Sunday June 24, 2012-Ponderosa Campground

Today is the day we've all been dreading, the day that most had to leave. Today's entry will show you some photos that I omitted but that I want to share with you. They will be a hodge-podge but I will explain them to you.

This was one of the most important "people" at the rally, Tucker. He is Dave and Amy's lab and is very smart and obedient. He was everyone's friend, especially if you had food that you would share with him.

This is a photo of a frozen lake on the Beartooth Pass drive that we made. I couldn't believe how much snow was up here, but learned that the pass has just reopened because of all the snow.

This is the ski lift that I told you about. There are a couple of trailers for the employees to rest in as well as a couple of vans with equipment in them. They had a couple of porta-cans that were not open to the public. They would have made some friends if they had been...

We went to the Buffalo Bill Cody museum and saw many artifacts of his life and adventures. This is a typical tent and quarters for Buffalo Bill while in the field.

This is a Deadwood SD to Cheyenne WY stage coach as it would have been back in the day. This was reportedly the most comfortable way to travel then.

 A cowboy chuck wagon. Notice the amount of gear carried on this wagon, extra harness and gear for the horses or mules, tent poles and boxes and tools. The other side of the wagon contained a large barrel for water and much more gear.

The rear of the wagon carried the cooking area which had a folding cover that became the work area for the cook and compartments for food and supplies as well as kitchen utensils and dinnerware. A rolling cafeteria!

 There were several stuffed animals that were beautiful and life size. A large elk shared a scene with the below mule deer.

These animals are so much larger than the normal white tail deer that we see in Texas. Mule deer can be found in west Texas but are somewhat smaller.

 There was a large area devoted to American Indians. Here two braves overlook a teepee as it might have looked many years ago.

Here is an Indian family on the move.The brave rides the horse while the woman walks beside the dog, which also has a pack that he is carrying on a travois.

In the last couple of days I made some repairs on the trailer. We had a water leak on the icemaker line that was repaired by Doug and me by replacing the entire water line. So far, so good! While working on this problem, Dave noticed how dificult it was to get into the underbelly to make repairs, so the next day we went back to Ace Hardware and bought a couple of hook and eyes and latches and made it much easier to remove the back wall to get at the water lines.

Back to the present, almost everyone pulled out today but about ten rigs remain. Some will leave tomorrow, some on Tuesday and we along with the others that are still here will leave on Wednesday.

We are all sad to see our new friends leave, but glad that the rallies are over for awhile so we can get back on track on a diet. We always overeat at a rally because not only is the food very good, there is a lot of it! We'll have to see how it goes from here on.

So long.