Long Time, No Blog....

Hello!
It has been nearly 2 and a half months since I have posted!
I have been busy I guess! Busy with work, sleeping, man hating and winter hating!

Finally looks like this long and miserable winter is on it's way out the door!


I was lucky to get to take my horse out to 2 sleigh rallies within the last 2 months... one I won the poker hand and I bought myself a nice Western Rawhide saddle with the money... then the next weekend I found a vintage Western rawhide roping saddle that I fell in love with... and bought. It fits Reno well... So I am banned from buying saddles now. Hahaha! Here they are:

I didn't take my camera to the first rally - but I did to the second. Here are a few snaps from it:

 



So - I have started to plan my summer road trip... Barring any issues that cost me a fortune... or a HUGE jump in gas prices or drop in the Canadian dollar, I will be going to Great Falls to the Russell museum since I missed seeing it last year, Casper WY, Deadwood SD, Cody WY and a few other small stops along the way. 11 days of soaking up as much old west history and art and culture as I can find! The Cody Stampede is on my hit list... and I plan to spend the 4th of July there. If the gas and the dollar are bad, I am just gonna go straight to Cody and hunker down there for the whole time. Either way... this KINDA what I am thinking....

 

 

I am HOPING to see Mt. Rushmore... and I think I am going to have time to go meandering through Yellowstone again after Cody. I MIGHT cut through Nebraska but there really isn't much in that top western corner of it. I am very excited to return to Cody and I HOPE I can find accommodations there since it is going to be a busy week, but I am taking some camping gear just in case. I am really excited for Deadwood though.

 

Funny thing - I really wasn't aware of it until I saw it on an episode of The Bachelor. I started to look into it and HAD to go! I bought the TV series and am working my way through it now. I am excited to see where Wild Bill was killed AND where he is buried - along with all of the other little pieces of history I can see and experience!

 

I often feel like I am trapped in the wrong century. Last year when I started to explore, I felt such an incredible sense of "home" out there. Thee connection to that area was overwhelming as is the urge to go back and continue to explore and learn. Is it weird that my idea of a vacation doesn't include a beach, laziness and booze? 

 

ALSO - one of my idols  Ann Hanson - lives in Shell WY, and I contacted her and I am possibly going to meet her when I am passing through there on my way to Cody! So far she doesn't have anything going on out of town at that time and she said I was welcome to stop by. I emailed her years ago expressing my adoration of her work before I "knew" her through Facebook and she was - and is - such a lovely lady. I was in the Buffalo Bill museum last year and I came face to face with one of her pieces and decided to take a look for her again on Facebook and I found her. Funny - I still have the issue f Western Horseman from March 2000 where I first discovered her work. I am taking it with me because I want her to sign the page!

 

I am also possibly going to do a day trip into Yellowstone with artist Pamela Earlywine on my way back home. It seems that I will have an extra night to spend and I have contacted her and she suggested she take me to her favorite spots to go scouting for wildlife! All I did last year was the main drag through and saw very little for wildlife... Or sunshine! Hoping to get better weather on this trip.

Stay tuned!