Day 93 Terry Bison Ranch and RV Park Cheyenne, Wyoming

Captain’s Blog

Wednesday

September 3, 2009

I was unable to sleep last night tossing and turning for hours. Then Ron woke around 3 am and had some serious gastric upset. He’s never sick so I was concerned. He finally settled down around 4:30 am and then we both fell asleep.

The short ride to Cheyenne was uneventful. The traffic out here is negligible. The state is huge with only 500,000 people. No traffic jams or congestion here.

Once settled in at the CG we headed into Cheyenne to check out the Cheyenne Depot and Cheyenne Depot Museum. A National Historic Landmark the former Union Pacific Depot has been restored to its original glory. The Museum exhibits and interactive displays retrace the rich railroad history that made Cheyenne what it is today. We enjoyed the displays and chronological history of the making of the Union Pacific Railroad. In its prime there were 5000 people working on the railroad maintaining and caring for the huge steam engines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the construction of diesel engines the steam engine was no longer useful of cost effective so became obsolete. The majority of the engines were scrapped with 8 of the Big Boys remaining on display around the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then toured the Wyoming State Capitol Building. We got a parking space out front (no way this would happen in Boston) and were greeted with enthusiasm by the receptionist at the front desk. We did a self-tour of the building. The interior is beautiful and the intricate cherry wood working was done by the Amish. Since the Amish strive for perfection but will not allow themselves to be viewed as perfect (because in their belief only God is perfect) when completing the staircase they put one spindle in upside down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we toured the Historic Governor’s Mansion. The mansion was occupied by state Governors until the mid seventies. Preservation of history is huge in Wyoming so the house underwent a huge renovation and is open to the public for tours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spotted some silverware on the tour and had to check out where it was made since we were both raised in the silver city of Taunton. The silverware was made at Reed & Barton and F.B Rodgers both Taunton silver shops. There was an odd piece and no one could tell what it was used for so we took a picture and will try to find out. The curator of the building was pleased to think she may be able to get an answer to the question she is always asked- what is that?

The top when pushed down is a bell but what are those little pegs for?

 

 

Next we stopped to see the Big Boy Steam Engine at Holiday Park.

 

Back at the Terry Bison Ranch CG we had dinner then took a walk around the property. The back of the CG is actually in Colorado. The CG has a huge farm with horses, ponies, pigs, ostriches, lamas, donkeys, camels (yes camels) chickens, goats and sheep and who knows what we missed. Oh yes, across he field more buffalo roam.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a great day and tomorrow we start the ride home. We’re not sure what we will be doing because Nebraska has nothing to see along the route we are taking. So I guess it will be lots and lots of cornfields.