It's day 437....it's also July 16, 2020...and we are in Daniel Wyoming.

It's day 437....it's also July 16, 2020...and we are in Daniel Wyoming.

We headed north...on hiway 189 from Fontenelle......we wantered some 70 miles or so through the rolling fields and open plains....tons of farm...and ranchland......next thing we knew....rolling through a place called Daniel Wyoming.

Another tiny little piece of America.....stopped for a quick look around a little local bar and resteraunt....looked like pretty much the center of things here in the town of just 150 folks. RV park just above us offered a nights stay....but we've learned well by now......that the real experiences out here......will never be had....if you stick close to pavement.....and plug in at an RV park.

We drove just a ways outside town when another RV park of sorts was just off to the left....but to the right....BLM road 5021....an inviting two track taking us off the highway....and out into those rolling hills of Daniel...and Wyoming.

A few miles in we pass a well used campsite nestled into a bit of a valley......and with mountains all around us...seemed like a pretty cool spot to hang out a bit......we stopped....had some lunch and a bit of hiking.....but returning to the site in late afternoon....something was telling me.....trek just a bit further up.....something better out there

And we hit the dirt road again.....and another few miles in....we found it. A barely visible two track cut it's way through the prairie grasses....and led us out to a bluff....and 100 feet or so below us....the Green River ..... Again....I wondered how many times we had crossed that river......or had we just followed it from our view of it back there on Wild Horse loop....to where we were now. But not matter how we got here....we were here.....levelers down....and awning out.

And a couple of days of Sitting on a bluff above that river.....again....this surrounded by the mountains thinking it couldn’t get any better…until you look up at the horizon and realize the backdrop to your view this evening will be The Grand Teton Mountains. You can feel the immensity of it all press you back in your seat…demanding your attention. It’s gravity…not the force that simply grounds us to the earth…but a force that holds you in place and forces you to absorb the beauty of this land that you somehow…randomly…luckily…wandered into. Needless to say no one has to be forced to stare, it’s near impossible not to.

Watching the scenery shift...from morning....cattle working their way along the river below us....replaced by children....finding their way down that gulch....to the banks of the river for an afternoon of fun.....wondering if those children knew of a world in which hours were spent in front of a gaming console and television.....was this just an afternoon break from all that for them....or was this....the green river and the Wind River Mountain range....was this their gaming console.....no villains to slay....or pretend nascar races to win....but plenty of fishing....insect hunting....and splashing around to be done in the cool waters of the green river......on a perfect July afternoon.

The internet tells us that On July 5, 1840...a guy named Father Pierre-Jean De Smet offered the first Catholic Holy Mass....right here in Daniel....over 50 years before Wyoming had even become a state. A monument to the event stands on its site just a mile east of town.....we'd no doubt passed it as we found our way to this BLM road....Interesting to learn that this particular piece of Wyoming is considered a truly...holy land.....in the world of Catholicism.

Sitting here...in the quietness of it all....I would learn of a gathering....an event for that matter.....that would come to be called The Rocky Mountain Rendezvous......In a time when St. Louis Missouri was pretty much the edge of civilization in the country....and everything beyond it...was considered the Wild West....before adventurous pioneers began following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark....a time when Mountain men....Spanish and French Explorers.... explored the lands making their living in the fur trade.....existing alongside the Native Americans .......and each season they'd have to get their wares back to civilization....but over time....trading posts would be established....and networks created. A vital stop along these networks each season would be the Rocky Mountain Rondezvous...camps would be set up.....and Mountain men....fur traders...native americans and buyers would all converge for basically what sounds like a month long party... With booze flowing....and likely more debauchery than one can imagine.... those furs...and pelts....and all sorts of other whares would change hands....and commerce...American Style was being born. For several years during 1800’s, Daniel was home....to one of these Rocky Mountain Rendezvous…Looking across these mountains....it's hard to imagine that even today....800 to 1000 would gather...camp....do business...and party.....let alone a couple hundred years ago when the only way here..... was on foot....horseback....or in a wagon behind a couple of those horses.

And it turns out....even today....there are festivals in which folks come together each year....to recreate what life was like on the American plains....as the west was being discovered. One of the more famouse.....The Fort Bridger Mountain Man Rondezvous....held each year in Historic Fort Bridger Wyoming. Today....Fort Bridger Wyoming is home to just 300 folks....but each year.... in September.......over 250 traders arrive....set up camp and prepare to peddle their wares....and over the course of a weekend some 30,000 folks pass thru the festival.....for a glimpse of life as a fur trader....over 200 years ago on these very plains.

Our afternoon... no fur traders, no traffic of any sort, and no Sunday Mass…just the 3 of us on a bluff admiring the green river as it cuts it way through the mountains unimpeded…as it has for hundreds of thousands of years…the only thing different in this particular part of the universe today…is that we are in it.

We hung out on that bluff for a couple days.....until the itch struck again....and we headed back out to asphalt......

And you know how....Sometimes you do things because…well…that was the plan....or your just sposed to.....

Sometimes you do things randomly…with no real thought as if by second nature…muscle memory even.....pretty much the mode we've been in lately.

And then sometimes you do a thing because you felt compelled to do so…not exactly random because it’s intrinsic in nature but yet there is a tangible urge. You can feel it. There is physical force telling you to do this.

This is how we came to take that sharp right turn......after driving up highway 189...just outside a place called Bondurant......we'd make that right.....and over a bridge into Hoback River Canyon.

Spend time in this pristine little corner of the universe..... and you quickly realize “little” is a relative term.

From our night on the river, to our spot on the meadow, breakfast at an old homestead, lunch at Sleeping Indian Lookout…or tucked back in the woods on a dry creek bed…Mother Nature makes powerful statements when you take the time to listen....

Sitting on a rock alongside the Hoback River watching the water swirl in every direction…yet travelling in only one…it’s mesmerizing…hypnotic even. One looses all track of time and if the notion that you wanted to be somewhere else ever did exist…well…that’s lost as well.

The vegetation in it’s incalculable number of shades wave softly…then jerk suddenly…yet sometimes stand as still as if you were staring at a work of art…reality is…you are.

All at the whim of the wind…and a passing cloud. It is as if a keen eyed lighting director were monitoring the scene and making precise adjustments at just the right time. Except…there is no lighting director. This beauty just happens…Mother Nature takes direction from no one.

Scooping water from the river to boil for coffee on a 42 degree morning in July one feels not primitive, but instead whole…refreshed…alive. Sitting back on that rock drinking that coffee one imagines that if there were a director now is when you would hear the words “cut…and scene”.

One can also hear a polished and well rehearsed showman proclaiming…”And the Academy Award Goes To…”

To which Mother Natures receives her much deserved standing ovation as she makes her way to the stage.....

Ha....quite a movie....quite a production indeed......

But seriously.....iffyou haven’t seen this movie…I highly recommend it....... It’s called…”Wyoming”