Wyoming Wonderland

By this time next week, we'll be in Santa Fe. But only after touring some areas north. One of those places is Wyoming. We aren't going there to search, really, although we might poke around for fossils. There are just some places that I really want to see since I started the chase several years ago.

This trip, because of the two-faced, Janus-like, Time, which can either be precious or an evil taskmaster, we will be concentrating on the southern portion of Wyoming. But I want to see as many of my spots as we can possibly drive to.

One spot is near Rock Springs. I want to walk a little portion of the Emigrant Trail and see Ephraim Brown's grave, near the spot he was killed because of a squabble his wife got into with another man's wife. Not much is said about this "home of Brown" online, but over the years, I've found a couple different stories, some more detailed than others. For those of you searching Wyoming, an excellent resource is the website, Wyoming Tales and Trails. 

I've read much of the website, both while researching possible chase sites and for my own enjoyment and curiosity. For example, Forrest mentions that Mike Kammerer died with his spurs on. In the Western sense, to die with your boots on was to die a true cowboy. There are others said to have died with their boots on, but there is specifically one other person I've read about who was found in a canyon somewhere in south Wyoming who was found dead with his spurs on, and no horse, dead or alive, in sight. I wish I could find that story again, because it was in a really interesting area. If anyone knows about it, please contact me. I don't think the treasure is there, but it's one of those spots I'd like to see.

I also want to see the resting place of Mary, wife of Charles Washington. Forrest tells a very brief story in TFTW about visiting  her grave somewhere in the Wyoming desert. Through some really good research and some pinpoint BOTG, a searcher has located that grave and given me the coordinates. I just want to see it for myself, because it tells the story, however brief, of someone important to someone else. I want to see the environment she lived in, and experience even just a glimmer of what her life, so different than mine, might have been like.

I hope we get a chance to at least see a few of those places, but road trips, especially with time limits, have a way of going much different than you envision them. We try not to be rigid with our plans, because whimsy is like a powerful magnet. We go where it pulls us. :)

I want to make it to Vedauwoo, although I'm not sure we'll make it that far east on this trip. We are in the early planning stages of taking Callie and Joe (maybe Aidan if she can get the time off) to Wyoming later this summer. For that trip, I want to experience Yellowstone and the Buffalo Bill Museum. I want to stand at the base of that statue of Buffalo Bill and reminisce on all the things I know about the legend. I've had the pleasure of reading a sampling of his correspondence back and forth to various individuals, and the guy was simply amazing. Very human, with a likeable mix of humility and confidence, as well as a gift for storytelling, and what seems to be a very kind-heart.

Anyway, I'm super excited about this trip, although I found out I have a torn meniscus yesterday in my right knee. My boss did a quick exam at the end of the work day to see why there's a painful buildup of fluid in it. He did an ultrasound, found a tear, and gave me a cortisone shot, which was immediate relief, and a brace to take on our trip. However, ast night was rough, because the shot already wore off and I slept very little. It's bothersome, but it won't stop me. Harvester ants, though, are another  matter. :)

But I'll have to get that knee fixed sometime in the future...bleh.

Anyway, I'm gearing up and excited about this trip and seeing many of you at Fennboree!