And just as quickly as my trip to Wyoming began, it had now suddenly ended. I had a great time exploring Wyoming. But it was now time to head back to Athens and the real world.

Like they usually do on these trips, my day began before sunrise. I loaded everything into the car, said goodbye to Heather, and hit the road.

Heading east on Interstate 90 would allow me to enjoy a wonderful sunrise.

Mother Nature also treated me to some great colors in the sky this morning ! The photos above and below show the power plant in Wyodak.

Passing by the power plant in Wyodak, Wyoming.

Passing by the power plant in Wyodak, Wyoming.

Just like I did for the outbound trip, I planned three segments for the return to Athens along roughly the same route I used for the outbound trip. Mother Nature, however, had other ideas in store for me.

Originally, I was planning to head back to Athens via almost the same routing I used for the outbound trip with one small change.

Instead of heading south from Gillette to US Route 26 east through Nebraska, I wanted to head directly east out of Gillette on I-90, like I was doing at that moment.

Interstate 90 would take me all the way through South Dakota to Sioux Falls and Interstate 29. My first overnight stop in St. Joseph, Missouri would arrive around 6 hours later.

The problem was that a couple of days earlier, I was checking the weather forecast for some of the cities along my planned route when the words, "Blizzard Warning" got my attention.

A blizzard was on its way to eastern Nebraska and western Missouri and was expected to arrive on Sunday.

Even though I was expecting to pass through that area on Monday evening, the aftermath of a blizzard was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

I scrambled to put together an alternate route back to Athens in order to avoid the weather nightmare in my way.

Instead of heading east through South Dakota and then south into Iowa and Missouri, I would now head south from Gillette through Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas.

This way, the blizzard and accumulating snow would remain far away from me to the east.

This also meant I would need to change all of my return trip overnight stops. Hotels.com was happy to oblige.

The only part of my original plan that would remain in place was the segment I was currently in the midst of - heading east on Interstate 90 out of Gillette.

But instead of 500 miles to Sioux Falls, I was only going to be on I-90 as far as Moorcroft, Wyoming, a mere 30 miles.

From Moorcroft, a combination of US Routes 16, 85, and 26 would take me to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, (which I passed through on my way to Wyoming a week ago). In Scottsbluff, I would pick up the familiar Route 71.

I say "familiar" because I traveled on this road last year on my way back from Colorado. Route 71 is a wonderfully isolated and almost completely straight stretch of "the road less traveled," just what I'm looking for !

And best of all, there would be no blizzard !

But that was many miles ahead of me at this moment. For now, I was happy to enjoy the sunrise and its wonderful colors.

I really wish my camera performed better in low light conditions. But you get the idea.

Sunrise over eastern Wyoming.

My time on Interstate 90 gave me a whole host of Kodak moments, most of which I tried to take full advantage of.

Sunrise over eastern Wyoming.

Before long, the sun made an appearance.

Unfortunately, my camera decided to focus on the spots on my dirty windshield.

But you hopefully get the idea.

I put the camera on the dash and held the button down hoping that a shot or two would be usable.

Overall, they aren't too bad.

The aren't "great" by any stretch of the imagination. But they aren't that bad.

Sunrise over eastern Wyoming.

Sunrise over eastern Wyoming.

Great colors in the sky !

Sunrise over eastern Wyoming.

Sunrise over eastern Wyoming.

Sunrise over eastern Wyoming.

Once in Moorcroft, I picked up US Route 16 heading east toward the town of Newcastle, Wyoming. Route 16 passes through the Thunder Basin National Grassland which made for a beautiful drive.

Once in Newcastle, I picked up US Route 85 heading south.

Route 85 was empty this morning, which was fine by me. The photos above and below give you a good indication of what I encountered.

It looks like a small amount of snow had fallen. But it was nothing to worry about.

US Route 85 is known as the Can Am Highway.

The Can Am Highway is almost 2,000 miles long connecting Mexico with Canada via 6 western US states, one of which is Wyoming.

I was only going to be on it for about 130 miles from Newcastle to Lingle, Wyoming.

At the moments seen in the photos above and below, I was about to cross into Niobrara County.

I was about one-quarter of the way into my journey on the Cam Am Highway, and had about 100 miles to go to the town of Lingle and US Route 26.