Native Son
Travis -
I sure miss the wide open spaces of my native state. I was born and reared between Cheyenne and Casper. Lived in Wheatland for 19 years and then dad and mom moved to Casper. I enlisted in the Army soon after and have only been back to visit since. Dad and mom are now both with God, but I still like to get back there for a once a year trip.
I was last there in November 2006 and things have sure changed. What you saw and what I remember are almost two seperate worlds. I can remember driving the 180 miles (each way) to Denver for a Sturday afternoon of shopping. I remember I-25 going in. Did you notice the power plant outside of Wheatland? IMHO it was one of the worst things to happen to the community. The population soared from 2350 to 10,000 and then back to 2450 in a matter of a couple of years. With it came all the crime, etc.
So much for my bitter sweet. I would say 99% of what I remember are great. I remember my dad taking three or four or five of us up in to the mountains on a Saturday, dropping us off with sleeping bags, a tent (maybe), fishing gear and a .22 rifle or two. He would tell us to be careful and that he would be back Sunday. We would live on Coke, potato chips and brook trout. Maybe plink at chipmonks and have a great time.
One fall when I could "legally" drive a couple of us were heading out for a deer hunt. We saw a couple of guys sitting on rocks in the middle of a pasture. They were "out of staters" and had been told by the rancher who leased the land that they would get a deer there. There weren't deer within miles! We all knew where each mulie within 50 miles lived. We told them to follow us and took them to a nice little valley, we never hunted there as it was too pretty to spoil, but we figured to help them out. Within an hour they both had nice bucks, I am sorry I don't remember the size, and were headed back to town.
We never worried about getting a deer on opening day as we knew where to go. I don't remember my dad ever not getting a deer. We were there when the pronghorn poulation dwindled and hunting was restricted, but even then, we had antelope (we called them goats) in the freezer every year.
We constantly had more fish than we could eat, and in the fall there were pheasnts and then winter led to ducks and a goose or two. One of my buddies and I killed more ducks in one afternoon than we should have and dad made us stay up and pluck and dress each and every one, wrap them and get them in the freezer. Then he would not let us hunt again until we gave them away to get our possession limit back to legal. It seemed like my relatives ate lots of duck that winter.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share. If you are the same Travis McGee, we miss you on FR. I don't post there often any more, but lurk around. You knew me as SLB.