Ordinary Days on Vine: Wyoming Adventure (and a bit of South Dakota) Part I

We are back home here on Vine after a nine-day trip to Wyoming. What an adventure it was too! Our grandson had qualified in steer wrestling for the National High School Rodeo Finals being held in Gillette, Wyoming this year (last year it was in Rock Springs) so, because it was our last chance to go, we loaded up the motor home and set out Friday morning, July 15.

Set to travel.

Sunrise over the Oquirrh Mountains.

East on Interstate 80.

Twelve hours later, we pulled into CAM-PLEX Multi-Event Facility in Gillette; Ty got checked in and stalled the horses while we settled into our reserved camp spot in BoxElder RV Park #2. After that long drive - stopped to re-set the awning on the motorhome which ballooned out at the mouth of Weber Canyon (caught by the tornado-force winds); stopped three times to fuel up the truck and let the horses stretch; and, stopped for breakfast and then lunch - we were all very tired. All of us slept like the proverbial logs, despite the wind buffeting the motorhome and people pulling in in the wee hours.

Saturday morning.

Saturday, most of the nearly 1,500 participants, their horses, families and friends, pulled in to set up camp for the events beginning Sunday evening with the first performance of the first round. The six RV parks on the CAM-PLEX grounds and area hotels/motels were quickly filled with high school rodeo folks from 42 states, five Canadian provinces, and Australia. Our son and daughter-in-law arrived Saturday evening and set up their trailer next to our motorhome. Not long after they settled in, the wind came up and the clouds rolled in; then, the heavens let loose with a true downpour for about 20 minutes. Cooled things down nicely.

Sunday was a good time to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings both at the CAM-PLEX and the town of Gillette. Of course, there was the inevitable Cowboy Trade Show at the Wyoming Center hall and we (me and most definitely my daughter-in-law) had to check that out. But first we checked out where the ponies were spending their days in the horse stalls. Here we are - with the two dogs - on the golf cart (which was the approved mode of transportation besides trucks, for getting around the CAM-PLEX grounds).

A view of BoxElder RV Park - well filled.

By late afternoon, another storm came in delaying the first rodeo performance by about 30 minutes. However, the show went on and we were on our way to 11 more performances Monday through Saturday morning.

Monday morning dawned with high hopes for Team Utah steer wrestler Dawson Stewart, so we packed ourselves into the golf cart and buzzed to the Morningside Park grandstand to watch.

Timed events arena and grandstand.

The wind was whipping grandstand flags and the clear sky was making us think all was well after Sunday night's storm. However, there was another downpour in the afternoon but that ended before the evening's rodeo and our grandson, Ty, made a tough run of 15.05 seconds - a lot of cowboy grit demonstrated on that one. (That can be seen here at the 1:20:15 mark.)

I just had to capture this view of the moon rise and sunset looking southeast of the arena.

Tuesday morning saw us at the arena again for Performance 4 of the First Round. After the steer wrestling was done, Clare and I decided to take a sightseeing venture to Devil's Tower National Monument, 62 miles northeast of Gillette. Not only is Devil's Tower the first declared U.S. National Monument in 1906, but it served as a backdrop for the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in 1977. It is also held sacred by various Native Americans, most notably the Lakota tribe. More information can be found here and here. Although it was very hot and bright, coming up on the Tower from highway 24 was a breathtaking sight. Following are various views: