Day 4

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="043085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Western Tour</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Western Tour"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Schedule"><U>Schedule</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 1"><U>Day 1</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 2"><U>Day 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 3"><U>Day 3</U></A>   |   <B>Day 4</B>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 5"><U>Day 5</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 6"><U>Day 6</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 7"><U>Day 7</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 8"><U>Day 8</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 9"><U>Day 9</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 10"><U>Day 10</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 11"><U>Day 11</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Days 12 14"><U>Days 12 - 14</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 15"><U>Day 15</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 16"><U>Day 16</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day 17"><U>Day 17</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Words from Days 5 9"><U>Words from Days 5 - 9</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Words Day 10"><U>Words Day 10</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Words Days 11 13"><U>Words Days 11 - 13</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Words Days 14 15"><U>Words Days 14 - 15</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Words, Days 16 17"><U>Words, Days 16 - 17</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Epilogue"><U>Epilogue</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=10 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="044d2e83.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04507073.jpg"> <div> <I>Day 4</I></div> <div> August 15</div> <bR> <div> During the night Chapin woke up, vomited and had a little fever. Now, late afternoon in Lusk, WY he's doing fine. Nothing worse than getting sick on the road. Hope this is all.</div> <bR> <div> Grayson and I left the motel about 6:30 AM to hike up C Hill, just behind Chadron State College. I hiked up that hill my morning in Chadron in 1996 and got my first view of the distant buttes further west on 20 and also of the Black Hills to the north. The same this morning, though hazy because of a wild fire burning beyond Crawford, the next town we go through.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="08758c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <I>Buttes through smokey haze</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Last year a fire ravaged the hill and destroyed a few houses to the south. To the north, quite a lot of residents were evacuated but fortunately the fire was kept away from the city proper.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="08958c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <I>Prairie Sunflowers Next to Burned Trees</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> We saw our first cactus on the hill, a small patch of prickly pear near the summit. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="08b58c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>Prickly Pear Cactus</I></div> <bR> <div> Then breakfast at the motel and on the road again for an afternoon brown bag lunch reading in Lusk, about 80 miles away.</div> <bR> <div> A quick stop at Fort Robinson where I picked up a Nebraskaland magazine “A Wildflower Year” which might help in identifying some of the flowers we've seen.</div> <bR> <div> A little ways before and then especially after Fort Robinson the wildfire became very obvious. The smoky haze, the heavy smell of smoke in the air. Stopped at a scenic pullout and talked with a State Parks employee who was scoping the fire, a few miles and ridges away, with binoculars. He told me it was started three days ago and has covered 3,200 acres. This morning was a bit windy and dry again so a little concern about it spreading more rapidly. A few miles down the road the land was blackened right up to the edge of the road from a couple of days ago probably.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="08d58c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>Smoke from Wildfire</I></div> <bR> <div> When we entered Wyoming I was curious about a sign I made note of in Twenty Days on Route 20 - Van Tassel Population 8, Elevation 4736. Well, the sign is still there but has been updated - population now 18! More than doubling in eleven years!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="08f58960.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="406" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>House/Landscape Along US 20</I></div> <bR> <div> A pleasant reading to a few people only at the library. One woman who attended gave Grayson a tip about culinary arts (she ghost wrote for some Food Channel presentations and wants to write her own cookbook) after I mentioned his interest in that - “Cooks cook with their heart, chefs with their heart and soul.”</div> <bR> <div> A good lunch, then a swim in the pool, a soak in the Jacuzzi and a sit in the sauna. Heading out of town this evening a couple hours before sunset to hike around Rawhide Butte and see what natural life we can experience.</div> <bR> <div> **************</div> <div> Late night. Getting ready to turn in but wanted to write a bit about our evening excursion out into the wilds of Wyoming. (Pictures below)</div> <bR> <div> After a few outdoor shuffleboard games at the motel (I was the champ!!!) we headed out and drove down one of the gravel side roads toward Rawhide butte. Fascinating! We made very little time as every few minutes we had to stop to view something new. </div> <bR> <div> First were the antelopes. They are numerous, or at least very common. We seemed to notice that we found them where the growth was green, not brown or yellowed. That would make sense I guess. </div> <bR> <div> Then there were the birds. A pair of swainson hawks were hanging out on some electric wires. The reddish brown patch on their upper chest made them unmistakable. They are not a hawk we have around Wheeler Hill. On the fence wires were numerous western kingbirds. They have a yellow underneath that the eastern kingbird lacks. Then sitting right in the road, a nighthawk. It just sat there as we slowly crept forward in the car, finally flying off when we were almost right next to it.</div> <bR> <div> Next were the mule deer. A pair, one young, were near the road. They stood still for awhile then finally ran off up one of the hillsides. Their big ears and sproingy springy running away distinguished them from our eastern whitetail deer. </div> <bR> <div> After awhile we got out on foot and explored some of the sandstone outcroppings. Once again, flowers we couldn't identify. That is the case more often than not it seems, and I haven't taken enough time to go through the wildflower book or the magazine we bought. I have taken pictures though and will eventually take time to see what I can identify from them.</div> <bR> <div> While out, the boys had a good time exploring and climbing on the sandstone outcroppings. They took care to make sure wherever they climbed that the rock was solid, not loose or crumbly. Chapin scratched up his knee at one point, but nothing more than a minor scrape. </div> <bR> <div> They also found some red and brown obsidian which they are bringing back home.</div> <bR> <div> As dark approached we worked our way back to the car excited about this excursion outdoors into a landscape so different than what we are used to. And this is only the beginning. We have another 13 days ahead of us here in the west!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09358c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>Antelope</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09558c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>Mule Deer</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><IMG SRC="09958c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <div> <I>Pine tree on sandstone</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><IMG SRC="09b58c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <div> <I>Grayson and Chapin</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09d58c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>A rare picture of me (taken by Grayson)</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><IMG SRC="09f58c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <div> <I>The Landscape (</I><I>taken by Grayson)</I></div> </td> </tr></table></body>