Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody AND JOAN RIVERS?

The Occidental Saloon

We decided to check out the historic hotel in Buffalo, The Occidental.

http://www.occidentalwyoming.com/

As you may have seen on the web site above, Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill Cody, among others, all came to The Occidental.  Especially the bar.

We went to the bar first.  It certainly looked original, and we found out it was.  Copper ceilings, wonderful long bar.  Everything you would expect in a Western bar from the 1800's. 

It was packed.  On a Tuesday evening.  Seemed to be all locals and they all had on cowboy hats and boots.  Then we noticed some young folks running around with equipment and talking to each other on something like cell phones.  They seemed pretty stressed and busy. 

No sooner did we realize that something was up, these young folks started passing out Press Releases for us all to sign.  They were producers from the Joan and Melissa Rivers television show on WE. For filming, Joan was going to come in and talk with the owner at the bar.  They had a few of the cowboys and cowgirls stand around the center of the bar.  We were are the end.  After waiting about 30 minutes, Joan came in with many people and did her thing filming with the owner and cowboys at the bar while two cameras caught everything.  I'm afraid they may have caught us also. 

Afterward Joan did a little comedy routine for the crowd.  She was very funny, and, being Joan Rivers, she didn't hold anything back. 

She did say that she, Melissa (her daughter) and grandson had been coming to a Buffalo dude ranch for 3 years and that they all loved it there.

We think that, even though Buffalo is a small, little town on the edge of the Bighorn Mountains, there may be many "famous" people that come to the area and probably have ranches nearby.

It was a fun way to kill a few hours.  The people of Buffalo are certainly friendly and mostly hard working ranchers who enjoyed the evening as well.  Here's a link to Joan's TV show:

http://www.wetv.com/shows/joan-melissa-joan-knows-best/cast/joan-rivers

Chris Drove the Motorhome Today

http://www.buffalowyoming.org/photogallery/buffalo/dhb-pg-buffalo24.jpg

Chris drove the motorhome once before, last summer, in a very contained area.  Well, today she drove the beast from one campground to another, with a stop at a gas station!!

She did pretty well.  It scared her a few times going down hill.  She was up to 75 mph a few times and with a little wind the coach can move around pretty fast.  The coach is easier to drive than you would think.  The difficult thing is all the items you have to take care of before you put it in drive.  Well, once Chris forgot to put it in drive and couldn't understand why the darn thing wouldn't move. 

We need to make a list of all these items and things to check, then she needs to drive more to get a better feel for it. 

It's important that she tries to drive it and that Alex lets her do it.  We've heard many stories of husbands breaking a leg, getting sick or some other reason why they can't drive and the wife has no idea how to drive or to do the "blue" jobs (blue=boy).   So, that means Chris needs to learn how to empty all the tanks and stow everything outside, bring the slides in and put the jacks down.  She's done those jobs a few times, but now she needs to do it all together. 

Then when we arrive at a campground, she needs to learn how to connect all the hoses, put the jacks down and slides out. 

It's a lot of work.  Alex can do most of the pink (girl) jobs, but he needs to practice those also.  It take us about 30 to 60 minutes to break down and about 20 to 30 minutes to set up.  It's a good workout also.

Where are in Buffalo, Wyoming.  We are going to sit here till Friday morning when we will drive a hour to Gillette to the Escapade.  It's a RV rally and it's a big one.  We'll try to remember to take some pics and will let you know how it went and if we learned anything. 

Here's some info on Buffalo, the Escapade and the great campground we are staying in. 

http://www.buffalowyoming.org/

http://www.escapees.com/escapade/2011/

http://deerparkrv.com/

MONTANA

I PUT MONTANA IN CAPITAL LETTERS IN HONOR OF THE STATE ITSELF.  MONTANA IS A BIG PLACE.

And we liked it.  There appears to be more horses than people.  Big, beautiful horses everywhere.  Pilot felt like a little poodle. 

We stayed in a place called Anaconda and one called Hardin.  I wouldn't recommend either place unless you want peace and quiet.  Lots of peace and quiet.  You'll save a lot of money because there's very few places to shop in either place. 

We didn't get to enjoy Butte, Bozeman or Billings.  I'm sure there's many opportunities to shop and entertainment to enjoy in those towns.  But we will be back and visit all 3 of those places.

One place we did visit, very close to Hardin, and the reason we stayed there, is Little Bighorn National Battlefield.  This is where Lt. Col. Custer lost his life and over 250 other lives.  Compared to soldiers, there were very few Indians that lost their lives. 

One of the park rangers held a 30 minute explanation of what happened there.  It was a very sad story of promises broken and humans being human.  Our campground host lent us a DVD to listen to as we drove through the park.  It became very clear what happened, why and the mistakes made.

Instead of me trying to explain, here's our pictures that tell a little of the story.  Then a link to the park itself, for more info. 

Click the link, select slideshow and hit F-11 on your computer to enlarge screen. 

https://picasaweb.google.com/103645060086585742201/LittleBighornNationalBattleground?authkey=Gv1sRgCOHEuc_YnJigOQ

http://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm

You've Got To Have Friends

While we've been in Washington, we've run into a few friends.  Some old and some new.  We'd like to share a few pictures of them because they are one of the main reasons why we love this lifestyle.  Making new friends, and more importantly, being able to touch base with people who were friends with us during the good times and the bad times.  Friends from our time in the military are particularly special as we all supported each other when we needed it the most.  So a few pics of some great folks.


This is our friend Dana.  Dana and her husband, Cliff, were in the squadron with us.  Dana saved me one time by being there when our son, Bill, had to go into the hospital suddenly.  He was about 7 months old.  I hadn't slept in about a week and Dana came down to our house and got both of us to the Doctor and then helped me get Bill into the hospital.  Of course, Alex was flying out to the aircraft carrier and wasn't going to be around.  Dana, you really came through as a true friend.  Thanks Dana.




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Some blogs friends that we've corresponded with for a few years, came by the park for a few days and it was nice to finally get to meet them in person.  They have been full timing for quite a few years and their blog and advice helped get us on the road.  Here's a link to their blog in case you may be interested in how someone else lives this lifestyle.  http://www.lifeintheslowlane.net/

We had fun with Lu and Larry and their friends Karen and Galen.  Thanks for the visit.  See you on the road. 

I have a picture of Lu and Larry, but I have to figure out how to get it here!  But you can see their picture on their  blog. 


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Of course we got to visit with Georgia and Carl again this summer.  They live in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.  We're so glad we kept in touch with them for the past 29 years.  Here they are with Alex.  It's really a pic from last summer.   I guess we didn't take any pics this summer.    We had some great dinners together and lots of laughs as usual.  We've known them almost as long as Dana.  We rented a house from them in Whidbey way back in 1982.  See you next July guys!



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Cleveland and Ron

Next up are some pictures of Ron and his family.  We met Ron (Lobo) when he and Alex worked together at NAS Corpus Christi.  Ron use to come over to our house on Sundays.  Usually with a redfish or two that he had caught that morning.  Ron is the type of guy that can catch a fish anywhere.  He truly knows where they are, what they are eating that day and what they are thinking. 
It was wonderful having him stop by in Whidbey for a visit after a fishing trip or working on his property.  We got together with his wife, Nichelle and their two beautiful children.  They came over to our campground for hamburgers and smores.  We went to their home for some of Ron's fish and got to meet all the animals they have, which I lost count of.  Thanks for all your help Ron and for the boat trip with Bill and Heather to the San Juan Islands and dinner at Friday Harbor.  See you next July.

Here's some more pics of Ron and family.
Click the link, select slide show and hit F-11 on your computer:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/NichelleGangAnacortes?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbrvI_RkN3hwAE#

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Now, we have the 4th of July gang.  We met the four of them last summer in Prosser, WA.  We had so much fun sharing bottles of wine from the Prosser vineyards, they decided to come our campground in Whidbey for Canada Day and 4th of July.  We repeated this event this year.  And we already have reservations for next year's Canada Day and 4th of July.  Here's some pics of the gang.  Mikie and Cheryl are from the Seattle area.  Rocket, Kelly and her mom, Bev are from Vancouver, Canada.  Can't wait till next year guys!

https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/4July2011Gang?authkey=Gv1sRgCPujyuucltiNoQE

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We met a lot of Canadians this summer at Pioneer Trails RV Park.  We had a great time with the Colemans and the rest of their group.  But I can't find any pics of them.  Canadians are very friendly and they love meeting new people as do we.  Thanks everyone.