Ten Sleep

Ten Sleep

Day 1-June 30

From Dubois to Ten Sleep is a little under 200 miles. We got an early start and stopped for fuel in Riverton…$4.09/gal.  We met up with some friends just past Thermopolis.

Thermopolis is also known for discovery of dinosaurs. There is a good museum which runs archeological digs nearby. For a small fortune, anyone can participate. We’ve been to the museum on prior trips to the area, but haven’t participated in a dig. Thermopolis is also home to the world’s largest mineral hot springs, part of the Big Horn River.

Our campsite in Ten Sleep looks out on the rodeo grounds. The rodeo is big here over 4^th of July weekend.

Just a little cattle drive between the RV park and rodeo arena.

Gradually, throughout the day friends from our RV club began arriving. When everyone is here there will be twelve of us.

Day 2 – 6

Once everyone arrived we took a drive up in the mountains to West Ten Sleep Lake. It’s a beautiful drive on the way to Buffalo through a deep gorge cut through layers of rock. The road to the lake took us through the Big Horn National forest on mostly dirt road. Lots of campsites all along the Ten Sleep River. Unfortunately, the mosquitos were thick at the lake so our visit was cut short as we quickly sought refuge of our cars.

Picture taking cut short by hordes of mosquitos. At least there were no moths!

Rob and several of the others ventured out the next day to try their luck fishing at Meadowlark Lake. The group managed to land an even dozen trout which provided dinner that night.

Those left in camp decided to see what was going on in town. Absolutely nothing! There aren’t many live businesses in the entire town. We walked from one end of the town to the other and back in about an hour. That included browsing through Dirty Sally’s knick knack shop. At the other end of town is the best, and only other, store Country Collection. A very nice gift shop featuring many locally made items. Right next door is a shaved ice stand managed by the 12 year old granddaughter of the owner of Country Collection. After checking out all the gift items we stopped for shaved ice and sought the welcome shade of a large tree before heading for home.  Across from Dirty Sally’s is the Crazy Woman bar. We bypassed her.

The whole point of coming to Ten Sleep is the big rodeo on the 4^th. Our campground is right next to the rodeo area. There was no activity on the grounds until July 3 when the grass was cut early in the day. Then the pens were filled with wild horses, Brahma bulls, sheep, steer, and calves. Elaborate horse trailers began arriving carrying the horses the equestrians would be riding. They were still arriving early on the 4^th.

                                    

The big parade started at 10 a.m. It was over by 10:30. Ten Sleep downtown is 3, maybe 4 blocks long. The main highway from Buffalo is the main street. During the parade the highway is completely closed off and through traffic is detoured around through the residential area. We had prime seating in the shade of a closed gas station. As soon as the parade ended we hurried back to camp to rest up for the rodeo at 2 pm.

Rob suddenly remembered Dusty should have had his heartworm pill on the 1^st. I was sure I put it in the motorhome, but we searched through every cupboard and couldn’t find it. It’s probably still on the counter in the kitchen at home. It’s a preventative medication that he needs to take every month in case we venture into areas where heartworm is prevalent. It is transferred by the bite of a specific mosquito. Fortunately, they don’t have any of that type in Wyoming, but he still needs his pill. There is a veterinarian across the street from the RV park, but it being the 4^th I was sure they would be closed. I asked the owner of the park if she knew if they would be open on Saturday and if so, what time. She offered to call them for me and get back to me. Within an hour she called and told me they were open and would be happy to see us. She didn’t regularly carry the medication, but she had some that was only slightly out of date that she would give us. We hustled Dusty across the street where his heart was checked and the pill for July dispensed. She also gave us one for August. Both at no charge!

Highlights of the rodeo were the Muttin Bustin race and the Wild Horse race. The rest of the rodeo included calf roping, bull riding, barrel racing, and bronc riding. Muttin Bustin involves children under the age of eight clinging to sheep. The child that stays on the longest wins. These sheep had been sheered so there wasn’t much to hang on to. The whole race is over in a matter of seconds, but it’s exciting to watch. The horse race includes teams of three. Each team is handed a long rope tethered to a haltered horse. As soon as the gate opens the team is required to subdue the horse, saddle it, ride it to the other end of the arena, remove the saddle and run the saddle back to where they started. There were four teams competing. One team actually 
succeeded.

           Every rodeo has to have a clown!

And the bull riders!

And barrel racers!

Several charity raffle functions are run throughout the rodeo. One is a 50/50 raffle. Tickets costing $1@ or 6 for $5. We didn’t buy any, but the rest of our group did. The pot at the end totaled $1500 and was won by one of our group. She walked away with $750 for a $10 purchase. Not bad!

Festivities continued on into the night with a street dance and live music. Same main street closed down for the night. Some of us attended, most of us crashed, including me. The whole was repeated on Saturday. None of us attended the rodeo, except the couple that slipped in for the horse race at the end.

This morning we all leave Ten Sleep. We’ll be heading to Lander to visit with our daughter and her family.