Goin' Mobile-A Dance Gypsy's tour of the country

   Finally got a few photo's loaded late yesterday afternoon. It was a bit of a trial, and took more than two hours to load the ones posted below. That is only half of the ones I had, but it was so frustrating that I finally had to give it up and deal with the ones I got. I'll try to load and post the other batch in the next day or two.
    My nephew Brian came out to see me at the campground last evening. We sat outside and had a cold beverage in the pleasant weather. We talked for quite a while and caught up with each others lives until about 7:30 p.m. when we hopped in the truck and went in search of animals to look at. He first took me to the spot where he had taken his dad last fall to hunt for a cow elk. Mark got one after walking a little ways into the woods and after visiting the spot I could see why deer and elk would like that area. Plenty of food even inside the tree line, lots of escape routes and water nearby in at least two directions. We didn't see anything of course, but it was fun to get out and hike for a mile or so. It always amazes me how little distance one has to walk these days to get away from everyone. Less than 200 yards will take care of 95% of all hunters these days. Go a 1/2 mile away from the road and you get rid of 99%. It's kind of a sad commentary on what hunting has become these days. Maybe it is just that we get lazy or maybe it's because these new hunters all think it should be like a video game. I hope if and when I ever get a chance to hunt again that it will still be deer/elk hunting and not just road shopping for animals. But I digress.
   We continued on down a couple of back roads from there as the daylight was slowly slipping away. We ended up spotting a couple of deer and three separate bunches of elk as we came out onto some cultivated land. All of the elk, 30-40 of them, were either cows, calves, yearlings or young spike bulls. They all looked fat and happy out there on the pasture land and the calves were sure cute, although already putting on some good growth.
   We got back to the trailer after dark and Brian took off at that point. I went in and read a little while and then went to bed myself. It was a great night for sleeping with a nice cool breeze blowing most of the night.
    Today started out rather cool and over cast too... even a little rain early on. But it has cleared off nicely and has now warmed up into a more typical 4th of July. I hopped into the truck around 9:00 and headed up to Chadron from the State Park before turning east towards the town of Hay Springs. It's only 20 miles east of Chadron so it didn't take long to reach it, but the drive there through miles of crop land and ranch country was very pretty.
    I took a little time to just drive around the town of Hay Springs this time around. It didn't take long as it's a very small town, and most of it, like small towns everywhere, is closed down and empty. Still, some of the old buildings are still neat to look at. There was also a large shop/garage like building that is being built right off the main street. So there is still something going on.
    From Hay Springs it was south towards the town of Alliance. Along the way, and just out side of the town is the rather 'cheesy' tourist attraction known as 'Car Henge'. Made up of old wrecked cars and trucks that have been stacked on each other in a configuration that looks close to what the original Stone Henge looks like. Of course it has no historical significance on it's own having only been around for some 20 years. But give it a few thousand and who knows what people will say about it then. I of course stop every time I go by it and get out to take a few photo's. I was surprised that the gift shop was open today so I went in and bought another 'shot glass' just to give them a little support. I guess 'cheesy' can be okay in small doses at least.
    I'm currently holed up in the Micky D's here in Alliance. There isn't really a whole lot else open in the town today because of the holiday. I had hoped to go to the art museum here again as the exhibits change every couple of months or so. But it, the 'War Museum' and the 'Knight Museum' were all closed. So I'll have to come back on another day and see if anything is open at that time.
    Going to head on west from here and circle around through the towns of Hemford and then Crawford before turning back east towards Chadron again. I hope to run into my nephew and his girl friend in Crawford somewhere, as they are over there today looking at the art show and going to the rodeo. I just need to talk to Brian and see if they want to go to dinner and a play sometime while I am here. He also mentioned maybe fishing with me tomorrow morning sometime, so I really need to talk to him to find out when and where. Otherwise, it's a nice day and this is always a fun holiday. Happy 4th of July everyone.

   Some older pictures that have taken a while to put together and then load. These are from my girl friend Rima's grand daughters birthday party in Floyd Virginia. I'm not going to annotate most of them as there are just to many. But enjoy and there will be a few more in a day or two.

Brynn's Birthday Party in Floyd Virginia - May 31, 2014