Bison tours, rodeos, and sand hills

As I drove thru the western part of Nebraska the scenery shifted from the familiar flat prairies to the somewhat odd looking promontories of dirt and sand. I later learned they are called sand hills - because they have a shallow covering of dirt, grass and rocks but their underbellies are all sand - the wind has eroded all but the top layer so from the side you can see the different shaped hills - quite interesting - especially after almost 300 miles of fields. Soon after entering Wyoming the landscape changed again - rolling hills, signs for bison tours and rodeos began sprouting up on highway 25. I also saw an ad for Curt Gowdy State Park just north of Cheyenne. Now this was a blast from the past - I remember him as a sports announcer for the Boston Red Sox during my childhood. I'll admit I had to "google" his name to find out the connection between him and WY and found out that he was a native and they named the park in his honor. For those of who you are Gowdy fans he died at age 86 on Feb 6, 2006....

Driving along I felt like I was in "Marlboro Man" country - the land of the rugged individualists. I read in some tourist brochure that there are more elk than people in the state and from what I saw of the miles between houses I can believe that! I have been certain to keep my gas tank at at least 1/2 full as I drive through this isolated part of the world. Last night I stayed in Casper - I bet you didn't know that this was the epicenter of the journey west for all those covered wagons - whether they were traveling the Oregon, California, Pony Express or Mormon trails - they all passed thru Casper. This is also truely horseback riding country, where you could ride for miles and miles without encountering civilization. I can't remember if it was Montana or Wyoming where the film, "The Horse Whisperer" was filmed but it sure is "purdy"...