A Day of Energy

Day 8-Thursday, June 20

I energetically greeted the morning with a 7am TravelFit exercise class that was really good;  then joined the general session and had two donuts that were also very good :)

Today we met the wagon masters that will be hosting us for both the Calgary Stampede trip and the Alaska caravan.  They are very warm and welcoming, and that seems like a great indication of a good time ahead.  Jim & I were talking today about the upcoming travels...we've rarely begun our journey, yet have already logged so many wonderful experiences---just can't believe it. Each day brings something new, different and exciting.  I get goosebumps thinking about " what's next?"  

There was an article in the paper today about a heat wave in Alaska.  They are complaining about 80 degree temps because nobody has air conditioning.  We have about 30 days before we hit Alaska, so it will be interesting to see what the weather has in store for us.

The vendor exhibits opened  today but we decided to let the crowd thin out, so left for a few hours and took a drive through the countryside,  I continue to be amazed at the sights--you can see for miles, and it is all rolling hills and pastures--hardly a house or barn in sight.  We saw many pronghorn (antelope) and cattle.  We went by a bison farm about 30 miles south of here. The bison weren't out, so we didn't get to see them,  but it was incredible to see the land devoted to this ranch which is one of the largest bison ranches in the country---65,000 acres,  We did see bison at the local Walmart!

We also saw an expansive coal mine and were surprised to find that Gillette has been dubbed the Energy Capital of the nation. This county (Campbell County) provides 10% of the US energy needs --more than Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iraq and Nigeria combined.  They mine more than 1/4 of all American coal. Pretty impressive, huh?  And we thought all they had were cows and buffaloes.

We stopped at a local meat market and bought bison burger and some steaks for the grill tonight (yummy!); figured we needed to experience the harvest of the land out here, and keep our energy going! 

The weather calmed down today-- lots of sun and very little wind.  It was a beautiful day,  

The evening entertainment was full of energy-- The Buckinghams, a band from the 60's (who are all over 60 now) gave a great concert.  And, we knew the words to most of the songs!

 

Well, we didn't buy a new Rv, but saw a really nice used one made by Newell.  This one already has 40k miles and is a mere $1.1 million!   yikes!  The stock market went down today, so we decided to pass on that purchase, and save our energy for tomorrow.