With a lot of hype leading up to the
wild horse sale held in Wishek last Saturday, I, of course, had to go
and check it out. To get in cost $10, to view the animals in their
pens $5, and $10 for a catalog. I sprung only for the admission.
The place was packed and overflow were shunted over to their city
hall to watch on closed circuit. I met some interesting people who
chase them around a lot further than I did.
Last week we took a drive into Wyoming
and Montana. First stop – Miles City. Long I'd heard that there
was a good museum there. It's very large filling several buildings
packed with items from the frontier era. I couldn't help but notice
this scene in a restaurant in Miles City. Five people sat eating,
obviously three generations. The old man, a grizzly looking sort who
with lots of miles had lots of stories and wisdom to impart, his son,
and his three grandchildren. What were the grandkids doing? All
three had their noses buried in their cell phones. Someday, I'm sure
they'll wish they'd have given a little more attention to grandpa.
From there we headed south to Sheridan,
WY. One of the attractions in that town is King's Saddlery. They've
built a reputation on good quality leather works and ranching tools.
I stopped to looked at a display of pincher types. A cowboy came to
look, too. He picked one up and said it was a good quality. After
using one for ten years,he said he could still clip his thumb nail
with it. The price - $250. One building, called a museum, holds
over 500 old saddles people have brought in. The curator said that
was only a part of them; they're stored in buildings all over town.
In another room a man sat tooling fancy leather goods such as belts,
wallets, etc. He's not taking orders now, being about one year
behind.
We took in the Buffalo Bill Historical
Center in Cody. That is one great museum! We spent several hours in
there. Of course, the government shutdown affected us. We wanted to
drive through both Grand Teton Nat. Park and Yellowstone Park after
that. No admittance! Off to Helena, then, with an overnight stop in
Bozeman.
Here a darn bug I'd been fighting got
the best of me, and wife Mary said we should head for home. No
argument from me. It's a good thing, because the next day winter hit
Montana, and we'd have been driving in snowy conditions. We got home
before the weather system hit us here in Mandan. Good timing.
...
Sign hanging in Wishek Livestock: Behind every successful rancher is a woman... who works in town.
