyoming, encompassing Newcastle, Sundance and extending to include Devil’s Tower. The mountains have no use for borders here. Newcastle lies on the southwest edge of the Black Hills, the town’s historic district and main cluster of homes built on rolling hills. 

Lobby greeter

I was instantly smitten with the old but stately hotel, which only had a handful of rooms. For one person, it did the trick. The owner showed me around. When I went out for dinner, the owner’s cat sprawled on the carpet that spanned the lobby. The cat chatted at me and readily accepted pets. I hoped the cat might reappear, but our paths crossed just this once. 

I had a dynamite dinner of mole chicken enchiladas as one of Newcastle’s only Mexican restaurants and retired to the room for the MLB All-Star Game. The sun still beat a little too hard for me to explore the historic downtown district that night. 

 Shortly after 5 a.m. first light reached the room and my instinct to explore kicked in. I took my breakfast and coffee on the porch of the hotel, since no one occupied it and there wasn’t a seat in the lobby where the stares of Fish and Wildlife Service employees let me know I wasn't welcome. 

On the porch, I enjoyed the cool temperatures, tasty coffee, and wrapped up a Rick Bass short story before I finished off my breakfast burrito. 

The city of 3,500 had light traffic despite its proximity to the sights of the Black Hills. I picked it as the perfect jump-off spot to visit Jewel Cave, which was just 25 miles east. Custer, S.D. was closer, but rates and tourist populations were much less amenable. 

Newcastle has the stately Weston County courthouse, sitting at the top of the district next to the century-old library. Aside from a groundskeeper, no one was around. A breakfast place drew a few cars, but it was relatively quiet and not the bustling Black Hills gateway I expected. 

I trekked back down to the local theater, which ran Horizon, the new Kevin Costner western. That might not sell in other parts of the country, but in Wyoming it stands to do well. Dogie – Western slang for motherless calf – was also the Newcastle High School mascot. 

 As I was taking pictures, the owner came up to drop off some boxes. We talked for a few minutes - he grew up here, worked at the theater as a teenager, and when it came available, took up ownership. I told him about how similar his story was to my friend Rob, with the State Theater in rural Ohio. 

I needed that exchange; all I got was stares from the FWS staff taking up all the breakfast tables in the hotel lobby. Those few moments of conversation with a local and I forgot them.

The distance between Newcastle and places where I grew up never felt so small.