Wyoming

On Friday 14 June we leave Denver - and Colorado.

We are heading for Wyoming, the most sparsely populated state in the country.  Wyoming is also the number one coal producer in the US, which seems at first glance at odds with its ranching culture. We are to discover however that the wilderness is Wyoming's greatest treasure.

As we drive out of Denver it is something of a shock to be back into 6 lanes of traffic! There are some nervous moments as we navigate the intersection of several Interstates. We are driving on I-25N. The Rockies are out to our left (west) with snow still on the peaks.

We are quickly into rural countryside - farming lands, crops and reticulation - with oil rigs in open fields.



At noon we cross the state line into Wyoming. We visit the Tourist Information Center - once again a great resource. We plan to be in Wyoming for at least 2 weeks which appears to be music to the ears of the lady who helps us. We walk out of the centre armed with every brochure, map and pamphlet possible!
It looks like we will first go north then west then further north and then east!
Stay with me ... it's going to be fun!!  

Our first stop is the Terry Bison Ranch and RV Park just outside Cheyenne. We arrive about 2.00 pm with plenty of time to explore. We sign up for a Bison Tour - we board a private train and ride out into the middle of a herd of bison. I buy a bag of dried 'bison' food. I discover that you feed these enormous animals by hand! And wow - do they have long tongues!! I get as much a kick out of it as the children on the train!

Trevor finds a playmate too??



We have a beer at the saloon.

History
Francis E.Warren, the first Territorial Governor of Wyoming bought the ranch from Charles Terry in 1885. The Ranch was the headquarters of the Warren Livestock Company which ran sheep and cattle and also bred and raised sheep dogs.

Francis E Warren represented Wyoming in the US Senate. A soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War, he was the last veteran of that conflict to serve in the Senate.
The F.E.Warren Air Force Base, 3 miles out of Cheyenne was named after Warren. It is one of 3 strategic missile bases in the US.

Bison have been raised on the ranch over the last 20 years.

Wyoming designated the American buffalo (more correctly 'bison') as its official state mammal in 1985. It is also the state symbol of Kansas and Oklahoma.
Despite weighing as much as a ton a bison can - race up to 40 mph, jump up to 6 ft vertically and quickly pivot to combat predators. But he could not protect himself from expansion and was nearly wiped out in the late 1880's as the nation's population moved West.
Millions of bison were slaughtered for sport, for their hides, to clear the plains for settlers and their livestock and to control the Plains Indians.








Cheyenne, the State capital of Wyoming.