September 1, 2012

THE MORNING AFTER I ESCAPED my close encounter with Richard Dreyfus, we drove to Sheridan, Wyoming.  Carole has a friend she has not seen since high school who lives in Sheridan; and she looked forward to visiting with her. On the ride to Sheridan, we could see some of what we had read about the state. Wyoming has the fewest people per square mile of any of the lower 48 states. While it is a large state, it has a population of only a little more than 500,000. There are also three cows for every person in the state. What we saw during our ride to Sheridan, while certainly not a scientific sampling, verified the ratio of people to cows.

As we got close to Sheridan, we could see the first real mountains we had seen on our trip.  To the west of Sheridan, the Big Horn Mountains provided a pleasing backdrop as we approached the town. It was 90 degrees on the road, but there was snow on some of the peaks. There will be even more snow in the next month or two.

We also saw what appeared to be forest fires in the mountains. When we inquired about the apparent fires, we were told that they actually were fires. Sparks from the wheels of trains passing through the area often caused fires. I was reminded of similar, but worse problems, in Illinois during the Nineteenth Century when the coal burning Illinois Central trains caused fires on a regular basis. A young lawyer from Springfield made a small fortune defending the Illinois Central against law suits filed by farmers who had lost their crops to these fires. 

Carole spent a pleasant several hours with her old friend, and I took a much needed long walk. I had hoped to walk all over the downtown area, but the motel was on the far edge of the town. I saw mainly railroad tracks and light industry. Carole must have told her friend that she is now a rope spinner, for her friend took her to the Valhalla for ropers - King's Saddlery and Ropes in Sheridan. Don King, the founder of the company, died a few years ago; but his sons have carried on the business.  Their ropes and saddles are world famous. Even Queen Elizabeth owns one of their saddles.  For some reason, Carole did not buy a saddle.

Carole’s friend also told her that C.J. Box, one of our favorite authors, is a frequent visitor to the local book store. She then kindly gave Carole an autographed copy of Box’s latest book.  I will have to ask the rangers at Yellowstone if they ever run into Game Warden Joe Picket, the protagonist in most of Box’s books.

The people in Sheridan are either less greedy or have a better sense of geography than the people in South Dakota. For example, Hot Springs, South Dakota, one of the towns I mentioned earlier which pooches off of Custer’s fame, is over 300 miles from the Little Big Horn; Sheridan is only a little over a hundred miles from the fabled “Last Stand.” In contrast to Hot Springs, Custer’s name is not shoved in your face at every turn in Sheridan.