Page 12 January 6, 2022 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Travel from page 2
War brought in the US Cavalry, but on the
wrong side of history, when they rescued the
invading gangsters from near-certain annihilation
at the hands of the outraged settlers.
It’s small wonder that modern Wyomingers
look askance at such interventions.
Farther back, Wyoming served for hundreds
of years as a homeland for the Shoshoni Indians
and an illicit hunting ground for their
rivals. Most of the Shoshoni energy went into
repelling the invasions of the famous Great
Plains tribes—the Lakota, Crow, and Arapahoe,
among others—until, in the nineteenth
century, the Shoshoni partnered up with the
biggest tribe of all, the US Cavalry. The natives
might have bought more than they bargained
for, but what they did get was a far more
nuanced and complex modern society than
the 1950s Cowboys-and-Indians narrative—or
the more recent revisionist versions—would
have us think.
Nowhere does the American Wild West,
legendary and otherwise, survive closer to
the surface than at the top of the Wind River
Canyon, in the north-central town of Cody.
In this frontier settlement, built in the late
nineteenth century by Buffalo Bill himself,
a hundred bucks will get you a night at the
Irma Hotel (named after Bill’s comely daughter)
and a dinner by the wooden bar Queen
Victoria crated and sent here in appreciation
for a command performance of Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of
the World. The next morning, don’t forget
to check your car’s oil or water your horse.
It’s a long day’s ride to anywhere.
The State of Montana to the north has
arrogated to itself the sobriquet “Big Sky”,
but the description suits the Equality State
just as well. You’re reminded of this in the
hours driving up from Colorado, with the
impossibly distant horizon and a sky-high
storm front that stretches from one end of
the world to the other behind you. Will the
rolling, gray cumuli catch your car, horse,
buggy, wagon train, or foot race? And when
they do inevitably overtake your journey,
what mysterious meteorological fates await?
We have friends who can only take their
French fries with gobs of ketchup or mayonnaise,
and other friends who can only chew
them plain with a dash of salt. Wyoming
As far as the eye can see.
corresponds to the plainer, simpler, saltier
form of sustenance, where you learn to live
and wander without the constant hustle and
insistent cacophony of demands from the
needy, hectic modern world. It feels like a
place you could literally live forever, lazily
fishing for trout in the Green River, snaking
up the endless depths of the crease-like Wind
River Canyon, or just sitting out on your
horse or front porch, watching the sunrise
unfold for your eyes—and your eyes alone.
Next up: Chasing Napoleon.
Ben & Glinda Shipley, published writers
and photographers, share their expertise and
experience of their many world travels. If
you have any questions or interest in a particular
subject, please email them at web@
heraldpublications.com. •
Chasing wild horses across the American steppe. Sunrise over Sheridan.