Wyoming Boondocking - Day 10: A Sunrise and a visit to the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum

 This morning I woke way before first light and decided to capture the sunrise:

After breakfast and with the sun higher up, it was time for a shot of the camp with the mountains in the background before the day's haze set in:

As I was processing the sunrise pics, I looked out the window and there was a truck just parked there by the forest road!  Weird.  No one inside and it would remain there until I left to go into town.  I thought perhaps it was a hunter that had gone into the nearby forest.

Another bucolic scene for you:

I rode into town to pick up another package sent by Martha c/o General Delivery.  She shipped it just right for it to arrive on Saturday instead of the scheduled Tuesday due to the Labor Day Weekend!

After picking up the mail, I visited the Jim Gatchell Museum.  It's a rather nicely put together museum with artifacts ranging from prehistoric times, to the US Army's presence back in the days when Wyoming was but a territory.  There's also a section on the Range War between the Cattle Barons and the Sheep Herder interests.

If you've ever heard of Tom Horn, his life and activities are detailed here as well.

There was a section about the Basque influence at the beginning of Johnson County's history and of course a section with memorabilia about Jim Gatchell himself and his family members.

Lots of antique weaponry on display as well.  Overall, a very nicely done museum that can be enjoyed in about an hour or so.  Too bad they don't permit photography of any of the items though!

The plaque banning photography states some of the items are of such value to whomever donated them that they'd prefer no pictures be taken.  Oh well.

So the only pictures I got were of a bronze statue of another famed historical figure, I think from the Range Wars:  Nate Champion.

I thought the statue was very well crafted and positioned in an eye catching spot right on Main Street.

It was getting warm by now so I only made one more stop to stock up on beer then headed on back to the campsite on the mesa.

The morning's pickup truck was gone but now a small SUV was close to the same spot!  What the heck?  It also was empty.  I would later spot three hikers who seemingly "disappeared" near this SUV and upon closer investigation, found a sign for Forest Trail 167!  Doh!

That's where everyone seemed to be going!  What I thought was part of the private property fence line actually a border for the trail that goes into the woods.  I didn't wander in to check it out, too hot.

Not much else to report, saw the occasional pickup truck or side by side cruise slowly on by, going towards the private property ranch nearby.  Quiet rest of the day otherwise.  I spent it reading and relaxing in the shade of the URRV as a medium breeze cooled things down a bit from the bright sunshine.