Day 72 Mile 1185

Today mom is leaving. We have had such a great time together and its gonna be a shift to be back on my own again with no company, no hotels, and not so many restaurants;-) I was all set to walk on from Shoshoni but we decided to drive out a bit to see what the road held in store for me... well at the first dot on the map, there was absolutely nothing there, at the second, there was only gas but no food, at the third and fourth spots everything was closed down. There were absolutely no services for the hundred mile stretch into Casper. The temperature was nearly 100 degrees everyday so it was a good thing Mom didn’t take off without me. The country out here is absolutely desolate. Hell’s Half Acre is the name of a shut down town out here that used to have a cafe. The name is absolutely fitting, and the landscape is marvelous. The pikes and pinnacles jut up out of the ground for hundreds of acres. When we got to Casper we had our last meal together and set me up in my last hotel for a while. I lightened my pack by giving mom all my extra belongings to take back home for me. I gave mom big hugs and she almost cried a bit at having to leave me out in the middle of nowhere. It was a great time together and I hope she will travel with me more in the future:-) She set off on her long drive home and I went up to my room for the night. I called her five minutes later:-)