Day 5: June 21, 2000
Return from overnight camping trip & visit to Laramie, WY (at Laramie River Ranch)

We woke up in the tent around 7 to a warm sun, and already the rest of the gang was up. Chad, of course, was making breakfast for us and Jeff was taking more photos. I washed up (Chad had a nice setup for that too) and then rolled things up in the tent to help get ready. Chad had asked Walendo to collect dandilions for some dandilion wine, so I helped him. We also walked over to the creek where there was an abandoned shack that was crudely made, with a really nicely made outhouse nearby. Chad was amused at the priorities of the people who built them. For breakfast, Chad had made a really delicious "camp breakfast" type thing, which was eggs, cheese, potatoes, and some kind of meat all mixed together. He'd also made donuts in the dutch oven -- donuts! There was a bag of cinnamon sugar, so we dipped them in and munched away. They were great, but I was already feeling full from all the eating so I had just one. It really felt so decadent to have people waiting on us while out in the mountains -- I'm just not used to it, but I guess that's what they do and they take pride in it.

While getting ready, I watched Miah put on the saddle and asked him to explain what he was doing. He asked if I wanted to saddle up Flax so I did. Not the most graceful saddling that's ever been done, but it worked. I liked the idea of doing more of the grooming stuff. One side of my neck had burned the day before because it was exposed all day, so I wore my bandana around my neck, making me feel like a real cowboy, with my hat and boots and all. (The hat really turned out to be critical -- it protected most of my face from the sun. I especially liked that mine was made of mesh at the part that goes around your head, so it kept my head cool. I later got some compliments on it from the other guests.) The ride home was pretty easy and straighforward. We rode along a road for a while and then picked our way through the sagebrush as we looped around Bull Mountain. Miah didn't want to get us back too early, so we took some side tours across the stream and back, but it was all pretty easy going. That was good because I found that after very little time, my legs felt tired again so I couldn't really hold up that long. I found that I was really eager to get back, but even so, I reminded myself to enjoy what was again a gorgeous sunny day and the beautiful scenery around us. We got back around noon after about 2 hours of riding.

Ellen & Walendo in front of ranch

Both of us were pretty tired, both sleepy and leg weary. We went right up to take showers and then went down to grab lunch at the tail end. It was a pot pie-type stew with biscuits. I can't believe how much food I'm eating, but I'm usually hungry for the meals (but then stuffed when we're done). We chatted more with Bill at lunch, and then went upstairs to nap. Walendo slept a good two hours and I was out for one. Funny, because we'd both slept well in the tent. We'd both woken up really groggy, maybe from all the sun the day before. Also, Walendo's eye was continuing to bother him, even though he'd been taking his medicine regularly all week. It's a bit worrisome that it's not going away. He said things are blurry through that eye and at night he sees halos around the lights. It also hurts him, though not as much as when it first happened. Still, it's not good. We're wondering if all the sunlight isn't good for it.

Anyway, I did a load of laundry after we'd woken up -- we had a lot of dirty clothes after the overnight, so it was good to get things like underwear and socks cleaned. They offer free laundry facilities, which is a nice bonus. While I was walking to the laundry room, I went through the dining room where Bill was having a meeting with the kitchen staff. I overheard him critiquing one of the dishes, saying it tasted like it had too much cornstarch in it. Walendo had heard him saying about how some other dish had been really good at first but wasn't as good anymore, and he was encouraging the staff to write down recipes so that they could be passed on to others. The staff seemed to take it as good input, which was impressive. Walendo and I again noted how much attention they paid to details at all levels. Anyway, after laundry, we decided to take a drive around the area and I wanted to collect some sage and flowers to make bundles. We figured we'd buy twine later on. We continued down the road the ranch is on and saw some of the other ranches along the way. We stopped once so I could get some of the purple flowers Chad said are lupine. It was a pleasant drive, mostly similar terrain to what we've been seeing but part of the drive was in a foresty area. There were signs saying it was a "Level 6 Road," which Bill told us later means it's the lowest priority for maintenance and plowing. Still, the road seemed in pretty good shape, at least in summer. After making a loop that took about an hour, Walendo suggested we go into Laramie for the evening. I had wanted to see the town (since I still had memories of applying to the Laramie Boomerang to work as an intern after college), so we decided to go. We figured we'd eat dinner and see a movie. Walendo stopped into the ranch to see if anyone wanted anything and to grab our coats while I picked a bunch of sage off the road across from the ranch.

Amusing Laramie signs

We listened to our Harry Potter tapes on the way in. Just as we cross under 80 and entered Laramie, we saw some ridiculously gawdy signs, so we took a quick shot from the car. Once we got into the town, we found the main strip and stopped in the Kmart to get camera batteries for the point & shoot (from which we later took most of the pictures here), twine for my sage bundles, a book for Walendo (he'd nearly finished his second book of the trip), and other stuff. I realized I didn't have my regular glasses, so I'd have to watch the movie either without glasses or with sunglasses. Oh well. We asked the cashier at Kmart where there was a movie theater so she directed us to the University of Wyoming part of town. It took us a few tries to find the theater, but finally we did. Shaft was playing at 9:20, about 2 hours from then so we went to get dinner. We went to Wingers, which was advertised as "an American Diner." It was a big festive place with huge portions for not much money. I had a mushroom onion burger and Walendo had wings and ribs. Walendo left a few ribs on his plate, and I was proud of him for not finishing it just because it was there. We stopped in a minimart so I could get a Snickers ice cream bar (can't go without dessert) and then went to the theater. We were still early, so we sat in the parking lot listening to "Harry," as Walendo calls it.

The tickets were only $6.25, which was a nice change of pace from the $8.50 or $9.00 tickets at home. There weren't many people there, maybe three other sets of people in our movie. It turned out I could watch the movie with my sunglasses and I didn't even notice the difference. I guess the screen is pretty bright. Shaft was only okay, not as good as I'd hoped, but still, it was fun to see a movie in Laramie, Wyoming. (Walendo liked it better than I did.) We drove home (listening to Harry of course) and got in pretty late, after midnight, really exhausted. We needed to sign up for whatever riding we were going to do, and both of us were feeling pretty tired to ride. There was a lunch ride that everyone goes on and you decide whether to go on the short or long ride, with the short ride leaving at 9:15. Walendo didn't want to ride at all, he wanted to drive up in the truck, but then when we realized this would be the last ride before the breakfast ride the following day, he agreed to go on the shorter ride, so I signed up. I was ready to collapse but Walendo wanted to stay up reading, silly boy.

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