Coop's Corner: Wyoming - Some History Part 1

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Wyoming - Some History Part 1

Always a fan of the visitor centers, historical markers, area highlights, etc., I make an effort to stop when I can, when there's time, and/or when my traveling companions will tolerate one more stop. As I entered Wyoming, it was time for a break anyway so this one was a no brainer.

This view and the photo taken made me smile....the last time that I was in Wyoming we rode through Hulett and stopped at the Aladdin Store. This was the exit for the WY Visitor Center on the knoll above.

It was a very comprehensive "Welcome Center." No matter where they are or where I am, the travel brochure racks are always a draw for me; most of the folders for places or events that aren't especially interesting and get passed over. But it's hard for me not to grab at least one...for a place I'm curious about, closer to home, a place I haven't been though will likely be a destination some day.

Maps....depending on where and which state, the official State map may be available and if not, then regional, county...it could be most anything. As more and more areas appreciate the fact that motorcycles are making up a percentage of the tourists, often there are maps especially geared toward fun and interesting roads that appeal to most of us riders.

So, the racks always get looked at and more likely than not, end up losing at least one of their items.

It was in the parking lot at Burgess Junction that I learned about the extremely disappointing situation with my Cheeto's. Returning to the Visitor Center that I'd remembered well from my last visit made things all much better.

Maps always interest me; these relief versions are even better.

On to Greybull and the fire-fighting airplane museum...After Mike had been to Greybull a few years ago, he'd mentioned the museum and right away wondered if I'd seen it when I was there. My only story of the town had to do with fueling the Ducati and struggling to keep it from blowing over. Not knowing about the air museum and not passing it on my choice of routes, learning from him about it was something new. This time I thought I'd look it up and go...if it wasn't too out of the way. Before I even really had a chance to think about it, I saw large tail fins and propellers in the sky. Tucked behind a Rest Stop, it would have been hard to miss.

The Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir...the tunnel entrance as well.

Not history, just a lovely photo of this couple in their canoe, fishing on Brooks Lake....meant to get this posted earlier but missed it.

I'll have to come back to Wyoming Historical things in a future post....tomorrow after work it's Wildcat Rally time!!!!

4 comments:

redlegsridesAugust 31, 2017 at 9:16 AM
Cool stuff that firefighting airplane museum!
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TrobairitzAugust 31, 2017 at 2:26 PM
That Neptune is something else.

Have fun at the rally.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)