We really hadn’t been to Cheyenne since before my brother
Jerry relocated to Surprise Arizona. Although we had seen it many times when
visiting Erry and Enda, it didn’t look like it had changed much. We finally did
manage to stay at the Terry Bison Ranch, an RV resort on the southern edge of
town. We always saw it when we drove from Denver to Cheyenne, but never managed
to stay there. Because we showed up on the opening day of the epic Cheyenne
Frontier Days rodeo, it was the only place available, and then it was only a
site with no sewer, water or electric – but then sewer, water and electric is
for rookies. I guess they have more than Bison here.
We decided to splurge and have dinner at Senators Steakhouse
at the ranch. Erry had always talked about it being good, and when we got
there, they had live entertainment – the band, of course, was country western,
but they were actually quite good! I asked our waiter if they could make me a
Bombay Sapphire Martini, up, with olives. He assured me they could. This is
what I got, whatever it is. The olive was actually a cherry. However, it didn’t
kill me, just made me stronger.
We made one excursion south just to try and score a
Whispering Giant. Peter Wolf Toth had dedicated the 37-foot-tall Redman to the
town of Loveland, and it sat for decades along the shore of Loveland Lake in
the middle of town. Nobody seems to know why or how, but it ended up on the
Rock Ridge Ranch west of town. Despite web chatter wondering how much longer
this carving may be available to see because the owner does not have municipal
funds to maintain it, we were able to find in a field on the ranch. We were
surprised at how good it looked given the chatter.
My brother, Erry, still has connections in Cheyenne. So, he
pulled some strings and got us rodeo tickets on the opening day of Cheyenne
Frontier Days, the first PBR (Professional Bull Riders) sanctioned event of the
season. We hadn’t been to Cheyenne Frontier Days in over a decade, but
everything still all looked pretty much the same. His connection, Jon with Boot Barn, even went
to the effort to monogram my sponsor pass!
Jon also got us Sponsor passes to the Rascal Flats concert
that evening. The opening act, Clint Black, was apparently well known as well. You’d
have to ask my daughter Karen, as I don’t have a country western bone in my
body. The Woman enjoyed the concert, despite the rain that dampened (yuk yuk)
things a bit. I have to admit, I enjoyed it quite a bit as well.
Allegedly, Cheyenne Frontier Days is the largest outdoor
rodeo in the US – anywhere! We got to see calf roping, bull riding and several
other events. My favorite was the bear back bronco riding. As we headed out of
town east in the morning, we saw all the cowboys pulling horse trailers who
didn’t make the cut on opening night.
Being the Big Daddy of them All, Cheyenne Frontier Days
attracts the crowds. We got lucky and found an older couple who lived across
the street from the CFD park, and had 6-8 parking spaces in their back yard
that they readily rented, and at reasonable prices. We parked there for both
the rodeo and the concert. Being such an attraction, we found a Fantasy RV Tour
group of 20 some odd coaches that were staying at the Terry Bison Ranch. Had we
not done it a few times; we would certainly consider this option to visit.
Talk to you soon.
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