I take my Wyoming Public Radio habit down south

I start my day listening to Wyoming Public Radio. Weekdays, it’s the old stand-by, Morning Music. I started hundreds of mornings listening to this show which, in earlier times, was the best way to hear new music and old. David Crosby’s birthday might prod the DJ to program CSNY, the Hollies, and his solo recordings. No better way to begin a cold January day than hearing “Wooden Ships” or “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” Yes, I was 18 when CSNY released its first album.

I would never be 18 again, a fact I didn’t dwell on then but do now. There’s more music on WPR, from classical to jazz. They both now have separate channels which is wonderful. There’s the Saturday morning show, “Ranch Breakfast” that features country-western tunes and Old West favorites we used to sing around campfires.

There are cowboy traditions in Florida. In Orlando once, Chris and I skipped Disney and Universal to visit the Osceola County History Museum in Kissimmee. It features dioramas and displays about pre-settlement Florida and the cowboy era which still exists in the annual rodeo. There’s some bragging going on, with the boast that Florida used to be the second-biggest cattle-producing state. There are a lot of Used-to-be’s in Florida.

Cattle Country is now Condo Country. Sprawling senior communities such as The Villages have displaced cows and orange groves and acres of wild forest. I spent my formative years in Central Florida. I was a surfer but my fave pastime was canoeing on the Withlacoochee or Juniper Springs or a dozen other fresh water creeks, most fed by natural springs. You experienced wildlife first-hand as you can in Wyoming. That’s a beautiful thing.

I could decry the changes like the old codger that I am. But time is short. I want to be with my family and experience everything I can. “Be Here Now” as Ram Dass famously wrote. A wise man who probably never met a cowboy or a senior cruising the beach on his trike bike. But I have.

Be here now.

Return to the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

I returned to volunteer duties at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens this week. In March of 2020, volunteers were put on hiatus during the pandemic. A few months, is what I thought at the time. A few months turned into a year-plus. We're still not out of it but the vaccine and safety measures brought us to a point where we can return to some public activities. 

Touring the Botanic Gardens Conservatory and its grounds are among them. Hours are limited and safety protocols are in place. There is no mandatory mask policy but I wear one as do other staffers and volunteers. All three floors of the Conservatory are open. The Children's Village held its Color Festival yesterday. Based on the Holi Festival in India, it led to a bunch of very colorful families coming over for the tours once they painted themselves with colored chalk. They all looked so happy to be out doing fun things on a sunny spring day. It was a great day for me, too, as I was happy to be back at the Gardens introducing people to its treasures. 

I met a retired couple from Casper out with their adult daughter who now lives in Cheyenne. I met a young man from Massachusetts wearing an Orlando Jai Alai T-shirt and we talked jai alai and permaculture. A group of guitarists and wedding planners came by to practice songs for the upcoming wedding at the Gardens. A group trooped in to hold a baby shower. A middle-aged bearded man in his 40s from Santa Fe walked with a cane and we talked about heart conditions. His sounded a lot worse than mine. He may move to Cheyenne to be closer to family. 

Many young couples visited, some with babies and others looking like they were on their first dates and getting to know one another. I discussed growing giant sunflowers with a woman from Denver. At the close of day, a photographer came in with her model to shoot some scenic photos (the Gardens only allows photography before and after hours). She said she saw some photos taken at the Gardens by another FoCo photog and wanted to shoot the place herself.

I spent time acquainting myself with new procedures. I ate my bag lunch -- no more food items in the Tilted Tulip Gift Shop. I leafed through the binder of CBG memorials which had been assembled by staff during the break. Many trees and flowers dedicated to loved ones. Plaques and pavers and benches, all done as remembrances. 

I thought about my father, a dedicated gardener who learned from his gardener father when growing up in Denver and transferred his skills to a very different Central Florida climate. He enjoyed year-round gardening at home and tending the plants at St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church, the same one I was married in. Dad nurtured tropical plants and battled tropical bugs and diseases. Different challenges from those we face in Wyoming.

The Pandemic of 2020-21 is not over yet. Covid-19 may be with us forever, just like the common cold which is related to the current plague. Gardening provides hope as well as food. When you dig deeper into it, you learn about dirt and bacteria and chemicals and the origins of your plants and flowers. Covid emerged from the natural world to infect and kill millions. I was afraid at the beginning of the pandemic. Now that I've been injected with a vaccine that is based on dogged scientific research, I am less afraid. Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) provides instructions to our body on how to make a viral protein to trigger an immune response.

At my front-desk station, I checked in more that 240 visitors. The second-largest count of 2021 after that wonderfully warm Saturday before Easter. I will be there every Thursday and Friday afternoon through April. Come by, tour the place, and talk to me about the art of growing things. 

Cold War nuke site open for visitors on Wyoming’s high prairie

M as in Mike

I as in India

K as in Kilo

E as in Echo

That’s the spelling of my nickname in the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the phonetic alphabet. You’ve used it if you have a commonly misspelled name, or if you find yourself on the end of a Mumbai-based IT help line. Help: H as in Hotel, E as …….

The alphabet is helpful but can be crucial in a military operation or if you’re a pilot on an international airline flight.

Or, let’s say the unthinkable happens and you are charged with the launch of a nuclear strike from a hole in the ground beneath the frozen Wyoming prairie. “Attention Quebec Zero One, we have some bad news for you and the rest of the planet….”

It never happened at the Quebec 01 Missile Alert Facility located about 30 minutes north of my house in Cheyenne. Coincidentally, that’s the amount of time it would take from missile launch in Wyoming to detonation in the former Soviet Union. On Friday, I thought about that as we returned from our tour of Q-01, now a Wyoming State Historic Site. Born in 1950, I’ve had nightmares about a nuclear apocalypse. But it’s been awhile since those duck-and-cover drills of elementary school and the very real scare of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

My father worked at Denver-based Martin Company, later Martin-Marietta and now Lockheed Martin. He supervised subcontractors building the earlier iteration of Minuteman and MX sites – Atlas and Titan. He did that job in Colorado and Wyoming and Nebraska and Washington State and Kansas. He dragged his big family along, which gave us a unique view of the western U.S. and fodder for future therapy sessions. 

I was 11 when he arrived home from work in Wichita laden with canned goods and water jugs and commanded us all to get down in the basement. That spooky, musty place was where we were going to ride out the nuke firefight unleashed by the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

The fear was real. History provided a better ending, thankfully. We avoided life as cellar dwellers or death as crispy critters. Two years later, we moved to Florida. Dad’s work with nukes was over and he now turned his attention to getting Americans to the moon.

Our family history is part of the fabric of American history. Maybe that’s why I was so anxious to take my visiting sister Eileen to the state’s newest historical site. She loves history, as do I. She is eight years younger than me, so we experienced those times in dramatically different ways.  But, as curious historians, we both know what happened in the world since World War II. The nuclear age began with the twin bombings of Japan that ended World War II. The arms race began between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. that many thought would end with M.A.D. – Mutually Assured Destruction. 

The western U.S. played a major role with Los Alamos and the first tests in the New Mexico desert. Many nuke tests followed, their fallout drifting over many cities, including Denver. We were all downwinders. Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant was established between Denver and Boulder. Coloradans built plutonium triggers there. It was the site of at least one major accident that created a crop of local downwinders.

According to interpretive exhibits at Quebec 01, the government chose the interior West as hidey holes for its missiles for several reasons: Low population density (more antelope than people}; distant from the coasts and possible Russki nuclear sub strikes; the northern Rockies and Plains were closer to the Arctic Circle, the quickest missile route to Moscow and Red nuke sites. 

B-52s took off from western sites on their way to their fail-safe lines. Many a missileer did stints in the frozen wastelands of Minot and Great Falls and Cheyenne and still do. You can forgive a young airman/woman from Atlanta getting orders for Cheyenne and saying something about going to the middle of nowhere.

But I live there and it’s not so bad. I spent much of my working life touring Wyoming on behalf of the arts. You might be surprised by the art that’s created in this big semi-empty space. The humanities play a major role in our lives. Thus, we spawn some fine state parks and historic sites, even have a state agency to oversee them. Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites employees staff the sites spread around the state. They are based at Quebec 01 to conduct tours and answer many questions posed by the curious. The site opened just three weeks ago after the feds gifted it to the state in 2010.  Staff say that it was stripped to the bone after being decommissioned in 2005. The Air Force brought back some items. Former missileers, retired airmen, and just plain collectors donated other items, such as the VHS player located next to one of the launch chairs (the TV is no longer there). The space looks fine now but it still a work in progress, according to our guide.

There are entrance fees, as there are at most state sites. If you are disabled and use a wheelchair or a walker as I do, call ahead and staff will deploy ramps over the challenging spots in the underground launch capsule. An elevator takes visitors from the topside facility and its historic exhibits to the capsule. Step off the elevator and pass through the gateway that, back in the day, could be sealed by a 30-ton blast door.

For background, go to https://wyoparks.wyo.gov/index.php/places-to-go/quebec-01. The site includes photos going back to its building in 1962 all the way to the recent renovation.

Our history, and maybe your family’ history, is just a short drive away.

First comes the reading and then the literary tourism

I start each weekday watching the network news. Not sure why. Goes good with oatmeal, I guess.

I usually watch until Trump's smarmy face appears. It doesn't take long. I then switch around the the Weather Channel or Turner Classic Movies. Today I clicked on TCM just to see the middle part of "The Adventures of Mark Twain," a 1944 film starring Frederic March as Twain. I was shocked to learn that Twain ran a publishing company or, rather, he hired his nephew, Charles Webster, to run the company and named it after him. Two early successes were "Huckleberry Finn" and "The Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant," Parts I and 2.  I read Huck Finn. I have poked around in my 1885 copy of U.S. Grant, long enough to know it is not just a pretty good presidential memoir but a pretty good book. I wonder if Twain played a part in that? I will probably read the trade paperback copy as the old hardback is falling apart. Too bad I got to it so late -- it's probably worth something in pristine condition.

Twain's press folded in 1894, after publishing several Twain books and two volumes by some Russian guy, Leo Tolstoy. Twain had hoped to get rich off of other authors' works. Instead, he owed creditors more than $200,000, which adds up to millions in today's dollars. Instead of making a deal with them, he embarked on a world speaking tour to every continent. He made enough to pay off his debts. Meanwhile, his wife died. Twain's death coincided with the year that Halley's Comet returned. But I already knew that from the Wonderful World of Disney version of Twain's life.

Seems as if Twain is the gift that keeps on giving.

He may be the most notable American author of the 19th century. We continue to read him. His books, mainly Huck Finn, continue to be banned by school districts upset with the casual use of the N word, realistic depictions of slavery, and youngsters defying their elders.

I am a Twain fan. I have seen Hal Holbrook's stage presentation of "Mark Twain Tonight." The author was quotable, that's for sure, and Holbrook does a great job with the part.

I am a bit miffed at his participation in the "Gilded Age" with Rockefeller and Carnegie et. al. His youthful goal was thee be rich, not to be a notable man of letters. He reached that goal several times but keep losing it on other dubious get-rich-quick schemes.

He wrote some great novels and some scathing literary criticism. I dare you to read "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" and not laugh. Anyone who has read any of Cooper's convoluted "Deerslayer" tales should enjoy the humor. Here's a sample from the piece:

There are nineteen rules governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction -- some say twenty-two. In "Deerslayer," Cooper violated eighteen of them. These eighteen require: 

1. That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. But the "Deerslayer" tale accomplishes nothing and arrives in air. 

2. They require that the episodes in a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it. But as the "Deerslayer" tale is not a tale, and accomplishes nothing and arrives nowhere, the episodes have no rightful place in the work, since there was nothing for them to develop. 

3. They require that the personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others. But this detail has often been overlooked in the "Deerslayer" tale.

Remember that this was way before bloggers invented snark.

If we are looking for purists among our literary practitioners, well, the boat has already sailed on that one (not the one that Hart Crane jumped from). Hemingway was a misogynist, Fitzgerald a drunk. Flannery O'Connor couldn't stop talking about those scary creatures she invented to frighten us out of our lethargy. In this New Gilded Age, we want some literary heroes, or at least cool  hometowns to play tourist in, such as Cather's Red Cloud or Hurston's Eatonville. And Twain's house in Hartford.

As a literary tourist, I have seen most of these sights. They are interesting. But you can't really get to the heart of Hemingway's Nick Adams' stories by ogling the descendants of his six-toed Key West cats. You have to read the books. That comes first -- you cannot skip this step. Then you can talk to me about Annie Proulx's Wyoming influences or D.H. Lawrence's New Mexico years.

Read. And just think: every book you read is another blow against Trumpism.

This week in the legislature: Magna Carta Day and mandatory neon outfits for cyclists

This summer, we're going to party like it's 1890.

Doesn't it always seem like 1890 around here, especially when the legislature comes to town? But this summer is special because we're celebrating the 125th anniversary of Wyoming statehood. On July 10, 1890, a bunch of guys sat down in Cheyenne and agreed to join the union, a move they've been regretting ever since.

Darn federal gubment! Freedom!

We may also be partying 1215-style on June 15 with Magna Carta Day. House Resolution 10 introduced this week by Rep. Jaggi (he's one busy bee)  and other forward-thinking legislators think it's high time we recognize those ticked-off English barons that drafted and signed this historic document.

Be it resolved… That Wyoming celebrate June 15, 2015, the 800th anniversary of the day the Barons of England accosted King John at Runnymede in the defense of their Liberties, as Magna Carta Day. That Wyoming encourage the teaching of the lessons of Magna Carta within and outside the schools of the state. That Wyoming defend its Liberties with the same fierce steadfast determination that the Barons of England showed at Runnymede.

I'm as supportive of due process and as against taxation without representation as the next guy. But these feudal barons and their offspring were the same genocidal madmen who attempted to wipe out my Irish forebears. So excuse me if I don't wish everyone a Happy Magna Carta Day on June 15.

I also have to wonder about teaching the lessons of the Magna Carta in the same schools that forbid the teaching of evolution and climate change, and -- if Republican legislators have their way -- kindergartners soon will be packing heat. And what about legislative time management? Is a Magna Carta bill the best use of time during a 40-day legislative session?

Since I vote and work to elect legislators I can believe in, I earn the right the criticize. Conservatives might argue that bills calling for bicycle safety, marijuana decriminalization and workplace protections for the LGBTQ community are a waste of time. And don't get us started on Medicaid expansion!

Those bills are have one thing in common -- they look to the future rather than the past. The bipartisan bike safety bill (SB103) was introduced by Casper Republican Rep. Tim Stubson, someone whom I have criticized on these pages in the past. A bicyclist was killed by a motorist in downtown Casper last year. Other Casper cyclists have been injured while commuting or just taking a ride around town. We also hear reports from around the state of cyclists being targeted by disgruntled motorists in coal rollers.

Take a minute to ponder this. More people than ever ride bikes. The world celebrates the era of alternative transportation: Cycling, mass transit, electric cars. I saw an online ad for the Storm electric bike (ebike) the other day. Ebikes run on pedal power and, when you're tired or need an extra push, battery power. Top speed is 20 mph, which is much better than this cyclist can do on a flat surface. A Storm ebike costs $500, which is twice my car payment and equal to the cost paid by many truck owners. And just think of the fuel savings.

Wyoming draws cycling tourists. No surprise, with all of the cool scenery one can encounter across the state. I can't take a summer car trip without encountering a cyclist or a group of them. If those cyclists had the feeling that Wyoming was a particularly dangerous place for them, they would take their cycling and their money to some other scenic Rocky Mountain state. To Colorado, for instance, which deserves its bike-friendly reputation. Remember that tourism is a huge economic generator for Wyoming. Teton County and the national parks are the number one destination. My home of Laramie County is number two. Most tourists travel by car/truck/RV. Teton County is studying ways to draw tourists that don't want to be burdened with driving their car from Des Moines or renting one on site. We should be doing the same in Laramie County.

Thanks to Rep. Stubson for SB103. And to co-sponsors Sen. Charlie Scott (R-Casper) and Laramie Democrats Sen. Rothfuss and Rep. Pelkey.

Unfortunately, another bill was introduced this week. It has to do with cycling, but it's really an anti-cycling bill. It stipulates that all cyclists must wear 200 square inches of reflective neon and have flashing lights at the rear of their bikes. The strangest part is this: cyclists must carry a government ID card with them at all times. The bill is another attempt by conservatives to paint Wyoming as a crazy place. Not surprisingly, it was sponsored by House Reps. David Northrup, Donald Burkhart, Hans Hunt, Allen Jaggi (him again), Jerry Paxton and Cheri Steinmetz -- all rural Republicans. I have a feeling that these House Repubs picked up this gem from those Koch Brothers-funded ALEC confabs where lawmakers are wined and dined and programmed with loony legislation.

Here's more from an article in the Jackson Hole News & Guide:

“This is a deeply concerning bill,” Wyoming Pathways Executive Director Tim Young said. “We will not be in support of this. 

"Generally speaking, this is an inappropriate way to look at bike legislation in Wyoming,” he said.

Young said he wondered whether legislators would also force pedestrians to carry identification and wear neon clothing while on public thoroughfares.

One doesn't see many pedestrians walking along the state's rural highways. One doesn't see many pedestrians walking city streets. But maybe we would if neon clothing became a Wyoming fashion statement.

I look forward to walking The Neon Streets of Cheyenne. There might even be a song in there somewhere.

What happens when Wyoming tourists no longer want to drive?

Gas prices are lower and expected to go even lower. We may be in for $2.50 gas prices in early 2015.

Yellowstone had a record 4 million visitors in 2014.

All good news for Wyoming.

Or is it?

America's love affair with cars may be over. Hard to believe for us Baby Boomers. I've been driving for almost 50 years. I couldn't wait to get my license and a car and tear around Volusia County, Florida -- and possibly use my new motorized self to get a date.

I did get a date or two. And I've driven in hundreds of counties all over this country and had a pretty good time doing it.

But those days may be over, at least in urban centers where most of the population lives. Kids these days -- they don't dream so much about piloting their own car as they do about saving the planet. Public transportation and car-sharing and walking and biking are hip.

Teton County, the gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks and the cornerstone of Wyoming tourism, just opened a new terminal for its Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit (START) bus line. We have buses in Cheyenne and Casper and maybe a few other communities. But none of us has a transportation terminal that includes a "bus barn" for storing vehicles indoors away from the cruelties of Wyoming weather. The first phase of this transportation terminal was dedicated Friday. When it's completed, it will even include employee housing, a real concern for any middle class person hoping to make a living in one of the richest counties in the country.

The state has no plans to widen tourist-clogged Teton County roads. And many environmentally-conscious residents don't want those roads widened anyway. So the county plans for more rapid transit to get residents and visitors out of their cars. As it is now, visitors can fly into Jackson and spend a week without a car. In fact, they may prefer that.

The town of Jackson's web site had a link to this article written by Tim Henderson for the PEW Charitable Trusts. It talks about the drop in rates for commuting by car, not only in cities but here in the Great Wide Open:

Western areas known for wilderness and a car-loving culture are seeing big decreases. In Oregon, Washington and Colorado, the percentage of workers commuting by car dropped by either 3 or 4 percentage points. 

The car commuting rate in Teton County, Wyoming, with its breathtaking mountain views and world-renowned skiing at Jackson Hole, dropped from 79 percent to 70 percent. No other county saw a larger decline. 

“We took a number of actions between 2000 and 2010 with the intention of changing the mode of travel away from the auto, particularly for the work trip in our area,” said Michael Wackerly of Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit. Some of the steps included providing commuter buses to get workers from neighboring Idaho, bus passes for Teton Village employees and higher parking fees to encourage bus use. For Teton County, the motivation was largely environmental. 

“A transportation system oriented toward automobiles is inconsistent with our common values of ecosystem stewardship, growth management and quality of life,” said the county’s 2012 master plan.

The Western Greater Yellowstone Consortium, a four-county partnership in Wyoming and Idaho, cites the expectations of Eastern tourists, many of whom come from cities where driving is falling out of favor. “A growing percentage of those visiting our National Parks from the nation’s urban centers and other countries expect to have alternatives to driving a private vehicle,” the group said in laying out its transportation goals.

You can read the rest of the article at http://townofjackson.com/current/more-cities-and-states-car-commuting-skids/

Many tourists "expect to have alternatives for driving a vehicle." They may be prompted by an environmental ethic. They may not want to be bothered with the hassles getting around unfamiliar territory on their own. Or they may not want to endure a National Lampoon-style family summer vacation family trip from Des Moines to Yellowstone. Where's Aunt Edna?

Sure, Jackson may be filled with tree huggers (along with the occasional Dick Cheney). But what about tourists visiting other Wyoming destinations? It's hard to imagine Cheyenne Frontier Days without city streets clogged with coal rollers and RVs. But even at CFD, the city uses school buses to transport tourists from a big parking area off of I-25 to concerts and the rodeo. And the city offers a free downtown circulator bus each summer. Downtown is very walkable and there are more and more reasons to walk around in it. We have a superb bikepath system, although commuting by bike on roadways still can be a harrowing experience.

There is a huge difference between Jackson and Cheyenne, One of the first comments I heard after moving to Wyoming in 1991: "Too bad you live in the ugly part of the state." It's true -- Jackson Hole is gorgeous while you have to hunt for the beauty in the High Plains. It's there, but it's not staring you in the face as it is every day in The Hole. More and more, Teton County residents realize what a gift they have. It's reflected in transportation policies and planning and a strong "locals" movement and arts and cultural activities such as the summer's Wild Festival which has the goal of "deepening our connection to nature through the arts."

In Wyoming, tourism is as important as digging carbon out of the ground to incinerate in giant power plants that obscure our national park vistas and contribute to global warming. But changes in national attitudes and demographics may be the real key to the state's future.

Day one of touristing on the high plains

Hanging out at Esther Hobart Morris's statue at the Wyoming State Capitol with Brian and Eileen Casey.

My sister Eileen and her husband, Brian Casey, visited us this week in Cheyenne. They live in Orlando, Florida, and had never been to Wyoming. Eileen is a history buff and Brian likes trains. I told them, “You’ve come to the right place.”

Visitors from distant climes help me focus on the clime I’m in. I’ve lived in Cheyenne 23 years but have not seen everything there is to see. A human trait, to take for granted the place where you live.

On Monday, their first day in town, Eileen, Brian, my wife Chris and I toured Cheyenne. We exploited the state capitol building, which is in the beginning of a $250 million renovation. I saw Leslie in the Governor’s office and went in to say hi. She asked if we wanted to see the inner office, the place where Gov. Mead signs bills, and we said yes. She let Eileen and Brian sit in the Gov’s chair and I took photos. We wondered if we could walk into the Florida governor’s office, sit in his chair and take photos. Probably not. We toured the legislative chambers and viewed the art. I took time to actually view the art on the walls instead of just passing by. On the House side, the portrait of the 1913 group had a tear in the middle. The tear is about the width of a human head, which is due to the fact that one disgruntled legislator plucked the portrait off the wall and bashed it over the head of a colleague. Those are the kind of details that make history come alive.

We next toured the state museum. I’ve been in there a hundred times. But on this, the 101^st visit, I saw things I didn’t know were there. It is a gift to have fresh eyes alight on a thing and say “I didn’t know that.” That’s what museums are all about, right? We ate lunch at the historic Albany and then toured the Depot Museum. Trains created Cheyenne. The magnificent depot was created in view of the State Capitol to remind legislators to not forget what side their bread was buttered on. These days, legislators don’t have a view of the Powder River Basin coal fields, but that lesson has a prominent place in their memory.

You can see the coal trains from the second-floor museum viewing room. It’s a busy rail yard, which delighted Brian almost as much as the big model train in the next room. You’re in choo-choo country, pardner!

Time flies when you’re touristing. We walked around the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, a place that I love. The flowers are in their last gasp of beauty before the frosts arrive and the snow falls. The folks at the gardens did a great job of resurrecting the flower beds after our June and July hailstorms. I showed off the architectural plans of the new building. I’m very proud of it, as I was one of the forward-thinking voters who approved it during the election of 2012. Without Chris and I and thousands of others, we wouldn’t be creating a city for our children and grandchildren. Take a bow, ya’ll.

We wrapped up the day with a barbecue at our house. A fitting end to a fine, late-summer day in the high prairie.

To be continued….

Sunday morning round-up

Anyone out there had norovirus, gastroenteritis, the intestinal bug, stomach flu, the cruise ship curse? It's all the same thing. Unpleasant but fast moving. I should be fine by start of work on Monday. Last year at this time, I was told by my doc that my stomach cramps were the onset of the bug. He gave me a nausea shot and sent me home. Meanwhile, my heart kept revolting and I didn't get help until the new year. Yes, I keep bringing this up. And no, I won't stop. Not because I blame my doc. But because heart attack symptoms can be almost anything. A pain in the ass? That's probably something else, such as watching too much Fox TV or spending too much time with that Tea Party relative. But unexplainable pains in the stomach, side, arm, head, back? As my old Wyoming pal Dick Cheney says: "When in doubt, check it out." That doesn't go for weapons of mass destruction in a troublesome foreign country whose initials are I-R-A-Q. But it does for the H-E-A-R-T.

The Broncos play in Oakland today.  Normally this would be a cause of great drama, but the Raiders are only a shadow of their former selves and the Broncos have Peyton Manning. This used to be one of the greatest rivalries in the NFL, but you almost have to go back to the John Madden days for that. Howard Cosell belittling the Broncos on Monday Night Football. All those crazy fans in the rickety south stands of the old Mile High Stadium. The fans used to get on Madden, but he has said on national TV that he and his team would always get revved up to play in Denver. Madden, now a video-gaming gazillionaire, probably has softened with time. Those games could be brutal. Gradishar and Alzado and Jackson and Hayes and Stabler-to-Biletnikoff and Morton-to-Moses. My late brother Pat, the only one of us five brothers to play football in high school, was a Raiders fan. He liked the Broncos, too, but only when they weren't playing the Raiders. Wonder what he'd think of the present-day Raiders? I'll think of you today, Pat, when I'm watching the game, especially if (when) a fight breaks out.

I hear that Florida will soon bypass New York as the third most populous state. Not surprising, considering that millions of New Yorkers have deserted Syracuse and Buffalo and Albany for the Sunshine State. I spent about half of November in Florida and experienced first-hand that population boom. Orlando traffic is crazy. A commuter line, SunRail, is being built by Canadians (the original snowbirds) but even that may not help alleviate the congestion. I'm going to central Florida in a couple weeks for my niece's wedding. The difference this time is that I'll be driving instead of leaving that to others. Wish me luck. I live in a small city, one where drivers think nothing of stopping in the middle of the road to chat with neighbors. Our new two-lane roundabout has caused apoplexy in some old-timers who see it as a commie plot against the all-American tradition of streetlights and running those very same lights to cause horrible crashes. As I said, wish me luck.

Have a happy and healthy new year.

And when in doubt, check it out.

Tell the EPA that you want clean Wyoming air

Cheyenne writer Edith Cook writes thoughtful op-ed pieces for our local paper, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. Her favorite subject is the environment, mostly how Wyoming stacks up against the rest of the world when it comes to environmental protections, renewable energy, recycling, etc.

In Friday's WTE, she issued a call for the implementation of new Environmental Protection Agency clean air standards for outdated Wyoming power plants. These standards are opposed by our Governor and legislature and our entire Congressional delegation.

One of the themes running through Edith's piece is the traditional tug-of-war between the state's two major industries: Energy extraction and tourism. Tourists prefer pretty landscapes and clean air. Energy companies tend to dig up landscapes and pollute the air. When writers or musicians or artists bring up these uncomfortable facts, all heck breaks loose. 

But the EPA wants to hear from Wyomingites on these new clean air standards. You can bypass the middleman and write an e-mail or a letter to the following (thanks to Edith for this info). Be sure to comment by tomorrow (Aug. 26) and reference Docket ID No. EPA–R08–OAR–2012–0026:

visit http://www.regulations.gov and follow the simple instructions for submitting comments;

email comments to: r8airrulemakings@epa.gov;

fax comments to: (303) 312–6064;

snail-mail comments to: Carl Daly, Director, Air Program, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, Mailcode 8P– AR, 1595 Wynkoop Street, Denver, Colorado 80202–1129.

If anyone sees Sen. Barrasso shoveling snow off of the Yellowstone roads, I want a photo

Snow plowing at the east entrance to Yellowstone near Sylvan Pass in spring 2011. National Park Service photo.

Instead of urging its Republican Congressional delegation to remedy the federal budget sequestration, Wyoming's leaders have discovered an opportunity to brand road plowing in Yellowstone with a conservative "Code of the West" stamp.

First of all, just what is the "Code of the West?"

It's a list of 10 precepts invented by author and retired Wall Street investor James P. Owen. He now lives in Austin, Texas, and founded the Center for Cowboy Ethics and Leadership, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation. His book credits include Cowboy Ethics (2004 and Cowboy Values (2008). Owen ccoined the phrase “Cowboy Ethics” and wrote his book distilling the unwritten Code of the West into “Ten Principles to Live By.” In 2010, the State of Wyoming adopted the Ten Principles of Cowboy Ethics as its official state code.

To sum up, the state code admonishes residents and lawmakers to live courageously, take pride in their work, finish what they start, do what's necessary, be tough but fair, keep promises, ride for the brand, talk less and say more, remember that some things aren't for sale, and know where to draw the line.

You got that? Somehow, this translates into using state equipment driven by my fellow state employees to plow snow-clogged roads in Yellowstone, roads that were set to open late because of $1.8 million in sequestration budget cuts. These are the same budget cuts that Wyoming's Congressional delegation has proudly trumpeted as necessary and good for the country.

Nobody has seen Sen./Dr. John Barrasso out in Yellowstone shoveling snow off the road to Old Faithful. We should put him to work during his two-week spring break.

Here's the recent press release from the Wyoming Office of Tourism:

YELLOWSTONE OR BUST!

Thanks to a collaborative effort between state, federal and private entities, Wyoming ensures America’s National Treasure will open on time

(Cheyenne, Wyoming, March 21, 2013) – Wyoming has set an example of how to deal with federal budget cuts by putting into action the “Code of the West.” Simply put, this “Code” consists of behaviors and rules that center around hospitality, fair play, loyalty, and respect for the land.

As Yellowstone National Park struggled with the nearly $1.8 million budget cut due to sequestration and ways they could alleviate the impact on visitors and gateway communities, they chose to delay plowing roads this spring; which in turn would have delayed the opening of the East Gate from Cody and the South Gate from Jackson by two weeks.

“The delays would not have been good for our local or state economy,” said Scott Balyo, executive director of the Cody Chamber of Commerce, “Almost immediately upon hearing that the East Gate would not open on time we began working with local and state partners to find a solution.”

Governor Matt Mead along with mayors and private businesses in the gateway communities of Cody and Jackson met to discuss possible solutions. Collectively they agreed that the potential revenue loss from a delay would have real financial consequences, especially on small business owners.

Governor Matt Mead led the discussion by saying, “We value our national parks as the true assets they are, not only to Wyoming’s economy, but to the nation’s economy. Yellowstone is internationally recognized and by delaying the opening we not only lose the opportunity to generate millions in revenue but we lose the opportunity to host visitors who might be experiencing this natural wonder for the first time.”

Gateway communities in particular are an integral component of the national parks system and rely heavily on the traffic generated from their national and international draw. In addition to providing a supporting role, these communities provide air service, lodging, restaurants, outfitter and guide services and other activities that enhance and enrich the national park experience.

Jeff Golightly, executive director with the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce reiterated, “Jackson Hole as a community takes stewardship of our national parks very seriously.  The idea that our nation’s first national park would not open on time for the world to enjoy was something we felt compelled to avoid. The Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board and the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce felt it was our responsibility to protect our local tourism economy so we backed the plan right away by committing one time funds.”

Governor Mead offered equipment and personnel to assist with plowing efforts while the gateway communities pooled their resources, began fundraising and came up with money to fund the operation.  Wyoming’s entrances to Yellowstone National Park will open as previously scheduled. The East Gate from Cody will open on May 3, 2013 and the South Gate from Jackson will open on May 10, 2013.

Superintendent Dan Wenk agreed to start plowing from inside the park while Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) crews make their way from the east and south gates to complete the snowplowing operations.  WYDOT plows will be donning a large banner that reads “Yellowstone or Bust” based around a summer road trip campaign that the Wyoming Office of Tourism is currently rolling out.

Diane Shober, Director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism attests, “Wyoming represents the iconic cowboy and not just because we’re a Western state, but because cowboys stand for something, they are entrepreneurs and they live by the simple basic values that lie at the heart of the cowboy way. This is what the “Wyoming, Forever West” brand is all about.” As the Wyoming Office of Tourism gets ready to launch their national summer campaign, the goal remains to promote Wyoming as a vacation destination to domestic and international visitors while increasing revenue for stakeholders and the state of Wyoming.

ABOUT

·         Yellowstone National Park (YNP) received 3.4 million visitors in 2012. Source: National Park Service reports
·         Traffic through the East Gate in the first two weeks of May in 2012 totaled 11,500 people in 4,200 cars. The estimated local economic impact for Cody is $2 million for that time period.
·         At the South Gate in Jackson, 17,553 visitors passed through during the entire month of May generating an estimated $2.3 million.
·         Tourism is Wyoming’s second leading industry. In 2012 travelers generated $3.1 billion in direct expenditures to the State of Wyoming.  Source: 2012 Economic Impact Report
·         Xanterra Parks & Resorts of Yellowstone will open all lodging and visitor services as scheduled
·         East Gate from Cody opens May 3, 2012
·         South Gate from Jackson opens May 10, 2012

Yellowstone is saved. Tourism is saved. Thanks, "Code of the West."

No telling yet how many park rangers will be furloughed or how many park restrooms won't be cleaned or how many other services will be curtailed due to the cuts. In Cheyenne, some 410 National Guard and 700 Warren AFB personnel have received notices about one-day-a-week furloughs. That's a 20 percent cut in their pay. That's 20 percent less dough that won't contribute to the Wyoming economy (OK -- some of it goes to Fort Collins and Denver).

BTW, my favorite month to travel Yellowstone is May. Nothing quite like navigating the East Gate road to Lake Yellowstone flanked by 10-foot walls of freshly-plowed snow. No traffic. No bear jams.

If anyone sees Sen. Barrasso, snow shovel in hand, out on the road near Fishing Bridge, take a photo. I'd love to post it.

Start Roaming, Try Wyoming

This intriguing photo was on the Buffalo Bill Center of the West Facebook page. It shows a Wyoming delegation to Washington, D.C. in 1925 with President Calvin "Silent Cal" Coolidge and Wyoming Senator John Kendrick. The banner must be a tourism promotion. Note that the president is wearing a cowboy hat. Coolidge was from Vermont and served as governor of Massachusetts. He probably had little use for a cowboy lid. The catch-phrase on the banner is nice for its near-rhyme. It's often hellish to find rhymes for "Wyoming." But if I was in the tourism game, I'd have a phrase that said: "Start Roaming, Try Wyoming." Wyoming was made for roaming. By horse. By car. By foot. Lots of room to roam. In 1925, the interstate highway system was 30 years in the future and most roads weren't paved. 

In the future, Wyoming travelers may yearn to be stranded at Denver's revamped airport

I happened upon Fast Company's Co.Exist (and Co-Create and Co.Design) during my perambulations around the Internet. All three are great places to waste (I mean, "spend") some time exploring new inventions and trends and ideas and foodways. Next time I'm in Copenhagen, I'm going to try to get a table at Noma for a plate of ants and blueberries, or barbecue carrots with sorrel sauce and hay ash. There is a hidden beauty to suburban sprawl -- and an array of stunning photos is offered in evidence. We are wasting our time harnessing wind at ground level -- we should be tethering high-flying wind-generating kites at 10 kilometers. Lots of them.

And airports aren't just for passing through any more. Munich's new airport offers an entire Oktoberfest experience, Hong Kong International offers an outdoor nine-hole golf course and a 350-seat IMAX theatre, Lagos's new airport will feature a duty-free shop with bargain-basement prices on kitchen appliances, and Changi International in Singapore features a Balinese-themed swimming pool. The airport was built on the site of one of Japan's most notorious World War II POW camps, the setting for James Clavell's compelling novel, "King Rat." Wonder if you can buy the book at the airport?

And here's what co.Exist had to say about Denver's soon-to-be-renovated DIA:

Architect's rendering of the new DIA

The Denver International Airport is getting more “Colorado.” It’s being expanded and transformed into a quasi city center, connected both physically and emotionally to downtown Denver and the region. A Westin hotel and conference center (with a dynamite rooftop pool and views of the Rockies) is part of the expansion program along with an outdoor public plaza for staging community events and a new fast rail line (and station) that will whisk travelers and Denver residents alike to/from downtown Denver.

Cheyenne can't compete with that. However, our new airport terminal may help airlines do a much better job shuttling us to DIA for the ambience that surrounds a Thanksgiving flight to Aunt Martha's or a business trip to D.C. Heck, Wyoming travelers may soon yearn to be stranded at DIA due to a holiday blizzard.

It's interesting to note that the new DIA will connect people "physically and emotionally to downtown Denver and the region." It may soon be easier to fly than drive from Cheyenne to Denver for a football weekend or for a weekend of shopping and entertainment. While Cheyenne long ago ceded Front Range leadership to Denver, this new transportation complex could make that reality permanent. But Cheyenne can hop on this bandwagon, making sure that we're a primary feeder hub to DIA and Denver. We haven't done a very good job of that in the past. By enhancing those things that make us great, we'll be a player in the region.

That doesn't mean making Cheyenne a mini-Denver. It means making Cheyenne more Cheyenne. As Mayor Kaysen has said time and again, one of our priorities has to be the revitalization of downtown. Keep at it, Cheyenne. Make Cheyenne more Cheyenne by saving its historic central business district. Nobody makes a destination of a place that excels in strip malls or Wal-Marts. They do want to travel to a place that has character. That's what Cheyenne Frontier Days is all about -- "Live the Legend!" It's the Old West meeting the New West. The Old West is rodeo and cowboys and country-western music. The New West means a vibrant downtown with brewpubs and restaurants and rock concerts and art galleries and western clothing stores mixed with funky boutiques. The distinctive music and art that's offered at these places should come from local and regional musicians and artists and artisans. The restaurant food should come from Southern Wyoming (SoWy) and Northern Colorado (NoCo) farms and ranches. Some of it can be grown on rooftop gardens and greenhouses. What a thriving place downtown Cheyenne will be. Denverites may want to hop on a plane at DIA and fly north to Cheyenne because there's no place like it on earth. Imagine that.

Architect's rendering of new Cheyenne airport terminal.

Smoke and Black Hawks and history in the air over Mount Rushmore

We cruised up to Mount Rushmore National Memorial yesterday afternoon. It's a 27-mile drive from Rapid City past a weird assortment of tourist attractions -- sprawling waterslide parks, Bear Country USA, Reptile Gardens ("See Maniac, America's Giant Crocodile"), Old MacDonald's Farm petting zoo ("Pig races!"), Black Hills Maze, Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns, etc. Most are closed for the season. A few are closed for good.

Anyway, we got to Mount Rushmore. I've been there but my wife Chris has not. I took the kids there 13 years ago when my son was at Boy Scout summer camp near Custer. It's an impressive place. It took 14 years and 400 workers and a million dollars and tons of dynamite to carve the faces of four presidents into Harney Peak Granite. Why bother, you might ask. But therein lies the tale. Local promoters thought it would be a great celebration of American freedom and a terrific tourist attraction. They were right about the latter. The former is still being debated, which seems fitting. The ranger at the visitor center said there was a recent History Channel documentary that called Mt. Rushmore a "testimonial to white privilege." Or maybe that was "testament to white privilege." He seemed upset by the idea. But you have to admit that those are some big white faces up there on a mountain that is still claimed by High Plains Indian tribes. I'm not privy to the current state of white-Indian relations regarding Paha Sapa. But it's always been testy, not to mention bloody.

We took many photos. We walked the Presidential Trail. A beautiful day in the Black Hills. As we made our way from one interpretive placard to another, we heard the sounds of a helicopter. Looked up to see a Black Hawk hovering nearby. We wondered if it was some sort of spring weekend military demonstration. Or maybe a visit by a V.I.P.? A president, perhaps? But we would have heard about that.  

The Black Hawk dipped behind the trees, hovered, and the buzzed off. We forgot about it until we got back to our car in the parking lot and saw a plume of smoke on a nearby ridge. Uh oh. The Rapid City Journal's cover story Saturday morning talked about the extreme fire danger caused by unseasonably warm temps and high winds. On our return to Rapid City, we passed fleets of police cars and firefighting trucks blocking a side road. Smoke was in the air. So was a Black Hawk.

Good news. The authorities jumped on the fire and put it out quickly. The cause appears to be target shooters, as shotgun shells littered the charred ground and targets were affixed to surrounding rocks. Not sure what to say about that. There are many things one can do safely in a tinder-dry forest. Discharging firearms is not one of them. 

No monorail for Cheyenne, but plenty of travel thrills and chills at I-25 & College Drive interchange

The Feds are sending $6 million in grants to Wyoming for some much-needed transportation projects.

Unfortunately, my pitch for a Cheyenne monorail went down in flames. Probably a good thing considering Springfield's terrible experience with monorailism.

But Cheyenne did get some much-needed transportation help with a $400,000 grant to address the mess that is the I-25 & College Drive interchange. It's not a big stretch to imagine that Homer Simpson designed this interchange. It features three big truck stops, the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center and a plethora of fast-food joints. More stuff is being built as part of the new business park. Down College Drive to the east are two of Cheyenne's four high schools (South and Triumph), several new housing developments, as well as the county's community college. To the west, a new road has been built to funnel construction traffic to the business park. 

To be fair, most of the businesses sprang up after the interchange was built. Now it's time to play catch-up. 

To get to almost anywhere from the I-25 on-ramps, you have to turn left without the benefit of traffic lights or even roundabouts. When you come up the ramp from I-25 South and want to turn left to Love's, you have to watch out for traffic turning left on to the interstate access ramp in front of you, AND for traffic exiting McDonald's or the rest area or the travel plaza headed across the viaduct to I-25 North. This wouldn't be too terrible if most of the traffic wasn't made up huge semis bearing windmill blades, oil field machinery and monorail parts for the recently announced Wheatland-to-Glendo Transportation Corridor (get more info from the good folks at Wheaterville -- tell them I sent you).  

Add to the motorized confusion a recent influx of hobos. Not sure where they're coming from, but there is a new generation of hitchhikers and bindlestiffs. It's summer, and everyone is traveling. A lot of them seem to be running out of gas at the interchange. "Need gas money to get me and pregnant wife to Denver. God bless." I give money when I have it. Usually I am stopped behind 12 semis so have plenty of time to look under the seats for spare change. Another sign held by a guy in a nice suit: "Ran out of gas on way to job interview with Standard & Poors. Will accept major credit cards." I might have imagined that one. But not this one. The other day I saw a guy on the I-25 North on-ramp with this sign: "I-80 and Hawaii." He did look a bit like an aging surfer. I gave him creds for creativity. And creativity helps when you're trying to catch a ride. I still remember the hitchhiker I met in California in 1972. He carried a five-gallon gas tank which contained all of his worldly goods. "People more likely to stop if they think you've run out of gas," he said. He did admit that some motorists were not pleased at being duped but most went ahead and gave him a ride anyway. I have a soft spot for hitchhikers. I have a soft spot for anyone trying to get from one place to another without a vehicle.

But they are in the minority at Cheyenne's wacky interchange.

This week's announcement from U.S. Secretary of Transportation carried this wording about the Laramie County grant:

$400,000: Laramie County -- Improve traffic operations at Interstate 25/College Drive interchange in Cheyenne to reduce crashes. 

This is always a worthy goal. I drive this interchange almost every day delivering my daughter to work at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter. It's convenient for me to travel I-25 from the north side of town. Convenient until I get to the College Drive interchange. I sometimes travel through downtown to Lincolnway and then over the railroad tracks to Southwest Drive and the Shelter. But most times the crossing is blocked by a half-dozen trains. I didn't realize there were than many tracks through Cheyenne. But apparently there are. 

Cheyenne is a transportation hub. And we better start acting like it. Problem is, traffic in all forms is increasing. The Tea Party hates gubment and gubment takes care of the roads. Tea Partiers not only want no tax increases -- they want to cut taxes and strangle (or drown) gubment. It's possible they all flit around in autogyros. But even then, airports are crowded and we have a tiny, crowded, gubment-subsidized one in Cheyenne. Where will they park those autogyros?

One more thing. About half of the $6 million coming to WY in these recent grants go to non-motorized transportation projects in Teton, Sublette and Fremont counties. I've been a motorist for 44 years but a bicyclist longer than that. Now a lapsed cyclist (bad knees, lazy bones, etc.), I don't begrudge funding to bike paths and recreation trails. The one in Teton County is especially expensive but will bear much fruit, green-wise, as it will be used by millions of residents and tourists over the years. Yes, Teton County is disliked by many Wyomingites. But it is a huge economic driver and a benefit to the entire state. Three million tourists a year come annually to the national parks and many are taxed as they spend money in Jackson and Wilson and Teton Village. The airport is the best in the state and the roads are (mostly) in great shape. The road over Togwotee Pass to The Hole is being rebuilt this summer. Be prepared for delays! 

You can read about these new grants at the Casper Star-Tribune

On May Saturday, pondering the future of Cheyenne

Riding around Cheyenne on this beautiful May morning. Errands to run, people to deliver. The Decembrists' "The King is Dead" pumping out of the speakers and out the open windows. Doesn't get much better than this, a spring Saturday after a horrible winter.

I was asking myself big questions: What is that squeak coming from the left front wheel? (Note to self -- call "Click & Clack.") When should I plant my crops -- Mother's Day, May 15 or -- as the High Plains gardening gurus recommend -- Memorial Day weekend? Is "The Decembrists' "Why We Fight" about war or relationships or both, and why is the video so lame? What is Cheyenne's future, especially with the oil play boom on the horizon?

I spent most of my pondering on the last question. We've lived in Cheyenne for 20 years, with two years off in D.C. for good behavior. Lots of changes during that time. But never as many as I've seen in the past several years.

Population is rising. It's not due strictly to oil field jobs. There are new jobs in manufacturing and construction. Many service industry jobs in restaurants and retail. Those latter jobs don't pay well but we need loads of them to keep our young people gainfully employed while they decide which college town or big city they will flee to. Federal and state government employment seems to be holding steady. That will change if U.S. House Republicans get their way with their Draconian budget. We shall see...

As I drove around, I took a few shortcuts to see what's happening. I ventured out to High Plains Road on I-25 South. The interchange went in first and it's a step up from the usual concrete-and-steel overpasses. Decorative iron railings and brick and rock used in the design. It's flanked by two roundabouts with plenty of directional signs for the roundabout-phobics amongst us. There are many, judging the letters to the editor in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The anti-roundabout crowd is really up in arms over a roundabout planned for one of the stupidest intersections known to humankind -- Pershing/Converse/19th Street. They've redesigned that three-way tangle many times but still it's one of the most dangerous intersections in town (along with Converse and Dell Range). Can't leave it the way it is. Some of the landowners, notably Frank Cole of Cole Shopping Center don't want to see changes. Stay tuned for more loony letters to the ed.

High Plains Road is the site of the new State of Wyoming Visitors Welcome Center. This will replace the old welcome center and rest stop on the west side of I-25 at College Drive. Many have wondered why the old center was built on the wrong side of the highway and is so hard to get to. It's nice, and has great views of the prairie and the Laramie Range. I sometimes hang out there and write to get some peace and quiet and inspiration.

But, as new truck stops and motels arose, it was harder and harder to access. There are no lights or dreaded roundabouts there to speed the flow of traffic. On a typical summer day, it's a madhouse of semis and RVs and lost tourists trying to find the entrance to the rest stop. Maybe this is next on the Wyoming Department of Transportation construction agenda.

The new visitors center is cool-looking and energy efficient. It's also on the east side of the highway which should make it easier to access. Here's a description from the RMH Group:

The new $16.6 million, 27,000-square-foot Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center will offer restroom facilities to travelers and will house the offices of Wyoming Travel and Tourism, which has expanded and now requires more space. The RMH Group provided energy-efficient mechanical and electrical design for this new facility. The Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center's mechanical and electrical systems are designed to limit energy demand while emphasizing the responsible use of on-site resources. Daylight harvesting will reduce electrical demand, and on-site solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines will utilize renewable resources to generate building power. A ground-source heat-pump system, featuring horizontal "slinky" geo-exchange coils buried beneath the project site will efficiently heat and cool the building. Public portions of the center will be conditioned by an in-floor radiant system coupled with displacement cooling and ventilation, further supporting the building's low-energy use profile. Construction of the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center is anticipated to be completed in late summer 2012.

Construction crews are clearing the site now.  From High Plains Road, you can look down on it and appreciate the view I-25 motorists will have of the facility as they cross into the state from Colorado. Man, what a cool building -- and energy efficient to boot. Let's go there and discover ways to spend all of our vacation money in Wyoming.

Also from High Plains Road, you can look to the west and see construction cranes working on a series of buildings in the business park. Not sure what's destined there. If you look a bit to the north, you can see the growing ranks of white wind turbines that are fueling a bit of the energy I use for my laptop ramblings. Coal trains head south along the railroad tracks that pass just to the east. The coal comes from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Further to the east oil drilling sites rise up out of an ancient ocean bed.  

Exciting times. There are many risks, especially with the fossil fuels Wyoming provides to the world. Global warming and poisoning of air and water. This will require governmental monitoring which is exactly why Republicans want to kill the E.P.A. No regulations mean more profits for those people who seemingly have enough profits. But that's the Republican plans. Screw the rest of you.

It's up to every one of us to see that we don't get screwed royally.

P.S.: I tried to find an image of new welcome center but failed. Anyone know where I can go to get one? I did find images of the ground-breaking but not very interesting. Seen one ground-breaking, you've seen them all. 

National Geo Geotourism Map worth a look

Atlantic City Mercantile, Dark Horse Books and 7D Dude Ranch all part of the National Geographic's Yellowstone Region Geotourism Map at http://www.yellowstonegeotourism.org/map.php.


The region emcompasses quite a distance, further than most of us in Wyoming consider the Yellowstone ecosystem. For instance, the Little Bighorn Battlefield on Montana's Crow Reservation is on the map. It's worthy, no doubt, but so far away from the old Yellowstone caldera at around 150 road miles.


Entirely possible that National Geo knows more than I do.

The 3/50 Project promotes local businesses

Rebecca Barrett of downtown Cheyenne's Link Gallery was on Channel 5 this morning promoting The 3/50 Project. She said look it up on the Internet and since Rebecca commands respect with her Brit accent and big hair, I obeyed.

The 3/50 Project has simple goals. Go to three local businesses and spend $50. The nicely-designed web site says it this way:

What three independently owned businesses would you miss if they disappeared? Stop in. Say hello. Pick up something that brings a smile. Your purchases are what keeps this business around.

It doesn't ask you to spend all of your disposable income at local stores and restaurants. Just $50. The 3/50 project site says that "if half the population spent $50 a month locally, they would generate $42.6 billion in revenue." Such a modest goal. You'll spend $50 taking your spouse out to dinner for Mother's Day. In fact, you're pretty darn cheap if you just spend $50 at your locally-owned restaurant. May I suggest some local artwork or possibly a book written by a local author?

In Cheyenne, we're challenged by a hard fact -- most of our restaurants are chains. Mom-and-pop diners and locally-owned restaurants don't seem to go over too well in Cheyenne. We have some nice ones downtown but drive along Dell Range and all you see is a conglomeration of olivegardenapplebeeschilisihopsherrys. I eat at these places. The 3/50 Project wants to me to spend some of my money at local places. I can do that.

I've been to Laramie many times lately. Downtown are Sweet Melissa's Vegetarian Cafe, Jeffrey's Bistro, Coal Creek Coffee and the Anong's Thai Cuisine which is the second of a two-restaurant conglomerate that started in Rawlins. Downtown Laramie also has two indie bookstores. Some cool little shops to buy arts and crafts and bread and all kinds of stuff. The Big Hollow Food Co-op too.

Sure, it's a college town, and its clientele may be a bit more eclectic that Cheyenne's. I live in a government and military and railroad town, crossroads of two major interstates. City of some pretty big shoulders. Rocky Mountains shoulders -- not Sandburg's Midwestern big-city variety.

Still, no matter where they live, shoulders have to eat. And shop.

Remembering a spring break trip to Willa Cather's Red Cloud, Nebraska

Intro: Eight years ago in March 2002, my wife Chris (shown above at left) and I bundled up our two kids and set out for a spring break trip to Nebraska. First stop: pick up our friends in Lincoln. Second stop: drive to Red Cloud for a literary sojourn. Spending an early spring day in a dusty prairie town may not be every family's idea of a good time. It's mine. Welcome to a Bookie's Spring Break. 

Chris wants a Cather board. 

She can choose from two big piles of generations-old boards ripped from Willa Cather's family home in Red Cloud, Nebraska. She picks gingerly through the pile on the winter-brown lawn, careful of the many jagged nails that once fastened the two-story front porch to the historic house which rises in front of us. The rest of us watch her progress. Two boys toss trashed boards into a big dumpster. A carpenter, who may be the father of the boys, saws two-by-eights for new porch decking. 

The house's current owner, a petite 40-something woman standing on the street next to her SUV, tells Chris that she could take all the boards if she wants them. 

"Should have brought my truck," I say, kidding around. Unlike many of my fellow Wyomingites, I do not own a truck. A Yuppie minivan is my conveyance of choice. Still, a good number of historic Cather boards could go into my van's cargo space. 

"I just want one," says Chris, surveying the pile as she might a stack of apples at the megamart. She is my wife of 20 years. While she grew up in a home devoid of books, she now is a voracious reader. Yet, she never has read any of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's books. She only cares about Cather because I do. The same goes for our friends Kate and Stephen, who accompany us to Red Cloud on this spring break day in 2002 for a dose of literary tourism. A few blocks away, our kids play in the town playground, not really interested in strolling around this old burg looking at old houses. We keep in touch via walkie-talkies. 

"Everybody still alive over there?" I say into the tiny speaker. 

"No," replies my teen son Kevin, a writer but not (yet) a literary tourist.

"We won't hurry then," I say. I hear kids screaming in the background. They are either ecstatic with happiness. Or being torn to pieces by a wolf pack from one of Cather's pioneer stories. Maybe a herd of cattle stampedes through this town of a thousand souls. Or the kids have stepped into a nest of prairie rattlers, the kind Cather's grandmother used to kill with a silver-tipped cane. Or the kids might be spooked by the ghosts of Cather and Antonia or Neighbor Rozicky flitting around the town square. 

It is all about imagination. But if anybody is going to see a ghost today it's me. I have read My Antonia, many of Cather's stories, and seen the TV version of O Pioneers. My favorite story is The Sculptor's Funeral. It not only brings to life the chilled winter landscape of a town much like Red Cloud (but set across the border in Kansas). It also is a spooky reminder of the fate of the artist who grows up an oddball in a small town and will never be totally accepted for his/her quirky ways and intelligence. Paradoxically, this artist may deeply love the town and its people. 

This must have been Cather's fate. It's hard to know from the official literature of the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Education Foundation. The pamphlet for the walking tour carries many references to the generosity of Cather and her family. The author donated two stained-glass windows and a walnut altar rail to the Grace Episcopal Church. Willa's father Charles and uncle-in-law helped build the town library, which opened in 1918, the same year as the end of WWI and the publication of My Antonia. Charles Cather's real estate office is the third stop on the tour. It is located on the west side of the town's main drag and across the street from the bank building that now houses the Cather archives and is owned by the Nebraska State Historical Society. We are in familiar "historic tour" mode here. 

But the brochure also refers to some quirkier traits of the young Cather. While her father "made farm loans, wrote abstracts, and sold insurance" from his downtown office, the young author "had her laboratory for dissecting cats and dogs." The office must have been a curious mix of loan paperwork and cat gut pickled in formaldehyde. During high school, Willa worked at Dr. Cook's City Pharmacy, north on Webster Street on the next block. She took her pay "in books, a magic lantern, and the rose wallpaper for her home at Third and Cedar." According to the pamphlet, she installed the wallpaper herself and it's still on the walls in her room in this house. She learned about French novels from her family's Jewish neighbors, the Weiners, who spoke both German and French. 

She loved the downtown opera house, now under renovation, which helped spark a lifetime interest in opera. According to the brochure, "one can still read the name of Willa's brother, Douglas, and others scrawled on the stage walls." 

What it doesn't talk about is the young Cather's first job delivering mail to county farms. That she was a tomboy who, like the "hired girl" Antonia, was proud of her muscles and liked to show them off. That she sliced open dead animals, hoping to learn how to be a veterinarian. That she showed up for freshman year at University of Nebraska dressed as her twin brother. That she probably was gay. 

As a writer with urban sensibilities, I try to be kind to small towns. I want to avoid stereotypes: rural people are slack-jawed yokels, born-again zealots, Timothy McVeighs waiting to explode. There are others who try to dredge up the bucolic nature of Middle American small towns: Such a quaint little town with the most gorgeous antique shops! I picked up a great little butter churn for a song! And they had the cutest little restaurant! 

Where I might give small-town residents the benefit of the doubt, Cather did not. Her novels and stories honestly show the vagaries of life in the small towns of the American prairie. The themes are universal: murder, rape, love, betrayal, and bigotry, to name some biggies. This is probably why her work still resonates 55 years after her death. Antonia is abused by a pillar of society. In death, the sculptor comes home to rest only to face the taunts of the townspeople. She’s pretty tough on city people too. Snooty artists get their comeuppance in Flavia and Her Artists. Opera snobs are skewered in The Song of the Lark. Wonder what she would have thought of us 21st century literary tourists? 

 The Tour

On this gorgeous spring day, we opt not to pay the five dollars that the Cather Society charges for the guided tour. This means we can’t actually get into most of the buildings in the Cather Historic District. We can't see the rose wallpaper in Willa's old bedroom. The churches and the archives are closed to us. We can't see the Willa Cather Animal Dissecting Room or go backstage at the opera house. We can pick up historic boards from the lawn of Cather's Retreat Bed & Breakfast. We can tour the courthouse, site of the World War I trial of German immigrants in One of Ours, the book that won the author the Pulitzer in 1923. 

We can also tour the library that the Cathers' endowed. We're lucky that it is afternoon, since the Auld Public Library on Webster Street is only open from 2-5 p.m. It is a neat old brick building and appropriately small for a small-town library. It loans books, videos, and cake pans. According to the librarian, the cake-pan idea came out of a need for a central place that provided residents with pans for special occasions. Star-shaped pans for Fourth of July cakes; heart-shaped ones for Valentine's day; huge pans for big events; and tiny ones for modest events. The library gets the occasional donated pan. Sometimes they get a bumper crop of pans with the passing of one of the town's leading bakers, an old woman who still took seriously the eating traditions of her German or Bohemian or Scandinavian roots. 

This is Catherland, after all, whose rich ethnic heritage was celebrated in the author's many books. In turn, Nebraska celebrates her with what may be the largest historic district dedicated to an American writer. There are 17 stops on the Red Cloud historic tour. The 10-mile-long Willa Cather Roadway leads you into town. Overall, the Willa Cather Thematic District includes 190 sites in Webster County, including a 610-acre tract of native grassland owned by the Nature Conservancy and dedicated to Cather's memory. 

All this might seem boring to those whose vacations center on DisneyWorld and Six Flags Over Anytown USA. Readers of all stripes, though, would have to admit that its a darn fine thing to have a town dedicated to a writer. We don't have many of them. And when we do, there may be some controversy involved. 

As we walk around Red Cloud, our friend Kate brings up her old stomping grounds of Salinas, California. Now home to the massive National Steinbeck Center, some Salinas old-timers are still smarting over their treatment in Grapes of Wrath and Tortilla Flats. Some people in Salinas still hate his guts, Kate says, noting that they are a little less likely to dislike Steinbeck if they own a restaurant or motel or one of the many small businesses that benefit from the library and its events, especially some of the big events happening in 2002, the centennial of the author's birth. Over the hills in Monterey, some people still consider Steinbeck a nogoodnik and commie sympathizer, an anti-business and pro-union rabble-rouser who wrote the acerbic Cannery Row and the passionate East of Eden. That tradition sometimes lines their wallets. 

It's tough to say if Cather's presence has the same effect on Red Cloud. Steinbeck and Cather are contemporaries. Both wrote of their hometowns and both won major literary prizes: Cather the Pulitzer, Steinbeck the Nobel. Both sometimes are disparagingly called regional writers and their work is sometimes seen as too sentimental and not obtuse enough for the deconstructionists who hold sway on campus these days. Strangely, their staying power in academia is due to factors other than their writing. Cather had lesbian affairs but never wrote openly about homosexuality. She is read as often in Women's Studies or LGBTQ tracks as she is in English Departments. Oddly enough, while Steinbeck's lack of literary finesse gets short shrift in English departments, his leftist politics get him lots of attention in disciplines such as American Studies, Political Science, and Labor Studies departments at some urban eastern universities. 

This first week of April 2002, the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Cather Project at University of Nebraska in Lincoln is hosting "Great Passions and Great Aspirations: A Willa Cather Symposium on Literature and Opera." Conferees can sit in windowless rooms and hear about Cather and opera, Cather and WWI, and other subjects. They can attend a performance of The Bohemian Girl at the Kimball Recital Hall in the evening. Cather saw this popular 19th century opera in 1888 in the Red Cloud Opera House. The conference wraps up with a bus tour to Red Cloud and surroundings. This should put a little economic development into Red Cloud which, like most small towns on the Great Plains, is in dire need of it. Those that don't get it are likely to dry up and blow away. 

We do our best to help. I buy hard-to-find Cather audiobooks at the Cather gift shop downtown. I also buy postcards and some cool notecards. I want to send a card and a memento to my ailing father in Florida, who let me freely browse his library once I learned to read. On our way out of town, we drop by Sugar & Spice for ice cream cones plus a massive cheeseburger for my growing son. I would love to browse the used-book store on the main drag but it is closed because the owner winters in Arizona. 

We also have our Willa Cather Memorial Board. Or Chris does. She finds just the right one. It's a very old one-by-four, rough on one side, gray paint peeling on the other. It has a lone nail jutting from one end. She and her board pose for several photos along our tour. We have fun with the board, calling it "The Willa" or just-plain "Plank," just as that kid does in the cartoon show Ed, Edd, and Eddie. 

I ask Chris what she will do with the board when we get home to Cheyenne. 

She shrugs. "I just wanted it," she says with a smile. 

She has her memento. I have mine. As we leave Red Cloud in mid-afternoon, I turn on The Troll Garden and fast forward to The Sculptor's Funeral. I can’t hear very well, because the girls are a bit raucous in the back seat. But at least I catch the opening as we head back north to the interstate:

"A group of the townspeople stood on the station siding of a little Kansas town, awaiting the coming of the night train, which was already twenty minutes overdue."

This is why I have come: the author's words, the magic they make when they are knitted together with precision and anger and compassion.