May 12, 2008
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IT'S EVENING, MARCH 27, 2008
It is early evening and the sun is lighting the rocks with perfect light. In the spring the sun turns cold at this time of day and is now casting it’s light on the gigantic rocks that rise above us on the left, turning the color of the rocks from gray to red.
Have you ever noticed, that sometimes in red rock country, the rocks turn red as though they had a light in them. Next time note the time of day, it will either be in the early morning or late afternoon. That is the best time to take pictures of landscape or scenery.
They say photographers should get up an hour before daybreak. Shoot till 10am, travel or take a nap and go out again in the late afternoon or early evening and shoot till a hour after sundown.
Now we see a fright train, slowly, snaking it’s lonely way along the track at the bottom of the rock mountain.
We pass a Ranch Exit. It’s something the people from PA know nothing about. Friends that have visited from PA. can’t understand why there would an exit off of intersate just for a ranch (whatever that is J )
One man told us he decided to exit at one and find out what it was all about. He drove for awhile and “It came to a dead end at a set of buildings” He didn’t realize there could have been 1 or 2,000 acres that belonged to the “set of buildings” acres, along with perhaps 100 head of cattle grazing over thousands of acres in order to get enough feed among the rock and desert land. In eastern Utah or western Wyoming you don’t raise a cow in your back pasture that is full of lush green grass. Wyoming is desert country and a rancher once told us that sometime it takes at least 100 acres to raise 1 head of beef.
We’ve crossed the state line into Wyoming. Wyoming with it’s tall windmills and snow fences. I’m getting where I can almost tell a state by the surrounding scenery without having to see the welcome sign. It is 89 miles to Green River where we will stop for the night. Fort Bridger is 10 miles ahead and Little America is 32 miles beyond that. Little America is a huge truck stop. It is complete with gift shops, a motel and eating places and 50 cent ice cream cones. Kids stay free, so says the billboards that start advertising it 32 mile before you get there.
Wyoming is one of the states that consist of rolling hills, big rocks and desert. You can stop in some spots, get out of the car, and look North, South, East and West, as far as the eye can see. You won’t see a building, tree or any sign of life, except perchance an Antelope or two.
Notice the Exit signs… In Eastern Oregon you have exit signs that say … Emigrant Springs, Dead man Pass, Poverty Flats, and North Powder. (As the wagons go west)
In Wyoming the exits are things like … Ranch Exit, Happy Jack Rd, Fort Bridger, Covered Wagon Rd, Flaming Gorge and Snowy Range Rd. In Pennsylvania it’s … Littlestown, Abbottstown. Kralltown, Irishtown, Hunterstown, or Gettysburg, Davidsburg, Dillsburg, Mumasburg, or Mount Pleasant, Mount Joy, Mount Olive, Mount Aetna and even Mount Zion. Of course there is Lancaster where were headed. I found out one thing, if you need to hide, move to Mount Pleasant, PA. There are 4 Mount Pleasants in Pennsylvania. J
We stop for gas and as we step out of the pickup we find the wind blowing very hard and cold blowing so hard you can hardly hold the door open.
Back on the road we pass a herd of Antelope, foraging among dry sage brush, rock and sand.
Up ahead is a wreak, a semi on it’s side. A man is carrying a box up to the road, the side of the truch says Fed-X. I wonder if any of the packages say Fragile- Handle With Care. We pass only to see in view another semi on it’s top and behind it are small items of every description. I can’t believe my eyes but up ahead there is another semi, things strewn along the medium from another wreck. Was it the wind or last nights snow storm?
Along the road we seee 3 different bands of sheep. The ranchers call them "range maggots," because they eat the grass shorter than cattle, leaving the cattle nothing to eat. Usually we see a sheep wagon with a band of sheep, but there don’t seem to be any around this time. Pop said he thinks the sheep wagon was first self contained camper.
It is a wagon about 15 to 20 feet long and in it is a wood stove, table and chairs, and a bed.
The sheep herder stays in this while his sheep dog lays under it, in the shade in the summer time. There is often a horse tied outside. When it comes time to move the herd of sheep, the owner, with his truck comes along and moves the sheep wagon.
We live in Southern Idaho and one spring we decided to keep up with a band of sheep that we had seen near our place. We checked on it every couple days. I think it moved about a mile a day and sometimes more till it reached the mountains, to summer pasture. Then in the fall it would begin it’s slow journey back to the valley for the winter. It’s takes a certain kind of person to be a shepherd, stand out in the desert all day and guard the sheep from danger.
I have to think of our Shepherd. It would certainly take a very special kind of person to stay with us everyday. One that was even willing to die for us. Do we realize what a blessing we have. I can’t think of words enough to describe the privalege we have to be in a flock of sheep with the special kind of Shepherd we have.
I won’t take time to explain the snow fences, but the windmills. There are hundreds that dot the countryside. They are usally on the hills where they can catch the wind. Someone has said that Wyoming has 43000 people, 46000 dairy cows and lots of wind.
The “technology” of the power windmill dates back to the Pharaohs of Egypt. I am amazed from time to time how long it takes us to learn what they knew thousands of years ago.
Back to the windmill. It is a machine that faces into the wind, it has pier for the turbine tower that is 70 foot deep and 19 feet wide. The tower is 250 feet high. It has 2 blades each 125 feet long. There is a large box at the top of the windmill which contains the gearbox, generator, hydraulic and computer controls for the wind turban. The box weights 330,000 pounds.
There are lots of these windmills in Wyoming but in the last several years we see some on the hills near Springs, PA, near Somerset Co.
Oppps, overhead is a sign that says, I-80 closed at Rawlins to Laramie.
It is 6:30pm so we’ll Green River is just ahead at exit 89. We’ll just pull off here and sleep for the night.
From the rising of the sun to its setting, The name of the Lord is to be praised. Psalms 113:3
Perhaps it is in praise to God that our life is most complete.
Father , thank you for your world and all the wonders you have given us to enjoy. Keep us safe through the night and thank you for safety over the past miles. And my family and grandchildren, lead them not into temptation, but deliver them from evil. Praise be to thy name, Amen.
Comments (2)
Love your prayer...You have such a sweet blog. : )
Hope you had a lovely Mother's Day... ~Amelia
You do beat all with your recollections
... It's been years since I have traveled to Wyoming and beyond by car ... I suppose those wind mills are needed ... but they do 'scar' the landscape in my opinion. So glad you and Pop made it home safely.
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