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The black horse finally made up his mind about me and came over to join the others. He seems to have developed a bit of an itch. My friend, the distant brown, never did amble by. I suppose some horses can be just as unsociable as some people. |
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A family portrait of sorts. I spent way too much time playing with the horses, and needed to get going. |
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My first views of Wyoming, were much the same as those of the last several hundred miles of South Dakota. |
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If I didn't know any better, I would almost think that those are mountains off in the distance. |
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There they are, the Rockies. Actually, this was the Big Horn Range, that I was looking at. This is one of several mountain ranges and chains, that combine to make the Rockies. |
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In this arid terrain, these little flowers off to the side of the road, almost seemed like lush vegetation. |
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The picture does not do this place justice. It was taken in the middle of a mountain pass, so I was at quite an elevation. What struck me the most about this place, and what no camera can record, is the stillness, and silence. This is the most peaceful place I have ever seen. The elevation can be inferred by noticing that I am very nearly level with the mountain tops in the background. |
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This is a photo of my introduction to the basin area. This is a large bowl between two mountain ranges, and is the most desolate place I have ever seen. I would drive for miles without seeing a single car or structure, other than the roads themselves. |
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Hi girls.
If I didn't know better, I would swear these cows were talking about me, and in a pretty uncomplimentary fashion too. |
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More desolation. Little towns appear at wide intervals. Places like Tensleep, Greybull, and Worland. These were raucous cowboy, and oil rig worker stops, and I felt distinctly uncomfortable passing through them at night. A search for a pay phone, in one of those little towns, turned up six, every one of them smashed and broken. |
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A calf out on the road, and what seems to be his mother. Both seem pretty concerned about how he got out there on the road. They also seem equally uncertain as to what might be done about it. |
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In some ways, the old west lives on. This country is, or at any rate was, still open range. The cattle would be allowed to graze freely, all over the area. The roads were broken in many places by cattle grates, and there was no shortage of "cow pies" scattered about the landscape. I noticed that the cows had little tags in their ears, to identify them for their owners. I saw no cowboys riding horses, and throwing ropes, but did see a number of them riding pick up trucks, and checking their herds. The way they smiled, and rolled their eyes as they caught a glimpse of me standing in the road photographing their cattle, made me feel like a typical bonehead tourist. I suppose they were as amused as I would be by a country boy coming into town, and craning his head at the tall buildings, and at all of the traffic. |
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This is one of my favorite pictures, and seems to sum up the feel, and idea of traveling by road. |
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This is one calf who seems distinctly uncomfortable, and distrustful. Like most children, he must have been warned about strangers, and is taking heed of those warnings. |
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A view off in the other direction, from whence I came, and not a cow in sight. I was about to leave the Basin area. Far off in the background, you can see the Big Horn Range. |
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This cow did not seem too anxious to make friends. I don't think that cows like me. |