Wide Open Wyoming

June 11 - After watching a DVD last night I was in bed by 10 pm. I slept fitfully although the guide book was right…..coal trains rumbled through town about every half hour. Even though they woke me up 3-4 times I really didn’t mind and fell back to sleep almost immediately.

I was up at 5:30 and fixed a breakfast of oatmeal, breakfast burrito and French press coffee. Can’t beat that with a stick! While eating I read up on my plans for the day, foremost of which was a visit to Fort Laramie. It was only 10 miles down the road and didn’t open till 8 am so I took my time eating and hooking Bivouac up and straggled in to the fort at 8:15 am. What a great place! I spent almost 4 hours walking around and looking at all the restored buildings and displays. The National Parks Service has really done an outstanding job here. While walking around I saw a bunch of Parks employees so it looks like they are getting enough money to support this historic place.

In 1834 mountain man extraordinaire, William Sublette and a group of trader/trappers constructed the first “fort” in the area. The military took over in 1849 and the fort was finally decommissioned in 1890. If you want to get the feel of military life on the frontier, this is a great place to come. I won’t go into great detail because you can read it here.

The best story of the day isn’t about the frontier army, the cavalry, Indians or all that glorified western stuff. The best, most poignant story of the day is a story of a nobody, a woman who died traveling with her family across the west to Oregon. Mary Homsley really was a nobody to everyone in the world but the few that were related to her. Her husband, mother and father, ten brothers and sisters and two daughters.

Mary Homsley died as a result of both a case of measles and from being thrown into the Laramie River while crossing it in a wagon. She was buried in a land her surviving relatives knew they would never return to. She was buried and left behind as the others struggled to get to Oregon. Her resting spot was forgotten and lost for 75 years when cowboys stumbled upon it. Look at these pictures and you will see and feel the true story of the west, the countless forgotten people that made this land what it is today.

The grave site is on a dirt road about four miles from the old fort. You really have to want to go there to get to it. I ended up parking Bivouac on the side of a little dirt road and walking the last mile to get there. I’m glad I did.

The rest of the day was spend in getting to Newcastle. The temperatures we in the mid 90’s again so I wasn’t up for a lot of outdoor activity. I was going to stay at a primitive campsite but with the weather forecast calling for mid to upper 90’s until tomorrow, I opted for a commercial RV place in Newcastle that had electricity so I could have A/C. Man I love this camping stuff….close to nature and A/C and all of that!

Newcastle is a very small town of about 3000 and it’s claim to fame is that it’s close to Sturgis of motorcycle rally fame and gets the overflow crowd every summer. There is also the Accidental Oil Company a Beverly Hillbillies story about a rancher who struck oil at 21 feet while hand digging a well to see if he could…. Won’t get to see that because it opens at 9 am and I’ll be long gone by then.

Tomorrow I’m gonna get to Devil’s tower.

Thanks for visiting.

Moab on the Rocks! It's Here!

This is it! After months of anticipation the day is finally here for our “Moab on the Rocks” expedition in the slick rock country around Moab. Most of the participants were already here and had spent the last day or two on the trails around Moab. Hopefully they had worked all the kinks out of the equipment and had honed their backcountry skills to the point of making this a “walk in the park” for the bride and I . I was thinking that regardless of how good, how prepared you are there is always something these trails throw at you to make it a memorable experience. I was not to be disappointed.

I was disappointed to find out that our wagon master, Captain America, had not yet reached Moab and would not be with us on this excursion. Unfortunately the business of feeding family interfered with more temporal pleasures and he was not to arrive until Saturday. Could his wagon train succeed without his leadership? This would really put the pressure on the other founders.

Thirteen vehicles and about thirty people total were going to participate on this ride. We decided to do a trail I had never experienced before so I was double pumped. It’s always great to see new stuff.

As we started out it looked like having that many vehicles was really going to be difficult to control and getting everyone through in the allotted time was going to be a challenge. We had the whole gamut of experience levels and it took us about 45 minutes to get the first half mile into the trail. Fortunately after the first two obstacles everyone seemed to hit stride and the “wagon train” gelled.

“Spotman” Dave, who is one of the original founders, was doing a yeoman’s job of his usual duties of spotting for everyone and helping in the wagon master duties. “Spotman” also drives a classic Jeep. No sissy automatic transmission or electronic lockers for him! He does it the old fashioned way!

Things progressed nicely until mid-day when one vehicle had an axle problem. If you have read this blog before you should remember that one of the reasons I “ride” and don’t have my own vehicle is precisely for this reason. I’m not mechanically inclined and if I had any kind of mechanical problem that required anything other than flipping a switch or turning a knob I would be totally up the proverbial creek.

Fortunately the problem was not what the gear heads considered a real bad problem and while the rest of us had lunch they performed enough mechanical magic to get the stricken vehicle back on the trail.

Just incredible, incredible scenery, lots of fun and fellowship. We finished the trail at about 3pm. That evening the bride and I hosted the rest of the circle in a very informal chow down at the trailer. What a day…and best of all there is even more to come tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting.

P.S. Click on any of the photos for a larger view.

Wagon Master!

The 1950 film Wagon Master, starring Ward Bond, is a classic western movie. Following up on the success of this movie, television created the series "Wagon Train" which also starred Ward Bond from 1957 until his death in 1960.

Ah, what great stuff. Good vs. evil, right vs. wrong. No convoluted plot that required a demented Phd. to explain. Ward had to take care of the greenhorns! The wagon train faced all kinds of danger but Ward as Major Seth Adams was the "old hand". He was there to make sure they made it. On his trusty steed, he was seemingly everywhere at once....at the head of the column making sure they were on the right trail. At the back of the train, helping the unfortunate ones keep up. I can remember watching this series (before the family had a color TV) as a youngster. I can remember the excitement of the show and the satisfied feeling at the end when good triumphed over evil.

I thought about this the other day while doing a little planning for our Moab trip and realized that the wagons in Wagon Train were the four wheel drive vehicles of the day. And just like Wagon Train, the modern Moab on the Rocks train had it's wagon master as well. After all, a lot of us were/are greenhorns. We needed someone to look after us too. Someone to make sure we reached the end of the trail without mishap. For several years on this trip our wagon master has been......

Captain America!!!!

Captain America is one of the original founders of Moab on the Rocks. This year will be his tenth year of participating in the trip. At the beginning Captain America was a greenhorn too. He drove a jeep like everyone else. Somewhere along the way, Captain America lost his engine and two of his wheels and ended up on a mountain bike. Somewhere along the way he became the wagon master.

Being wagon master for Moab on the Rocks is no easy task! First of all the "wagon train" is out on the trail ALL day. That can be as much as 8-10 hours. We probably drive 20 or more miles in a typical day. We are mostly greenhorns. Tenderfeet, that without the guidance of the wagon master would probably end up in New York or Chicago before we realized we were lost. The bad guys, the unscrupulous garage guys, would probably ambush us and have us do a bunch of unnecessary repairs if we didn't have the wagon master.

Captain America was up to the task though! He was everywhere. He was out front scouting and showing us tenderfeet the way. He was smack in the middle of the train making sure we kept moving in an orderly fashion. He was there making sure we made it through the treacherous quicksands.

Ward Bond and Captain America were kindred souls.

Rumor has it that Captain America has given up his trusty steed?

Rumor has it that this year Captain America will once again ride a Jeep?

How can he watch over his greenhorns in a Jeep? Can you picture Ward Bond doing everything he did...in a covered wagon?

Captain America.....Say it ain't so!