Goodbye South Dakota; Hello Wyoming

We left the Badlands of South Dakota this morning and today was basically a travel day.  We ended the day by setting up our camper at the "Fountain of Youth" campground in Thermopolis, WY. Most of where we traveled today was pretty barren land.  Not much to see but brown grasslands or rocky terrain.  However, when we approached the Big Horn mountains the landscape started getting picturesque.  You could see the snow covered mountain peaks in the background and then we started going up the mountain.  The truck did really well pulling the camper.  At the peak of the mountain was the Powder River Pass (elevation 9666 feet).  You could really tell that the elevation was high and the temperature dropped from 98 degrees to 71 degrees at the top of the mountain pass.  (On a side note, we met a family at the top of the mountain pass that lives in Gibsonia, PA.  Only a few miles from where I grew up) Then we started back down the mountain.  That was a little more challenging than going up the mountain.  Luckily the truck has an "exhaust brake" option so you don't need to use your brakes as much.  It was pretty steep in places and many sharp turns.  Towards the bottom of the mountain was a really pretty canyon.  The afternoon temperature reached 100 degrees, but the truck stayed cool in the heat.