Guest Posts on County 10 are provided by contributors and the opinions, thoughts, and comments within are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of County 10.
Whether it’s state wrestling, basketball, volleyball, or the all-class state track championships, when I’m in Casper, I try to get a room at the Quality Inn on Poplar. The location is perfect for wrestling, volleyball, and basketball, with the Ford Event Center just a mile away to the north.
In basketball, some of the games are held at either Casper College or Natrona County High School, and that’s an easy trip as well with Poplar taking you close to both venues.
Add in good quality wi-fi and an excellent breakfast, and you can’t beat the quality at the Quality Inn.
Last week wasn’t a pleasure trip. We hurriedly filled a suitcase and drove to Banner Health in Casper after my mom fell, hitting her head.
After the initial frantic pace to get to the ICU where she was located. We were able to settle in for a short night’s sleep.
Another benefit of the motel location is the nearby Casper River Walk. I took advantage early Wednesday morning before the sun came up.
The River Walk follows the North Platte on a concrete path that begins between the Showboat Motel and the Riverside Hotel and Conference Center (formerly the OYO, the Ramada Inn, and the Holiday Inn…they seem to have an identity problem)
Last Wednesday, the entrance on the east side of the North Plate was blocked, closed for construction.
That’s not hard to believe if you travel to or through Casper along Interstate 25. It’s been under construction for years.
Earlier that morning, as I grabbed a cup of coffee in the breakfast area, a road crew of about 20 guys had descended on the eggs, sausage, and biscuits. They all wore bright orange shirts with reflective yellow strips, indicating they were road construction workers. I greeted a few of them, and none spoke English very well, but they were all energetic and ready to get after the job.
With my path under the interstate blocked, I kept walking to Center Street. That too was under construction, with the sidewalk and two lanes of Center demolished. There were plastic orange fences blocking where the sidewalk had been, but the tracks of hundreds of footprints indicated it wasn’t being enforced. I walked under the overpass on Center and turned west through the Best Western Downtown (formerly the Ramada Inn and the Parkway Plaza…there seems to be a trend here) parking lot and reached the River Walk.
There were a couple of artfully decorated port-a-potties anchored to heavy concrete barriers with two-inch ratchet straps on the far end of the lot. Another group was higher up, along the closed section of the interstate, where I spotted those orange-clad workers from the breakfast area.
At last, I was on the River Walk. It was a gorgeous morning filled with the chirping of songbirds, the plaintive quacking of ducks on the Platte, and the mournful honking of Canada Geese flying overhead before splashing into the fast-moving water.
There are a couple of overpasses along the River Walk as you head south, the first is a train trestle. As I looked ahead towards the train tracks, I caught the motion of a couple of guys scurrying to the right towards the river and dropping into cover. No, I wasn’t carrying my 1911 .45 ACP pistol or even a pocketknife. I had just my room key and my cell phone.
My senses were piqued as I looked for these two characters. I suspected they were up to no good, but it was barely 6 am. What kind of hoodlum harasses people at that hour? I reached the railroad trestle and spotted the two guys. They were nervously looking back and forth and carrying on some sort of transaction. I didn’t stop to see what they were buying and selling, but I had an idea.
Casper has made the effort to block the underpasses in the city with steel and concrete barriers in an effort to keep the homeless from sleeping under these bridges.
As I approached the overpass at First Street, I spotted a wall of bricks carefully laid out to block the homeless. It didn’t work. A head popped up from under the bridge as I approached and quickly disappeared. The River Walk ends soon after in an uphill climb to either West Second Street or back to First. From the vantage point along the path, I saw the camp of a homeless man set up under the bridge, a sleeping bag, a backpack, and the remnants of a fire. That was home to this poor individual.
Casper was waking up by the time I reached Second Street. Traffic was brisk, and the few shops I walked past showed signs of life.
I took Second to Center and followed it back north towards the Quality Inn.
An electrical contracting crew had arrived at the blocked-off area under Interstate 25 and Center when I returned.
I said hello to an older guy who must have been the foreman. He was ordering a couple of 20-somethings to lay out conduit and unload massive spools of wire.
“Is this your retirement project?” I joked.
“Might as well be,” he said. “When we’re finished here, we’re going back to McKinley and starting again.”
Perpetual construction in the Oil City.
The adage that there are only two seasons in Wyoming, winter and road construction, is sadly accurate.
On a positive note, these road construction crews, along with electrical, plumbing, and concrete contractors, don’t have to go far to find work. Working close to home instead of living in a camper while saving your per diem or using it in a motel and restaurant is a much better deal for the working man.
It was a glimpse of Casper I hadn’t seen before with the drug dealers, the homeless guy, and the blocked River Walk, but it was still the North Platte.
The Platte hasn’t changed much since Lt. Caspar Collins was killed near where I was walking that morning at the Battle of Platte Bridge on July 26, 1865, by a party of Sioux and Cheyenne.
Wyoming’s second-largest city continues to change one shovel full at a time.
The morning walk provided a little solace and time for reflection before I returned to reality in the ICU.