Yesterday, May 17, a Harley friend (that's about all there is here) and I went out for a short ride from Buffalo to Kaycee (47 miles) for lunch. We left Buffalo at 11:30 and got to Kaycee at 12:15. We stopped at the Invasion Bar for a couple of their 1/2 pound cheese burgers. The bar is named after the group of hired gunmen who "invaded" Johnson County in 1892 during the Johnson County Range War. The "invaders", hired by the big cattle barons, were in the area to eliminate the perceived cattle rustlers threatening the barons' interests. Their first target was a fellow named Nate Champion. Nate was staying at the KC Ranch just a city block from the current Invasion Bar when the ranch was surrounded and he was killed. A few days later a posse of Johnson County residents and lawmen surrounded the Invaders at another ranch a few miles away and held them under siege until they were rescued by the US Cavalry. Sitting in the bar yesterday, munching my Cowboy Burger, I could almost hear the bullets flying.
After KC we decided it was too nice a day to turn right around and head home. It was 70 degrees, lightly breezy and mostly sunny. Things are just starting to green up for the year and the countryside was beautiful. So instead of going back north, we went east. The road took us into the Powder River country through Sussex and Linch, near historic Fort Reno, across the historic Bozeman Trail, through Savageton and on to the current city of Gillete. We call it a city. There are 17,000 people there!
We arrived in Gillette at 4PM. It's light here now until near 9PM so we decided to take old route back to Buffalo on Highway 14 and 16. We could have taken Interstate 90 and saved 40 miles but there wouldn't be much fun in that. The old route took us on good, winding, two lane roads through places (and former places) with names like Arvada, Wildcat, Spotted Horse, Clearmont, and Ucross. Some of those names commemorate former ranches and events from Wyoming's cattle days in the late 1800s. For a state with a population of only about 600,000, there is a lot of history here, left over from people who passed through here on their way to fame and fortune somewhere else.
At Clearmont, the little gas station and mini mart had their "OPEN" sign lit so we decided to stop for a soda. Silly us. This is rural Wyoming. Just because the sign says they are open doesn't mean they are. So after a brief walk around the parking lot to admire the train tracks across the street, we got back on the road. We arrived back in Buffalo at 5:30. We topped up our gas tanks for the next adventure and went home.
Our little 90 mile lunch ride had turned into 248. Since the ride was his idea, I was following my riding partner the whole way. Our population is low and most of the time our roads are pretty empty. Yesterday there must have been some Coronavirus effect because we hardly saw anyone. He likes to zip right along so we were stretching the 70MPH speed limit the whole way. Despite that, my GTM-Fueled (Edit - Todd) 2016 Eldorado averaged 41MPG and was smooth as glass. I can't say my friend on the Harley did as well but he didn't break down and he had stereophonic music to listen to the whole way. A good day.
Garwood.
After KC we decided it was too nice a day to turn right around and head home. It was 70 degrees, lightly breezy and mostly sunny. Things are just starting to green up for the year and the countryside was beautiful. So instead of going back north, we went east. The road took us into the Powder River country through Sussex and Linch, near historic Fort Reno, across the historic Bozeman Trail, through Savageton and on to the current city of Gillete. We call it a city. There are 17,000 people there!
We arrived in Gillette at 4PM. It's light here now until near 9PM so we decided to take old route back to Buffalo on Highway 14 and 16. We could have taken Interstate 90 and saved 40 miles but there wouldn't be much fun in that. The old route took us on good, winding, two lane roads through places (and former places) with names like Arvada, Wildcat, Spotted Horse, Clearmont, and Ucross. Some of those names commemorate former ranches and events from Wyoming's cattle days in the late 1800s. For a state with a population of only about 600,000, there is a lot of history here, left over from people who passed through here on their way to fame and fortune somewhere else.
At Clearmont, the little gas station and mini mart had their "OPEN" sign lit so we decided to stop for a soda. Silly us. This is rural Wyoming. Just because the sign says they are open doesn't mean they are. So after a brief walk around the parking lot to admire the train tracks across the street, we got back on the road. We arrived back in Buffalo at 5:30. We topped up our gas tanks for the next adventure and went home.
Our little 90 mile lunch ride had turned into 248. Since the ride was his idea, I was following my riding partner the whole way. Our population is low and most of the time our roads are pretty empty. Yesterday there must have been some Coronavirus effect because we hardly saw anyone. He likes to zip right along so we were stretching the 70MPH speed limit the whole way. Despite that, my GTM-Fueled (Edit - Todd) 2016 Eldorado averaged 41MPG and was smooth as glass. I can't say my friend on the Harley did as well but he didn't break down and he had stereophonic music to listen to the whole way. A good day.
Garwood.