On the Loose in Bambi Luci Part III: We finish our summer in Wyomingand Nebraska

August 19, 2015

We did indeed go to the fiddle contest in Greeley, Colorado on Saturday August 1st. Dave and I got there just as the Means family was pulling in. The contest was held at the Weld County fairgrounds and had the usual categories of small fry, juniors, novices, adults, seniors and open divisions as well as a miscellaneous instrument contest. Dave entered the Senior division and placed second. No belt buckles this time. Warrie and Jacob Means entered the miscellaneous event, playing banjo and mandolin respectively. Jacob won second place and Warrie third. Sherri and I enjoyed visiting and people watching. 

On Monday we camped at the VBar Guest Ranch where Dave had a good time playing with Chris Stearns Mackey and Bill McKay. There is no poor campsite at the Vedauwoo campground where we enjoyed a few hikes and sunny days relaxing while Dave got ready for the Wyoming State Fair fiddle contest. 

The fiddle contest is held on Saturday of the first weekend of the fair in Douglas Wyoming. 

I always enjoy walking around the fair, walking through the horse barn, and watching families grooming and riding their animals. The goat show captured my attention for a while as I watched the doe goats in the show ring. I walked through the rabbit tent and saw lots of cuddly bunnies large and small. My favorite event to watch is the herding event for dogs where a dog, getting verbal or whistled cues from its handler, attempts to herd three sheep through obstacles and finally into a pen. If it is not accomplished in five minutes or the dog bites one of the sheep, they are dismissed from the arena. 

             The flag flying over the fairgrounds

                      A funny statue located near the sheep and goat barns

The two day fiddle contest is a nice event hosted and run by the fair at the McKibbon Cafeteria. The cafeteria is not used for food service on the first weekend. During much of the fair it is used to feed 4H'ers who are staying in dorms nearby and showing animals or exhibiting their 4Hprojects. 

A stage is set up with microphones and an announcer moderates the contest. Chairs ring the stage and storekeepers tally results that are gathered from three judges who are sequestered but are able to hear each contestant's three tunes for each round. One round is played on Saturday and the final round is played on Sunday. In addition to the usual events, a  "No Holds Barred" contest pleases the crowd with special fiddling or other antics. Dave played the tune Flop Eared Mule in five different ways for this event. A favorite accompanist is chosen by popular vote. 

    Dave with his first place ribbon for the Senior contest. 

Dave and Kelly Wells with first place ribbons in twin fiddling. 

Dave accompanied by Warrie Means, the favorite accompanist. 

An interlude of entertainment with Warrie and Dave singing. 

From the fair we left Wyoming for Fort Robinson State Park in Nebraska to camp and meet up with my sister Sandy. She and I were interested to find the homestead cabin of our great-great grandfather, Miner Davis which is located in this area. After much searching and phone calls to cousins who had been there, we finally found the cabin at the end of a very long two track road which followed a small creek. 

    My map for finding the log cabin. 

   Miner Davis's log cabin restored with cement between the logs and other improvements. 

Note the mortise and tenon joinery and forged triangle dinner bell. 

       Closer detail of the logs and chinking. 

            Branding irons. 

     Sand bank behind cabin that we saw in earlier photos. 

  Sandy in the front yard of the Davis cabin next to a hand hewn log chair. 

Dave, Sandy and I enjoyed the buildings and grounds of the State Park, especially the Veterinary Museum which was the equine hospital when the fort was a Calvary base and Olympic equine training center. Sandy visited and took pictures of many of the buildings. The three of us spent time on the veranda of the main lodge and visited with a man whose ancestor was a Buffalo Soldier. 

      Now used as the main lodge of the park. 

      Dave waiting for us to be ready to go exploring. 

                       A view from the veranda. 

From the park we travelled east on Highway 20 to Atkinson. We parked the Bambi at the Wheel Inn RV Park and enjoyed full hookups. The wi-fi was slow but we were able to get faster wi-fi at Sandy's place. My brother Robb came from O'Neill to have dinner with us one evening and we were able to get together for visiting and fiddle and guitar playing two nights with good friends Jay and Joyce Kelly. 

From Atkinson we headed east and south to Lincoln camping at the Camp Away RV Resort near downtown Lincoln and near the Fallbrook home of our son Matt and wife Jennifer and grandkids Katie and Daniel. 

 

Katie and Daniel first day of school 2015. 

All six of us were able to have dinner at the Legacy Estates with Bonnie Brinkman. It was good to see her and help with a few errands. 

The heat and humidity prompted us to stay with Matt and Jennifer. We got a break from tiny surroundings of our trailer and enjoyed their nice home and wonderful green grass, flowers, shrubs and trees. The Bambi was safe in a shady spot at the campground probably enjoying a break from us, too!

Dave plays along with Daniel. 

We relished lots of good visiting, a meal at the neat Prairie Plate farm to table restaurant out in the country, seeing and hearing our grandchildren and Jennifer practice piano, family meals around the table and relaxing, we said goodbyes on Thursday evening and returned to the trailer.  

We will head west to Hastings to visit our son Ross for two days and make the westward trek on Interstate 80 to Laramie. 

The next installment of "On the Loose" will chronicle the visit with Ross, a farewell jam with friends and our journey back to Arizona. Stay tuned. 

On the Loose in Luci Part II: Camping in Wyoming

July 30, 2015

The last blog post ended with the bluegrass festival in Buffalo, WY two weeks ago on July 13th.  The silver Toyota and Luci have put on the miles since then.  We traveled over the Big Horn Mountains, camping at Sitting Bull campground. Then down the Ten Sleep canyon to Ten Sleep WY, through the Nowood Valley then northeast up Medicine Lodge Valley to Medicine Lodge Archeological Area and a wonderful campsite covered with lush grass next to a clear stream. I saw more birds at that campsite than I have ever seen in one place. On to Lovell in the Big Horn basin to camp in their city campground, replenishing supplies and doing laundry. Lovell's Main Street is festooned with baskets of petunias hanging from each lamppost. We took a side trip up the Big Horn Canyon beside the Pryor Mountains where a herd of wild horses lives without intervention from humans. The Big Horn River is dammed in Montana making a long reservoir. There are fishing and camping areas and three historic ranch sites. We were interested to see the L/Heart ranch after reading about Caroline Lockhart who was a newspaperwoman, novelist and ranch owner. A friend of Buffalo Bill Cody, she had a home in Cody WY as well as the ranch. Her ranch was so isolated. We marveled at the frontier ranch fortitude of the first cow and sheep men and women. 

Then on to Deaver WY to visit Kelly Wells. We passed fields of barley, sugar beets and alfalfa, all irrigated from the Buffalo Bill Reservoir near Cody. We camped in her yard and took advantage of her electricity. A swing set behind the trailer was a new camping feature. Dave and Kelly played more fiddle tunes than you could shake a stick at, practicing up for the fiddle contest in Riverton on the weekend. I read four books and even played the guitar a little bit. Kelly's son, Tanner, worked every day but checked in with us. A junior in high school, he looked grown up since the last time we saw him. 

Off to Riverton and a commercial campground. Electricity and coin operated showers and on site waste dump were the amenities. Slow wi-fi and non working cable TV hookups were negatives. 

We got to Riverton in time to set up camp, get lunch at the Depot (good Mexican food), and make it down to South Pass City for a tour of the Carissa gold mine. The mine was rescued from dilapidation and is being restored to a functioning state. The docent knew her stuff and was good at explaining how the mine functioned in its prime. The Carissa is a "must see" as is the restored South Pass City if you are ever in the area. 

Saturday the fiddle contest was held at the Fremont County fairgrounds in Riverton. The contest is a one day affair held the day before the county fair begins. It was held under an open air tent with the usual configuration of small fry, juniors, novice, seniors and open divisions. Two rounds were held in the adult divisions. A No Holds Barred contest and a band scramble completed the day. Belt buckles and cash prizes were given to the winners. Dave placed first in the Senior division and Kelly finished in third place with stiff competition in that division. We got to reacquaint ourselves with many fiddlers from the north central part of Wyoming who don't always make it to the state contest in Douglas. 

From Riverton we headed south and east, stopping at Sweetwater Station Rest Area, south through Muddy Gap and stopping again at Split Rock for a climb on the rocks. Split Rock was the area the settlers in wagon trains hoped to pass around July 4th. We tried to imagine what that would have been like as they followed the Sweetwater River west.

South to Rawlins and onto the interstate highway east to Laramie. We picked up two weeks worth of mail at our box in the Post Office and checked into the Holiday Inn for two days of R and R. We touched base with our Laramie friends, did laundry, used the free wi-fi, did some shopping, etc. 

To finish out the month of July, we are camped at Vedauwoo Campground. Site 10 is our spot this time with a back in site long enough for a big rig. It looks onto the pink granite rocks that the Turtle Rock trail circles which is down the canyon to the north. Our Senior Pass lets us camp for $5 a night. Such a deal!

             The view from Sitting Bull Campground 

                                       Some of the pretty flowers at Sitting Bull

                                               Moose along the creek

       Our campsite along Medicine Lodge Creek near Hyattville WY

              A tractor show was held while we were at the Medicine Lodge Campground 

                                    Dave along Medicine Lodge Creek

                         Petroglyphs at Medicine Lodge Archeological Site

              A horse on the Pryor Mountain wild horse range in Big Horn Canyon

                                                       Big Horn Reservoir 

      The spring house at Caroline Lockhart's L/Heart ranch in Big Horn Canyon

                                   A restored cabin on the Lockhart ranch

                          Dave and Kelly Wells at her place near Deaver WY

            A set just for me. The Airstream parked in Kelly's yard. 

The ore car trestle from the mine to the mill at the Carissa Mine at South Pass City WY

         Inside the mine where the miners outfitted themselves for a day of work. 

                       Inside the mill where the ore was extracted from rock. 

             Dave brought home first prize in the Senior Category. 

                               Vedauwoo rocks where we are camped. 

Our next trips will be to fiddle contests in Greeley CO and the Wyoming state fiddle contest in Douglas. See you on the next installment of "On the Loose"!

On the Loose in Bambi Luci: Part I, June 1 to July 13, 2013

Dave and I are on the loose and living for the summer in Luci the Airstream Bambi. Our Laramie house sold within a week after we listed it and we had a month to sell everything and get out. 

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. 

                       Jeannie, Fred and Dave

Last but not least, the Means Machine with Warrie, Sheri, Shelby and Jacob. 

              Warrie and Sheri

  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!

Jamie MeGehee, Granny (Jennie Buckley's mom), Janet McGehee, Sheri and Elsie Means. 

                        Statehood day July 10th. Wyoming is 125 years old. 

We enjoyed the festival with non bluegrass headliners, John Anderson and Marty Stuart.  

                                Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives 

                             Front Country

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. 

                  Fred, Jacob and Warrie with Amanda and Kenny

                     Shelby Means playing with Kenny and Amanda Smith

                   Jacob Means won the mandolin contest. 

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.