July 6, 2006; Lander, WY

We have spent the last week, which included the Forth of July holiday, at Lander, Wyoming. Lander is a small town of about 6,000 people, located on the east side of the Wind River Mountains. It is about 60 miles west of Jeffery City - where I am told “Home on the Range” was written, about 40 miles northeast of South Pass - the historic pass where the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail and California Trail crossed the continental divide, and 20 mile southwest of the Wind River Indian Reservation - home of the Shoshone and Arapaho Indian tribes.

Lander is a delightful small town. Wal-Mart and Home Depot have not arrived, so the town boasts several hardware and auto-part stores, two grocery stores, numerous small clothing stores, and a wonderful bookstore with a wonderful selection of soft covered books such as “Hours”, and “A Short History of Tractors in the Ukrainian”. (I just finished the latter novel, enjoyed and recommend it!). A newspaper is published in Lander, every Wednesday and Sunday. One can get the New York Times, sometimes. It comes in on the afternoon airplane, usually – but not always. If the Sunday edition does make it in on Sunday, you can probably get it on Monday and for sure on Tuesday. Lander is a very nice Western town that reminds me a lot of the way towns used to be decades ago. The pace is relaxed, and people are very friendly.

The Forth of July celebration was noteworthy. The mainstay of the celebration was a three-day rodeo with bull and bronco riding only on Sunday night. On the forth there was a parade. It had many of the things we often used to see in parades. The Legion marched and the high school band marched by There were Indians (real Indians) all dressed up in feathers, carrying a coup stick (I think) and of course an American flag. Then, as you would expect in the West --- Lots of people on horses – old people, young people, dressed-up people, authentic cowboys all dressed up with western hats and chaps, and three generations of one family, proudly riding bareback. An array of political candidates running for sheriff, state senator, councilman, etc drove by in trucks or convertibles. Finally there was an array of different types of vehicles, including Model A’s, old fire trucks, Cadillacs and Chevys from the fifties, and one iron-wheeled steam tractor using wood for fuel..

After the parade, we went to the city Park and enjoyed a barbeque of buffalo brats, beans and potato salad. There were a couple of musicians playing and singing folk and country songs. One of the musicians played a mean country fiddle, which reminded me of the terrific fiddlers we used to hear at square dances in New Hampshire when I was a teen.

That evening the end of the holiday was celebrated with fire works set off at the rodeo. We got a wonderful view of the fireworks from our RV. (The rodeo park was just over the hill.)