Even as a new wildfire raged on the west side of the state, the air cooled in eastern Wyoming. A series of storm clouds rolled through over the course of days, bringing a welcome break from the dog days of summer, unless one was traveling from the Black Hills of South Dakota to Cheyenne in a low-flying aircraft.
But, of course, hardly anyone was. A WyoFile reporter and his longtime friend, a hobby pilot, saw no other aircraft as they motored across Wyoming in a Cessna 172RG Cutlass built — disconcertingly to the amateur airman reporter — in 1980. They passed west of Lusk, over Fort Laramie, over the curves of the North Platte River and the cliff lines, rock fins and swathes of plains that make up the largely empty southeast quarter of the state.
Nearing Cheyenne, they also approached storm fronts moving east. The featured photograph shows the most intimidating cloud front of the trip. To the reporter, anyway. The pilot, Andrew Gordon, appeared unperturbed as they approached the great inverted wall of storm cloud, with its flat dark bottom and a grey buttress soaring out of sight above.
The plane motored steadily under the front. Rain spattered the windshield. Gordon announced all was well. The reporter clutched the side of his seat and looked down the long line of the cloud. The plane pushed through. Sunlight again streamed into the cabin.
It is now, in memory, a gleaming celestial moment.
