Meanwhile, Dave, Matt and Daniel went to NYC so Daniel could experience the Big Apple. They had a great time.
After Dave returned to Laramie we went to work donating books, donating clothes, filling garbage bins and recycling bins and sorting out the things we had to save. Fortunately for us, Ross and Matt took some things that were special to us but we're not appropriate for the condo in Sun Village. Everything else went to the garage to wait for a big garage sale. The boxes of saved items went into our second car and into storage until the end of summer. Lots of house cleaning, a garage sale, a little donation to Goodwill and the paperwork of closing and we said goodbye to #507. We now have a Laramie post office box and wherever we camp for the night is home.
Luci has been parked at Vedauwoo in two sites.
Wild flowers were everywhere in the campground and on the trails.
I was on the lookout for birds and was not disappointed. I saw: Townsend's solitaire, robin, chickadee, nuthatch, raven, turkey buzzards, mountain bluebird, green tailed towhee, broad tailed and rufous hummingbirds, hermit thrush and swallows.
In between stays at Vedauwoo, we camped at Marilyn and Tom Bryan's new property.
We camped beside Tom's big red shop for their Fourth of July celebration of food, music, visiting and fireworks. It was a fun time. Tom found a bird nest with two babies and two unmatched eggs. He took his grandkids and me to see them. Momma bird was not happy but we didn't touch. What a treat.
Dave played a gig at the VeeBar Dude Ranch where we we were able to camp near the fast flowing Little Laramie River. There was lush green grass and in addition to songbirds, there were free range chickens and goats, horses in the corral, a hay wagon pulled by work horses and a matched pair of small donkeys. Dave had fun playing the fiddle and singing with Bill McKay for the dudes on the hayride and in the saloon after dinner.
This week we have travelled to Casper WY for lunch and some tunes with Al Kalbfleisch. Then we went to Buffalo WY to camp at Deer Park Campground for one night. We had a shady spot near some water and more birds were spotted. Here I saw: yellow warblers, western wood pewees, robins, goldfinch and catbirds.
Our next stop was the Johnson County Fairgrounds in Buffalo for the Big Horn Bluegrass Festival. The beautiful Big Horn Mountains are spectacular and just west of town. It was a great backdrop for camping, making and listening to music with our friends. Lon and Joann Mitchell pulled in soon after we did with their Jo-Bawb's Barbecue rig.
Janet and Jamie MeGehee Suzanne and Molly arrived next with Maggie the black Lab dog. Jill Flickema, Brian Peel, Vern Billingsly and Tom and Marilyn Bryan followed them. All got to work setting up camp, making it homey.
Reed Buckley and girlfriend Kayla pulled in and eventually Fred and Jeannie Buckley.
Last but not least, the Means Machine with Warrie, Sheri, Shelby and Jacob.
Our camp was increased by a few with the arrival of Ryan from Great Falls MT and Doug Ezell and his son, brother and friend from Billings MT.
Warrie's mom, Elsie, and Jeannie's mom, Granny, drove down from Billings and stayed in a motel. They joined us for meals and visiting and festival events. It was so good to see them!
We enjoyed the festival with non bluegrass headliners, John Anderson and Marty Stuart.
Front Country Bluegrass put on some great sets as did Kenny and Amanda Smith with her great voice, his clean guitar picking and their beautiful harmony. They came to our camp for barbecue and stayed to pick and sing. Nice folks.
Suzanne McGehee won the banjo contest and Dave and Jill accompanied her when she performed on the main stage as the winner.
On Sunday after some of Lon's yummy cheesy grits, a little picking and visiting, everyone but us packed up and left. Dave and I could still hear the music in our ears as we sat in the quiet campground.
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