So, I agreed to have breakfast with Pete and Lynn Simpson at 9:30 at one of their favorite restaurants about 3 blocks away from their house. I got up at 7:30, sorted and cleaned the trailer, prepped it for travel, got it hitched up and was on the go at 9:00. I drove over to the museum and parked there. The restaurant was about 5 blocks away and I walked there just before 9:30. Pete and Lynn got there about 9:40 so I was able to talk to the waitress before they showed up and select a corner booth table. We talked for almost 2 hours, and I didn't get a picture of the two lovely people sitting across from me. But I do have some pictures of Pete.
He was Buffalo Bill in the movie yesterday. By the way, that is actually Cody's hat, boots and watch chain that Pete is wearing. I found the video of him from the Buffalo Bill Museum.
I cannot explain what a joy this couple is. They are bitingly funny, fast, and they both have memories like steel traps. I wish I could do nearly as well. Pete is 92 now, reading books at a prodigious rate and is able to quote extensive passages from them. They both grew up in Cody. Pete graduated from the University of Wyoming as a history major, was a navy bombardier navigator at the end of the Korean conflict and met a high school graduate named Lynn when he got home. They got engaged 13 days later! They have been together for 62 years. Pete got his Ph.D. and taught history at the University of Oregon for a number of years but wanted to get back to Wyoming. He became Vice President of Student Instruction at Sheridan College for a while, and then came back to UWyo. He was a professor of Political Science and then become director of UW Foundation, a perfect profession for a person who loves to be with people.
Lynn has three degrees. Bachelor's in English and Theater, Master's in Business Administration and Adult Education. She has directed theater companies in every community they have lived in. In Laramie, she founded, organized and managed the Senior Center. To me, she is still as cute and vivacious now as she would have been when Pete first saw her.
About ten years ago, they did the last scene from "You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running" as a fund-raiser for one of the libraries. It is a rapid-fire back and forth for almost 30 minutes. They did it without a pause. If there was a mistake, I sure didn't see it. It truly was one of the most memorable theater performances I've ever seen.
All I can say is, that after two hours laughing and telling stories at the restaurant, I was sad that it had to end. We both had other things we needed or wanted to do.
But, wait for it! There's more! .......Later.
I had parked the museum and wanted to go back. The museum ticket is good for two days (for good reason) and I wanted to see more. Like I said yesterday, I spent my entire time in the Whitney museum. I wanted to see the Cody and Indian Museums. One reason was because Pete and Lynn insisted I see the "movie in the back of the building." Back on the far wall, the museum was showing a five or six minute movie of Bill Cody reflecting on his life and his desire and pleasure of moving back to the town he had helped found and to his ranch there as he got older. Both pictures above are from the movie. Pete narrates it and is shown as Cody writing in several scenes. The movie screen covers the entire wall, two stories tall and 30 or so feet wide. It is really appropriate, because, to me, both Cody and Pete are larger than life.
And after almost three hours again in the museum, it was time to drive up the Shoshone River canyon to the campground where I was able to get reservations. Wapati campground is really nice. Of course, being a BLM campground, there are no services, but that's no problem for me. I dumped my tanks and added water at the KOA this morning, so I could easily go a week or two before I needed to be serviced again. There is about 25 feet of woodlands between me and the camp sites on either side. The pad is level and the site is handicapped accessible. Show pictures here.
Shoshone River behind my campsite.
Bear Box
Rules about the Bear Box!
After I got here, I set up and decided to take a nap. I slept for a while and had just awaken when there was a knock on the door. Believe me, that's more effective than an alarm clock. It was the campground host asking who I was and why was I here. Confused, I said my name and that I had a reservation. "You aren't Trevor Evans?" "No, not me." "We only get the initials of people with reservations, privacy, you know. Then, what are you doing with this?" He held out the little piece of paper from the registration envelope that you put on the clip on the site number post. I explained I filled out the form when I drove in before I actually went to the site. That's what he was confused about. "Well, did you pay for the site again?" "No, I put my reservation number on it." And that's when he got to the point. "I had already placed a reserved sign on the post, you didn't need to." So he thought I had taken a site that was already reserved. Lesson learned. If you have reservations, go right to the site and don't fill out an envelope. It's not needed. But after that, we had a good conversation and I now have a new name if I ever have to travel incognito.
I had thought of driving up into the park, but it is an hour up to the Fishing Bridge and another 30-45 minutes to Old Faithful, wait for up to 90 minutes, and then drive back down. And I was parked in a nicer campground than in the park, so I just stayed and sat and read. No cell phone service, and I couldn't even open Blogger to start writing. I did need to do something about that...Tomorrow.
Comments
Post a Comment