Wyoming Boondocking - Day 2: T-Dub'ing along the North Platte River

 Woke to a balmy 61°F (16°C) and the sun already above the horizon and trying to shine through the trees surrounding my campsite.

Just before 9AM, I left the campsite on Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 Dualsport to go exploring along Tank Farm Road towards the nearby Dave Johnston Power Plant.  I'd seen and heard the Coal Trains running by the campsite enroute to the power plant and figured it was worth a look.

First I checked out the Pacificorp Public Access Area, not much there but a parking lot and a boat ramp.  There is a nice bridge across the river right next to it though:

Bridge over the North Platte River

View of the river from atop the bridge

Shortly after the bridge, I came upon a good spot to pose Yagi, showing the power plant situated by the river:

Dave Johnston Power Plant

I turned around at this point as I realized I'd left without locking the URRV!  These senior moments are starting to occur more and more often!  I wasn't that worried but did want to ensure it was locked.

On the way back, I stopped several times to try and capture from ground level the remnants of what had caused this county road to be called Tank Farm Road.

From a satellite, Google provides this somewhat enigmatic view:

Kind of looks like very uniform set of bomb craters at first.

But it's all that remains of what must have been pretty large

petroleum storage tanks!

Best of several pics shot to try and capture one of the Tank Rings

Further along, I posed Yagi with this rusting sentinel of the Wyoming plains....

An overview map from the Bixby Public Access Area where I'm camping, to give you an idea of where I went:

URRV now locked, I rode onto a dirt trail through what appears to be BLM land and wandered on dirt tracks through grassy rolling terrain until the route I was on dead-ended on a ranch's locked gate.

Returning to the campsite, I spent the rest of the day just relaxing in the shade, taking the occasional cooling dip in the nearby North Platte River, and performing miscellaneous chores within and on the URRV.

I had discovered two pickup trucks, one of which was towing a large trailer, on my return and soon afterwards noticed several people with kids retrieving boats and inflatables from the river.  These same people would return in the afternoon, repeating the activity.  By this time I'd figured out this public access area is a good spot to float down river from wherever and then retrieve your boats and not have to paddle upriver.

There's a noticeable current on the river, so paddling would be hard work I imagine.

Right about the Golden Hour, I set out to ride the grassy rolling terrain nearby, and found a miniature version of Wyoming's Devil's Gate!  (The real one is unfortunately over 85 miles away)

To give you an idea of the grassy plains and rolling hills one can slowly ride and enjoy around here:

You can see where the river is....its where all the green is!

One last look back at the emptiness....

As I finish typing this, a couple of locals in a black pickup truck parked nearby apparently to fish.