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Ellisville Bison Dispatch |
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After all these years, I finally got to Cheyenne. The rodeo was great, and the drive out was...well...quite long. Just a bit over 1100 miles from home, we logged 2800 miles for the whole trip. The first evening we made Lincoln, Nebraska. As the day went on, and we traveled West, it got hotter and hotter. After checking in, we went to Applebee’s at 9 p.m. and it was still 100 degrees! The air conditioner in the truck got a good workout, but kept up just fine. Even though I’m more of a hot tub person, I found the cool pool water at the hotel very refreshing.
Next morning we hit the road to complete our drive to Cheyenne. On the way we stopped at this old pony express station in Gothenburg, Nebraska. Kind of makes a person feel spoiled with all the conveniences we take for granted. Being a big horse fan, I think Jodi found this especially intriguing. It’s been moved from it’s original spot along the pioneer trail, but still contains the original timbers that sheltered pony express riders until 1861. Imagine that early settlers (those lucky enough to make it) took 6 months to travel from St. Louis to California, and we drove a good part of that distance in about 15 hours!
We arrived in Cheyenne, checked into the hotel, and headed for the rodeo. By this time, the weather was changing. We had driven thru several heavy showers just East of town and they were still threatening the area. Even though it got wet, the cooling effect was quite welcome after the heat we had encountered the last 2 days. We did a little sight seeing between showers, bought me a cowboy hat, and when it got really nasty, Jodi and I took refuge in the beer tent. None of the locals were complaining as it’s been as hot and dry there as we’ve seen at home lately.
The next morning at the old west museum in Cheyenne, we learned a thing or two about the area and life in the old West. Then we drove to Laramie for a little sight seeing, and back to the rodeo to see Tim McGraw. The evening turned out to be quite dry and comfortable compared to the past few days. Our seats were pretty high up, but giant semi-sized screens helped out with the view of the stage.
Jodi had never been to Colorado, so we drove to Fort Collins the next morning and started up into the Rocky’s. We were getting quite a ways up when the weather decided to change again. The day was getting late anyway, so we decided to head back down before the summit. It turned out to be a good idea as we ended up driving thru some more violent thunderstorms on our way back to Cheyenne. As we pulled into town, my old Dodge turned over 100000 miles. We documented the event with a picture before scouring main street for souvenirs.
For our last evening we had tickets to the professional bull riding. On the way in, I snapped a few shots of a blacksmith and a camp set-up that were on display to demonstrate life in the old West. The evening got quite windy and cool and I had goose bumps by time the bull riding was over. The cowboys put on a great show despite all the mud created from the afternoon showers. The drive home was thankfully, quite uneventful and we’re now “recovering” from all the excitement of our vacation.
Larry |
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August 3, 2005 |
