It Takes A Team

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Wagonteamster

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5/27/10, 10 miles East of Montrose, CO - The highlight of the day’s journey was our visit to the Museum of the Mountain West; although the rest of the day was pretty good too.

After pulling out of Jim and Gayla’s, I had to make several stops to resupply. My stops included: the grain store, grocery store, gas station and beer store. All this was done in the modern, shopping section of Montrose.  When I last visited Montrose, twenty five years ago, the down town section is where people went to shop.  Between shopping and stopping to chat with folks, it took a couple of hours to clear the city.

Old Downtown Montrose; the city that I remember.

My first stop outside the city was the Museum of the Mountain West.  The Curator came out to the Highway and invited me in for a free tour. On that note, the team pulled onto Main Street in the old western town.  We were careful to raise no dust, as we didn’t know how friendly the Sheriff was yet.

Rich, the former Archaeologist for the State of Utah, started the museum.  He took me on an interior tour of the replica western town. I was really impressed.  Rich has been collecting western artifacts since he was four years old.  The details are amazing.

I had a really great time, but we’re not done yet. On June 5th, they’re having a ‘Tribute to Western Movies Day’. The lads and I have been invited back to participate in this event. I plan on hitching either two or all three to an old wooden wheel wagon, and become part of the festivities.  Also appearing at the event is Ermal Williamson, who is an Impersonator that is a dead ringer for John Wayne. It’s a good thing we didn’t end up going to Monument Valley looking for the ghost of John Wayne; heck, the Duke is right here in Colorado!

Doc and Bill, taking it all in stride. On the other hand, B.O.B. is all excited, because now he realizes that his dream of becoming a Western Film Star is coming true!

After saying goodbye to Rich, Bob and the other folks at the Museum, I let them know I’ll be back by June 5th, but right now I got some fish to catch.

Rich, at the old pharmacy, carefully measuring out the knockout drops needed to Shanghai the ‘Ol Wagonteamster.

A couple of miles down the road, I stopped for lunch, and was joined by Carolynn.  We had a salad, some cheese and little wine and an all-together nice lunch.  While at lunch, Lisa Doughty stopped by with a couple of granddaughters and another Colorado sized bag of carrots. The girls had a great time feeding the horses some.

In all of my travels, I never got a bag of carrots bigger then five pounds.  Then I hit the State of Colorado. This is the second twenty five pound bag that the team has had to munch on in this state.

We drove a few more miles and called it quits for the day. We’re right at the base of a four mile long hill, that climbs from about the 6800 feet elevation, to around 8000 feet. It was getting late and I thought it would be better to start up the hill with a fresh team in the morning.

I’ve heard of stealing candy from a baby; but, Doc has reached a new low.  Now, he’s taking the carrot right our of a little girls mouth.  Talk about an ill-mannered horse!

My Main Man, Billy.  Photo Courtesy of Lisa Doughty.