Turning North

Sunday, June 25th, 2010.

We planned to leave Bear and Trish Sunday morning but we got involved trying to clean the BankerFox.A virus off of my computer. I could not open any programs and that included my maps and GPS. (I am still not using it to access the internet!) Finally by 1:00 PM we were on our way with the computer still being scanned. We had a map printed from Google to guide us out of town. Add to that, the truck appeared to be running in low gear only. Not an auspicious departure!

One more trip around the block and the truck was moving normally. The scan finished and removed affected files from the computer. Before we reached the freeway, we had the map and GPS running again.

Note that we are traveling in an Ford F-350 pulling a 27 foot travel trailer both comfortably air conditioned when required. The road we are traveling cuts, or is part of, most of the great wagon trails of the 1800's. We will drive from Colorado to Saskatchewan in four comfortable days. No one will oppose our path. Contrast that to the families making their way west or north in earlier days walking beside their oxen and cart.

We made Sunday afternoon an easy one. We drove through Denver and out into the less peopled plains. We saw ranches, cattle, horses, prong horn antelope and a variety of birds. Just before the Wyoming border we pulled off onto an access road paralleling the freeway. It was a good gravel road that would take us to our first stop, the Terry Bison Ranch Resort. That was how we discovered a small problem with the GPS. It takes the most direct route - 6 miles of gravel instead of the taking the next exit and backtracking two miles of pavement!

The Terry Bison Ranch is part of an historic ranch originally belonging to Senator F.E. Warren. At the turn of the century it ran cattle and sheep, spreading over fifty miles from Cheyenne in every direction. General "Black Jack" Pershing married Senator Warren's daughter. The rich and famous visited the ranch in itís heyday. Now it is down to 300,000 acres - 2/3 in Colorado and 1/3 in Wyoming. It still runs cattle and sheep but the resort area also raises buffalo, goats and dromedary that we could see. Today the owner's daughter checked us in! She has just graduated from high school and is hoping to study psychology at University.

The current owner is in his mid-seventies now but still loves to tinker with machinery. This past winter he built the new engine for the train that takes tourists on a tour of the ranch culminating in a visit to the buffalo herd. He has also built a small midway for the small visitors including a rustic Ferris wheel.

We had a pleasant wander around the area in the cool of the evening. We decided to have a light dinner in the restaurant and turned in early with the windows open for fresh cool air!

Monday was a short day. We were heading for Fort Casper, Wyoming on the North Platte River. This is the area of the Oregon Trail, The California trail, the Mormon Crossing and a Pony Express station. As we drove we could imagine the travelers working their way through the table lands surrounding the Platte River valley and then seeing the Continental Divide in the distance. Routes were named after the men that discovered them. John Bozeman followed a shorter route through hostile Indian territory, the home of the Arapahoe, Cheyenne and Souix. These tribes were determined not to let the Europeans take their lands. On it, many lives were lost earning it the nickname the "Bloody Bozeman Trail". Jim Bridger found a longer route through the territory of friendly tribes, the Shoshoni and the Crow.

Our drive was mainly through open grasslands. The escarpment and buttes were spectacular rising up from the valleys. Again we saw cattle, horses, prong horn antelope and deer. We arrived early at the Fort Casper RV Park and had a lazy afternoon. We walked toward the river beside us. It is in flood at the moment. The crest should be tomorrow.

We turned down the road to Fort Casper and walked to the museum. It was a hot day, an air conditioned museum seemed like a good idea! It is a small museum with a replica of many of the fort buildings behind it. We were too late for a full tour but I particularly enjoyed the many books in the shop and a horse drawn shepherd's wagon. It was similar to one my father used in the 1920's herding sheep on Alberta's short grass prairie. They are still being used by ranches in this area to follow the flocks of sheep during the summer season.

We walked home to start dinner and it was still very warm. Finally, as the sun set, the evening cooled.

Tuesday we continued north to Billings, Montana. It was another day of wide open spaces. Not quite as rugged as the previous days. We found our way through Billings to the KOA resort. This was the first KOA opened in the USA. It is still a very nice site. It has the usual log "Kabins" for those who do not camp. There is a pleasant green space with a garden gazebo. There was a steak barbeque at dinner time and an ice cream social in the evening. One of the more recent amenities is The Pistol Pete bath house. It holds a number of good sized bathrooms. Each one a full bath suite with toilet, sink and shower. You can close the door and it is your private space. A very nice idea!

The campground is located on the shore of the Yellowstone river. We watched cattle coming down a valley on the far side to drink at the waters edge. Cottonwood trees were in full bloom and the "cotton" was floating heavily in the air. The day was very hot and I was looking forward to a swim in the pool after our exploratory walk. Before I could get ready, a thunder storm rolled in and the pool was closed until the lightening subsided. It thundered and rained and hailed before the storm passed. That cooled the day turning it into a very pleasant evening.