Wind Songs: Old Trail Town

More pictures taken inside the large livery barn.

More wagons, a large stuffed buffalo in one corner, and a large flag-decorated antler tower prominently displayed in the center of the building..........

More of an incredibly large collection of western, homesteading and hard working farming equipment.........

In Cody we are now experiencing the kind of Spring weather Tennessee would have experienced two months ago.

Unsettled weather - warm then overcast then rainy then sunny - sometimes all within the span of an hour.

Yesterday, while walking leisurely through Old Trail Town it was cool but stayed dry until almost the end of our visit.

This morning (while typing this) it is very cloudy and with very strong winds.

As I stood outside on the porch this morning looking at the sky I could see ominous looking dark grey clouds coming across the mountains.

We are completely surrounded by mountains and as I stood and watched the sky closely, saw that the clouds were encircling us and coming in from two different directions.

The temperature gauge outside the kitchen window says 40 degrees but it feels much colder.

The weather forecast is calling for a combination of rain and snow today.

Someone joked recently that Wyoming only has two seasons - Winter and August 11.

We love the place so much that somehow the weather doesn't seem to matter...........

I find this kind of stuff so much more interesting than the beds and night stands and china and books from a bygone era..........

Beautiful old wagons wheels propped against the side of a barn..........

The Museum Of The Old West

Contains artifacts of the Old West including a horse drawn hearse from the late 1800s, prehistoric stone tools and Native American clothing and bead work.......

The remnants of a covered wagon sitting tightly between two rustic buildings.........

Since moving to Wyoming LC has taken to watching old western movies and TV shows.

I have seen more westerns in the past two months than I have in the previous 51 years of my life.

I still don't like them very much, but as we explore the area more and more I find myself picturing what life must have been like and the impact both the terrain and weather must have had on frontiersmen, trappers, ranchers, mountain men, frontier women and cowpokes.

Cowpokes.

I never thought I would have reason to write such words.

LC has also taken to singing western songs.
He grew up in a musical family. One of his brothers was a professional musician.

In another lifetime after the military and prior to law enforcement LC used to sing in clubs down in Atlanta Ga.

I like listening to him sing in his strong and deep voice.

It is the sound of him happy.........

Embellishments in bottom of the bar..........

I did not know until yesterday that old playing cards did not contain numbers...........

Sometime a month or so ago my Mountain Boy and I drove out to Wapiti and turned off onto a side road that led up into the mountains.

The road was rugged and with steep drop-offs and sharp switchbacks.

While driving this precarious dirt and rocky road we also occasionally came across isolated homes high in the mountains that must have contained hardy people who wanted to be left alone.

Close to the top (we turned back when we hit both snow and ice across the road) we looked out over amazing views of mountains both close and far off in the distance.

The road was called Jim's Mountain Road and I had no idea who Jim was.

Jim (it turns out) was Jim Baker - a mountain man and trapper and who lived in the mountains in the Wapiti area.

Here is a picture of the man.........

A badger skull in the center of one more huge antler tower close to the end of our tour.

I do not remember where I saw the picture but in one town somewhere in Wyoming there is a very large antler archway that is filled with lights during the Christmas holidays.

No lights on this tower in May but an eye-catching and unusual sight none-the-less.........