Tag Archives: USTrip

End Of Trail Cowboy Action World Championships 2016

Posted on by kathousekelli70

As the saying goes…come for the shooting, stay for the people….its End Of Trail 2016, the 35th Anniversary of cowboy action shooting.

Last Tuesday was warm up day and the start of 6 days of fun. Well for some they could do warm up Monday as well but we were still wild bunching it!

Wednesday I assisted as an instructor in the Doily Gang ladies clinic along with Shamrock Sadie, Two Sons, Sass Kicker and Half-a-hand Henri.

 

We had around 18 ladies that we shared information with and coached through a stage giving them tips for working on or improving their transitions. I hope all the ladies enjoyed it as much as I did, working with 4 other World Champions, all sharing their knowledge.

 

It was on to the official Opening Ceremony that same afternoon. Jack and I had worn our Aussie outfits and I was honoured to carry the Australian flag as part of the ceremony recognising the countries participating this year. Australia, Austria, Netherlands, New Zealand, Italy, Germany and USA participated this year.

 

The 2016 class of new Regulators were announced with many friends recieving the accolade! Top Hand award went to Blackjack Zac. Congratulations to all!

 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were main match days. 4 stages a day, 36 posses going through 3 waves per day.

We were on Posse 32 – Buck Skunk, Deadeye Colt, Deadeye Jake Maas, Cat Ballou & Tex, Texas Mac & Texas Flower, Doc Neilson, G.W. Wade, Hands, Louie, Ranger McDuffie, Tijeras Pete, Timbercrick Mick, Tooth Ache, Whiskey Rick, Wyatt H. Ristl, Yellowstone Vic, Jackaroo and myself and of course our Posse leader Half-a-Hand Henri. (Was great shooting with – now – a 10 times World Champion and all won in different categories! What an inspiration this lady is!)

 

Saturday night was party and Best Dressed Costume contest. Lots of entrants fronted up for best dressed in different categories but the main one I was concerned about was Texas Flower in the 'Diary of Desire' gown. Doc Barium also showed up in her Seaside gown and hat I had made for her last year! So now I had two entries in the costume contest.

Grin from ear to ear when both ladies with their exceptional stories, were announced as 1st Place for Texas Flower!! 2nd place for Doc Barium and the lovely EZ GeeZee 3rd place for her Mexican civil war gown.

 

To round out the night the Top 16 Mens and Ladies were announced. Made it to the shootout!

Men's – Missouri Lefty, Waterloo, Matt Black, White Lightning Jack, Cobra Cat, Cody James, Creek County Kid, Ranger McDuffie, Roy's Creek Dan, Deuce Stevens, Austin Black, Damascus Jon, Duke Skywalker, Lead Ringer, Nick Nitro, Pecos Nick

Ladies – Shamrock Sadie, Echo Meadows, Kathouse Kelli, Sass Kicker, Slicks Sharpshooter, Bonnie Macfarlane, Panhandle Cowgirl, Two Sons, Spinning Sally, Texas Tiger, Whirlwind Wendy, Diamond Kate, Belinda Belle, Hey You, Little Red Sure Shot, Morguns Ann Ammo

Sunday to finish off a top week of action the shootouts were held for both Wild Bunch and Cowboy. Had a couple of fumbling runs through cowboy, shootout sure gets you going! Congratulations to Slicks Sharpshooter and Cody James for winning the shootout.

For main match awards – well, Jack got a buckle finishing 10th in Silver Senior category, much to his surprise after a 5 round rifle jam on a stage. Aside that, he shot extremely well during the match. Jack's back! Congratulations to General Jubal Early this years Silver Senior World Champion and to all other buckle winners.

 

To all my fellow Lady Wrangler competitors including another Aussie, Ex Sighted in 6th place and to my main competitors finishing 2nd place Echo Meadows (only 9secs between us again but rank points change that), Dew R Dye in 3rd place, a big congratulations to all buckle winners. This is one happy cowgirl taking a back to back world champion win!

 

A huge congratulations to the 2016 Overall Champions – Missouri Lefty and Sass Kicker!

 

What a day, what a week and a half!!

Leaving the dusty trail for another year,

Kat xo

June 26, 2016

 

EOT Wild Bunch 2016

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We arrived into Moriarty a fortnight ago on the Thursday afternoon and got ourselves ready for a huge week!

The Wild Bunch World Championships commenced on the Friday with warm up and side matches.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday were the main match days. Now I managed to convince Jack not to over do it, so he sat this one out. He still came to the range every day with me and was helpful in loading mags and the loading strip while I was listening to stage instructions. (thanks man, love ya)

 

I was with a great Posse, some new faces, some I already knew and have shot with before. A good mix of modern and traditional shooters. Thanks to Texas Jack Morales, Last Chance Morales, Goatneck Clem, Capt Sam Evans, Mojave Mick, Boggus Deal, Lady Jane, Idaho Sixgun Sam, Big Casino, Big Iron Patnode, Colorado Jackson, Beaver John, Claudia Feather, Czexican Dave, Hipshot, Fast Hammer, Marshal Stone, Poke and Tumbleweed Thom.

 

The stages were great, a tough match but a whole lot of fun. The average number of pistol rounds was 25, some had 20 and some had 30 but generally the 30 round only had rifle or shotgun, not both.

 

As you can see from the photos there were a whole lot of knockdowns which made it interesting and I still think I'm getting used to having a front sight again. In short I need to practice on some smaller targets!!

 

Didn't get to do the BAM Match (Bolt Action Military rifle) or long range this time as Jacks rifle sort of fell apart the weekend of the OK State WB shoot. Next time!

Anyway at the end of 3 days……and a week of cowboy in between……I got a neat little badge for 2nd place wild bunch shooting costume. Had a run in the Wild Bunch shootout, AND finished 3rd in Ladies Traditional with two fabulous ladies Lady Jane in 2nd place and the lovely Lacey Doyly the 2016 World Champion Wild Bunch Ladies Traditional!

 

From the one handed shooter!

Kat xo

 

Guthrie, OK

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Walk down the main streets of Guthrie, Oklahoma and you are met by some of the most beautiful architecture at every turn.

Guthrie started out with the Land Run on April 22, 1889 where it became an immediate town of some 10,000 people and was the first capital of Oklahoma. Well for a few years it was, until a special election in 1910 named Oklahoma City as the state capital and it was from 1913 as it is today.

 

It's still a little early for shops and some Museums, so we headed for the one we knew was open – The Oklahoma Territorial Museum and Carnegie Library.

 

I had to ask the lady at the Museum, because I've thought about it for some time, what the difference is between Sooners and Boomers? Now I know, she and the Museum explained it well and no it is not just related to the University cheer song.

 

During and leading up to the Land Run – the 'Sooners' as they became known were the cheeky ones getting to the unassigned lands first. Checking out the ideal plots of land and then hiding out until the whistle blew for the race for the land grab. They would then pop up out of hiding and stake their claim.

 

The 'Boomers' had spent many years through government and legislation trying to get access to the land and often came in setting up towns only have to the army move in and shift them back to where they came from and burn the towns down.

The Museum was really good, fantastic information AND I found a new and interesting character to portray in dress. Loved perusing the Montgomery Ward & Co catalogue!

 

Hee hee hee, would love to get my hands on a copy of this Lady's Etiquette book as well! Might have to research this one. If the drafting books language is anything to go by, this should be hilarious!

 

In 1907 Oklahoma became the 46th state of the United States of America and so another star was added to the flag.

 

The original state flag commemorated Oklahoma as the 46th state, it was later changed because with its mostly red nature it fell out of favour where the colour red was associated with certain war conflicts around the world. 1925 saw the current design take over.

 

The library is stunning, beautiful timber work, high ceilings, and fireplaces.

 

A well worth trip to this Museum if you are ever in Guthrie.

 

Back up the road we walked – Saloons are few and far between these days. Back in the day there were 22 saloons in the main block!! What's an Aussie to do when they can't find a beer at high noon? One girl did offer for us to come in and she'd pour one for us while she was changing light bulbs (officially opening times for the few bars/restaurants is 5pm) we thanked her and declined.

We stepped inside the (once) Blue Bell Saloon and was glad to see the bullet hole ceilings and the gorgeous bar were still intact. However, was only patroned by a few having hamburgers (a cafe restaurant now) and not one beer tap to be seen, no bottles of liquor on shelves no nothing!

 

The famous western movie star Tom Mix used to bartend here.

Anyways, it's time to take the Historic Trolley tour of Guthrie then we will find somewhere for lunch.

 

Suffice to say there are some 2,000 historically listed buildings and homes in Guthrie. Some designed by architect Joseph Foucart.

 

There are a few parking lots that used to have what I can only imagine to be the most beautiful sand stone hotels, including the Mineral Wells Bath House with its indoor pool – said to have every kind of healing bath imaginable.

 

There are many examples of Greek revival, Georgian and Craftsman style homes to name but a few. (I can see a few 'Fixer Uppers' here too! I've been watching that show too much lol!)

 

So much information that I didn't get down in time as I was busy gazing at the buildings and homes but this one did make me giggle. This little red and grey home was ordered in a complete package form from Sears and Roebuck catalogue – sorta like your very first IKEA kit you might say!

 

Guthrie used to be wealthy for its cotton producing. A gentleman by the name of Adler was the first to be licensed for wholesale liquor manufacturing (funny how I remembered that bit 🙂 ). The very first services, gas, electric, water and more, all came out of Guthrie. The most famous lawmen for the area, known as 'The Guardsmen', were Heck Thomas, Bill Tilghman and Chris Madsen.

Last but not least Guthrie was originally a train stop and was known as Deer Creek in 1887, all 4 major train services came through this stop including Souhern Kansas Railway (later taken over by Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway). As some of you may know the ATSF was also associated with the Harvey House era and Guthrie's second depot was indeed a Harvey House stop (restaurant style stop for travellers, full service) and the Harvey girls lived in dormitories on the second floor level of the stop.

 

Trolley tour finished we had lunch, went to the Extra Special Fabric Store that I have been told had some awesome prints suitable for Cowboys and Cowgirls. It didn't disappoint, walked out with some new fabric for Jack and myself. Will be back there again.

Then we headed to the Drug Store Museum and wow! If you've got anything wrong with you, you would definitely have found all sorts of known and obscure cures for any type ailment. Was very interesting.

 

We wandered in and out of antique shops before hitting the road back to Edmond. A worthy little day trip only a half hours drive away.

It is Memorial Day weekend here (like ANZAC Day in Aus) Lest We Forget.

 

Kat xo

For more info, check out some of these sites.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guthrie,_Oklahoma

http://www.okterritorialmuseum.org

http://www.drugmuseum.org

http://www.extraspecialfabric.com

 

B-Western

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Miss 19 asked me one day, “Mum what is B-Western?” Well I could explain to her what it meant for Single Action shooters by way of category, dress, firearms etc but what did it really mean?

Now I also knew it related to the silver screen era, John Wayne, Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and the like. So a little research got me looking further at the term.

In short, (because we don't need the full explanation on here) film production in the late 1920's and into the 1930's and 40's saw the double billing or short inexpensive films added to fill a program. Mostly due to rental of space to show a film and therefore to make it worthwhile not only for theatre goers but for the management and staff.

Western movies were said to be the most predominant in the 30's and accounted for 25-30% of production. Therefore the term, B-Western!

However, costume wise, it is all about the smiley pockets, piping, fringing, different coloured cuffs and yokes, bright coloured fabrics, embroidery and a little bit of bling thrown in for good measure.

There are many fine examples of such with the most revered being those created by Nudie Cohn. In particular to the country music artists over many years.

I found these little gems on some Grand Old Opry dvd's borrowed from 'Emerald'. Priceless! I'm sure I recognised one outfit on a DVD that we saw at the Ryman Auditorium when we were there in 2014.

This one of Ernest Ashworth wearing his 'Talkback Trembling Lips' outfit that matched his song! What a classic! Blinged up bars of music, the writing and of course the lips across it.

 

I think it was this one of Porter Wagoner's we may have seen at the Ryman or at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

In the realm of costuming I have completed a few B-Western outfits now and think there will be more to come.

Here is 'Lil McGill' from Texas, in her Annie Oakley inspired outfit (as worn by Gail Davis in the tv series of Annie Oakley in the 1950's). We saw the original on display at the Oklahoma National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame and it just had to become an outfit for Lil! She won best dressed B-Western Lady at the 2015 US Nationals – Winter Range, 2015 World Championships – End Of Trail and then the trifecta, 2015 South West Regionals – Red Dirt Rampage.

(2nd Place, Sonora Blaze, 3rd Place, Paniola Annie)

 

Our Aussies can be partial to a bit of B-Western flair as well and when 'Katie Younger' and 'Robb and Co' hit the USA in 2015 they wanted an Australian themed get up. So National emblem and flower with kangaroo's, Southern Cross and the Australian flag were the order. They won 2nd Place Best Dressed Couple at the 2015 World Championships – End of Trail. Katie has the first B-Western outfit I ever made in a red and black combo.

 

'Sonora Blaze' from Colorado also required a show stopper and we got to doing this Dale Evans inspired number but in the turquoise instead of the original coral colour. Sonora won 2nd Place Best Dressed at the 2016 US Nationals – Winter Range.

 

'Flat Top Okie' from Oklahoma, required a shirt to match the boots he'd bought and after searching for the right colour fabric came up with the perfect match! Add in some custom styled design and a little bit of bling and there you have it.

 

And so we come to the latest creation in this genre. Another beautiful outfit for 'Lil McGill' with bits of a Patsy Cline outfit and inspiration from Annie Get Your Gun costumes for Betty Hutton, Lil will be the ultimate ray of sunshine getting around the range in this number! There are a couple of things left to do, like pearl snaps, embroidered triangles for pockets and careful trimming of embroidery threads but I can't wait to see this one decked out with Lil's final touches!

 

Bling it if you can!

Kat xo

P.S. Weirdly, I am looking forward to more smiley pocket experimentation, I think I nailed it on Lil's skirt. Have to do pockets on shirt now!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie

http://www.nudiesrodeotailor.com

 

Old Idaho Penitentiary, Boise

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Leaving Twin Falls this morning we are headed up Hwy 84 towards Washington.

Boise, Idaho – land of the potato. We stopped here for lunch and a quick trip to the Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site.

In the 1870's with the gold mine boom, crime began to be on the uprise and so with nowhere to house these criminals the Territorial Prison came into being.

The turnkey building or administration building (the entrance to the penitentiary museum) was built in 1893. He turnkey guard made sure other guards attending the yard and inmates could keep an eye on how long guards were out there and if they had been out there too long would go to find out where and if anything had happened to them.

 

He also controlled the wait/walk and gate entrance for prisoners who were seeking entry for visitation.

1870's with the mining also brought more crime, so the territorial building was built in 1870.

Over the 101 year history there were 500 hundred escape attempts but only 90 were successful. If they didn't get out of Idaho Territory as per Al Priest (?) then it wasn't considered successful, even though he was more than some 200miles west of the penitentiary.

 

The 2 House (North Wing) was built in 1899 but held no prisoners until 1911. If I have it right, the 3 House (South Wing) also built in 1899 only housed prisoners in the early 1920's.

The first was your more 'rustic' prison experience. Two per cell, one chamber pot also known as a 'honey bucket' (eeeww!) in those days. No sanitation or plumbing it housed 160 inmates, so 80 honey buckets, that could be thrown at guards if they weren't careful and 4 floors, low railings, guards had to be on their guard of being pushed off the balcony also. Heating and cooling was next to non existent.

The second gave prisoners a more comfortable feel with amenities including plumbing and heating. Pastel colours to the cell walls were introduced in the hopes of having calming effects on prisoners.

It also included a private barber cell so inmates didn't have access to scissors and razors etc if out in the open. The guards would have to let each inmate in and out of the barber cell, pat them down before allowing to re enter the general cells.

 

The dining hall built in 1898 was designed by inmate George Hamilton. It was said that if he did a good job for the warden he would obtain an early release. Of course he did do a beautiful job. It contained a plunge bath for 6-8 men at a time, storerooms, a bakery and the main dining hall.

The dining hall in those days contained long dining tables. Prisoners were not allowed to speak to each other or even turn their heads and was the same into the early 1900's when they changed it to round tables and allowed conversation.

Hamilton got his release but was told he must leave Idaho and was never to return again. Now whether he got out and the. Realised he didn't know what to do outside of prison life, or the thought of not returning to Idaho it is said that the day before he was to catch a train after being released, he actually committed suicide.

 

Where the rose garden is now situated, used to be the gallows. Ten executions by hanging were carried out at the penitentiary and six were carried out in this garden.

The building known as Siberia was for prisoners put into solitary confinement. If you ended up there you were stripped of all clothing except for felt slippers. The hole in the floor was the toilet and the hole in the ceiling was your only air and light. It's narrow about twice my width and prob 6ft in length. The longest confinement was 7 months. An inmate was given his oatmeal one morning and when dishes were taken away he kept a his spoon and wouldn't give it back. So the guards said he would stay in until the spoon was returned. Seven months later he gave the spoon back and was allowed out.

 

The youngest inmates to serve here were 10 and 11. The 10yr olds father owned a bar and got into a fight with a patron. When his Dad asked for his gun the kid decided he could do one better, got the gun and actually shot the guy. The Warden took pity on him, so instead of being in with the general population he was allowed to live with the Warden's family on the prison grounds. He became a good baseball player on the grounds and I think the tour guide said that when the warden left the prison the young man was not re incarcerated. Missed the last bit of that part of the story.

In the 1950's cell block inmates were able to have a little more freedom, they were allowed their choice of colours (if all 4 inmates could agree) on their cell walls. They also had better access to leather crafting and woodworking tools, hence the padded headboards and toilet seats etc.

They had a basketball team and a baseball team. The 'away' games ceased after one inmate jumped from a train during an away game so after that their were only ever 'home' games. Both teams were the 'Outlaw's' and that name still stands with one of the parks or stadiums today.

 

Anyway after the outlaw jaunt in Boise we made a pit stop in Nampa. We were going to go to the Warhawk Museum but of course it's Monday! Bloody well shut! Hopefully we will get back there to see it. So headed onwards to Baker City, Oregon. The home of the Oregon Trail and a hundred historic buildings.

 

This is where we will spend the night before heading up the road further and into Washington by tomorrow night.

See ya!

Kat xo

http://history.idaho.gov/old-idaho-penitentiary

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Idaho_State_Penitentiary

http://www.warhawkairmuseum.org

 

 

Magic In The Valley

Posted on by kathousekelli70

This years Idaho State Championships hosted by The Snake River Western Shooting Society presented Magic In The Valley – Magic Medicine Show.

 

One of their members Idaho Calliope Kid built a little medicine man wagon and the ladies, Missy Mable (also Match Director), Sweet Harmony and a few others (I'm sorry I don't have their names) came up with some priceless medicinal labels for bottles of varying shapes and sizes which became the side match and costume prizes.

 

The stages were well written, based around various medicinal concoctions and remedies from back in the 1800's. There were little signs almost everywhere and their decorating of stages definitely added to the atmosphere.

Thursday was side match day that started with a 1911 match, then we had speed events and onto warm up match. After shooting the 1911, hands were back into single action mode and ready to go.

 

Friday's 6 stages went well, great weather, great posse. Our Posse – Allen Street Contessa, Colter's Girl, Idaho Bad Company, Idaho Dusty Dawn, Idaho White Rider, Jackaroo, Kathouse Kelli, Kid Colter, Li'l Shotz, Marshal Stone, Missy Mable, Pintail Bandita, Silver Shadow and Twelve Mile Reb. Clean for me and 1 miss for Jack.

After lunch we had couples – real and odd – and then a four man team event. Jack and I won the couples, Colorado Blackjack and I were 2nd in the odd couples. Jackaroo, Waddell Red, Sweet Harmony and Idaho Shady Layne won 2nd place in the team event.

 

Friday afternoon we hung around, cleaned guns and the car whilst waiting for a visit at the airport. Airport? You ask. Well here's why.

One of the cowboy shooters, Lefty Way, works for a company called Airpower Unlimited, and is part of a restoration team for old planes.

Yes, I'm talking Corsair's, Mustang's and more.

He took a handful of us to go see a Corsair they have been restoring. There is also a Mustang sitting in the shed. Well pilots, and wanna be pilots drool. The guys loved it and asked all the technical questions and even for Second Fiddle Sue and I, it was a sight to behold.

The Corsair is one of around 30-40 Corsairs left in the world, (most were used for the series Baa Baa Black Sheep if you've seen it, we haven't) having spent most of its time in Hawaii it didn't actually see war time as such. Now it is privately owned and once fully restored will go back to its owner in Washington (?) to his museum and personal flight enjoyment.

 

It is also one of the last models of the series to be made with 3 blades. Her paint work has been colour matched and finished to the original Fed specs/technical order. During WWII there were around 12,000 made.

Lefty said it is one of the most complex aircraft they work on, even compared to the Mustang's. They've been working on this one on and off for 11 and a half years – approx 38,000 man hours so far.

It was spectacular, thanks Lefty Way! As you can imagine Jack thoroughly enjoyed it and had to get a picture with the Mustang as this is what his Dad flew during WWII in England.

 

Anyway, back to our featured program.

Saturday and we get into the last day, 6 stages. Same finish, Jack 1 miss and me clean! Yippee! Only 3rd clean match ever, actually maybe 4th, think I had one clean match at Chisholm Trail (AUS).

 

Saturday night was banquet and awards.

Jack finished 3rd in Senior, congrats to 1st Place, Jeremiah Jonathon; 2nd Place, JT Wild; 4th Place, Gem Hunter and 5th Place, Mizpah Pete.

For Lady Wrangler, I finished 1st Place and a big congratulations to 2nd Place, Sweet Harmony; 3rd Place, Ruby Q Hammer and 4th Place, Colter's Girl.

Top honours overall went to Colorado Blackjack 1st Place, Kuna 2nd Place and the Idaho State Mens Champion and Twelve Mile Reb 3rd Place. I finished 1st Lady overall in 9th place and Jack finished 11th overall. Finishing 17th overall and Idaho State Ladies Champion is Belinda Belle. Congratulations to all who played!

 

Sunday was the shootout won by JT Wild for the men's, Tadpole for the juniors and myself for the ladies.

However, I am embarrassed to say that it should have been Missy Mable. The video ref says so when Jack and I watched it back (I nearly died), an absent minded moment which should have been called on by the spotters and declared by myself, so I put in a call of apology to Missy Mable. That's what cowboys and cowgirls should do, it's the cowboy way. 'Nuf said.

Once again a hearty congratulations to all those with the Snake River Western Shooting Society for putting on an entertaining, well put together match. We thoroughly enjoyed it and the perfect shooting weather! It truly was magic!

Cheers

Kat xo

http://www.idahocas.com

http://www.airpowerunlimited.net

 

Yellowstone Day 2

Posted on by kathousekelli70

Driving into the park this morning we round the bend on Sylvan Lake and it is literally like glass.

The park is beautiful and covered in wildflowers of various shade of white, yellow, red, pink, purple to blues.

Yesterday I found there is an app tour guide that you can get, so remembering to download it this morning we now have our own in car tour guide by GyPSy Guide.

So we hit the Grand Loop and our guide starts telling us where to go, nicely. Lol!

 

This is a fantastic app. Gives you information for points to stop, scientific, physics and geological information as well.

Our first stop After crossing the Continental Divide again is Kepler Falls.

 

Our guide suggests a stop at Lake Village and a visit to the historical Lake Hotel that was built in 1890. Are we sure glad we did the detour! It's huge and grand in its decor. And there are cabins and a whole other separate wing you can't see in the photos. Small balconettes were added to windows at the lake side and for many years it was referred to as the Lake Colonial Hotel. In 1929 the dining room and sunroom were added.

 

Onto West Thumb Geyser Basin we go to view bubbling holes of spectacular colour that sit right beside the lake. Back in the day the guide said that fisherman were known to catch a fish from the lake, swing around and drop it in the boiling water beside it.

 

From here we headed along the route learning about thermal springs etc and made it to Old Faithful Geyser. Just in time actually to grab lunch and watch it blow! They said 1.30pm give or take 10mins. Well some small eruptions from 1.20 and sure enough spot on 1.30pm it goes off for almost 2 mins. Amazing! Steam and boiling water shooting up to 100ft in the air.

 

Now the guide had also said we should go stick our head in the Old Faithful Inn and at the last minute we turned into the car park to run in and see it. Another glad we did moment! This is like the ultimate of log cabins!

 

We headed North stopping at Biscuit Basin, Firehole Falls and back along past the swimming hole along Firehole Canyon Drive.

 

We reached Madison and turned around to start our trek back south and down through Grand Teton National Park to Jackson. Heading back past Kepler Cascades and still in search of wildlife, I did get to see a wolf! But no turnouts to get a pic 😦 We didn't see any other wildlife today other than little birds but it has been an incredibly colourful day that's for sure!

Kat xo

http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm

http://gypsyguide.com

 

Cody, Wyoming

Posted on by kathousekelli70

In the late 1890's when William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody arrived in this area he fell in love with it, the river and the hot springs. He supported the progress for the town and its infrastructure.

Buffalo Bill was everything from a rancher, Pony Express rider, an Army soldier and scout, a scout for the railroads and Wild West Show Performer.

Best known for his Wild West Shows he performed in 48 of the lower States, in fact the only one he didn't perform in was Nevada.

He took his 500 strong group of Cowboys, cowgirls, Indians, work crew and theatre sets across the country side and even took them all on a ship to Europe performing for the Queen and other dignitaries.

 

Buffalo Bill built 3 hotels along the route from Cody to Yellowstone (it was already the nations first state park) offering rest stops for travellers. Would have been one hell of a trek out here in those days!

The Irma Hotel in Cody, so named after Buffalo Bill's youngest daughter was to be furnished with only the best of everything. It opened in November of 1902. Apparently the Irma Hotel rooms still provide steam heating and are decked out in antique furnishings, some still original to the hotel.

 

The Museum still has the silver ware and dishes from the hotel.

 

The Buffalo Bill Centre of the West Museum is a fantastic place to visit and yes preferably you will need a good full day if not two and your pass will get you two days anyway.


His life took many twists and turns and some of his ventures were not always profitable.

Married to Louisa Frederici, Bill and Louisa's first venture was running a hotel in Leavenworth, Kansas but he longed for the plains. He left Louisa for 9months. This was the start of many trips away from his wife and children. They had 4 children, Arta, Kit Carson, Orra Maude and Irma Louise. He was not present at any of their births!

Kit died at the age of 5 from scarlet fever and Orra would also die 8 years later at age 11. Along with financial strains this put further strains on his and Louisa's relationship. Arta, the eldest, married but later passed away in her early 40's. William and Louisa divorced in 1904.

This left Irma who spent several weeks with Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show in 1894. She would later travel with him at other times for the show. Annie Oakley had taken Irma under her wing, the cast referred to her (endearingly) as “Buffalo Bill's pet”.

Buffalo Bill was also an advocate for women's rights and he was convinced that they were equal to men. He had many women trick riders and sharpshooters including both Annie Oakley and Lillian Smith perform with his troop.

 

This is only a very very brief insight to Buffalo Bill, his relations with the Indians, various ventures – newspaper publishing, mining etc.

 

He died January 10, 1917 and is buried on Lookout Mountain West of Denver.

After this we had lunch at The Eatery within the museum, excellent choices, buffet, build your own sandwiches, wraps etc.

Then we went into the seemingly endless Firearms Museum. Holy moly! There is just about anything and everything, beautifully displayed, cut away's to see internal workings, gun tools, lathes, original engineering drawings etc!! There are some very interesting international firearm samples on display also.

 

So!

Pre dinner drinks at the Silver Dollar Saloon after a stroll down the street in our period costumes. We visited the Irma for the gun fight in the street, drinks and dinner. The original cherrywood bar is stunning!

We met some amazing people. First time Sturgis participants from the U.S. and New Zealand! Chatted with the shootout performers and enjoyed ourselves…….perhaps a little too much! 🙂

Good times!

Kat xo

http://centerofthewest.org

http://www.irmahotel.com

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cody,_Wyoming

 

 

Mt Rushmore Tours – Pt 1

Posted on by kathousekelli70

The tour started with breakfast this morning at the chuck wagon, pancakes it is! You can come in and eat breakfast here without being on the tour and it is all you can eat pancakes for 99c. You heard me, 99c.

 

As we depart Ft. Hays, our bus driver for the day is Dan Eggebraaten. There are 28 on the bus from Indiana, the rest of us Nebraska, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Jack and I the only Internationals from Australia.

And so began the trivia and extra information about South Dakota, the Black Hills and the little towns in between. So here is some of today's history lesson for those that haven't been before,

The population for the whole state of South Dakota is 800,000. There are several different reservations with 75,000 native Americans and they populate 25% of the state land. The Lakota Sioux named the hills of South Dakota with the Indian name of Paha Sapa meaning hills that are black. Hence, the Black Hills.

Lead (pronounced leed) got its name from the lead's in the rock that the miners would look for when searching for gold. You can see some of these white lines (lead's) in some of the rock faces we passed on the road.

This bridge is made from laminated Douglas fir timber, it is called the Keystone Wye Bridge.

 

Keystone was an old mining camp from years ago. Mines were said to be often named after the miners wives. Big thunder mine is still open for touring, and there is another mine named after a miners wife called the holy terror, it was a very prosperous mine in its time. It could yield 250pds of gold a month. A lot of cave in's and deaths occurred at that mine before it was closed off. Keystone folks celebrate Holy Terror Days annually.

 

First stop on the tour is Mt Rushmore. The Mt Rushmore Memorial is sculptured on the south east face of the mountain featuring Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln.

The four presidents were carved by Gutzon Borglum, commenced at the age of 60 and took him 14 years to carve finishing in 1941. In actual time working on the carvings were 6.5 years (if you considered weather and other things that halted work along the way).

The sculpture is complete as finished on the mountain. No further carving was done after he Bordlum passed away but his intentions were to have them carved to the waist.

$1M was spent on the sculpture which doesn't seem a lot until you know that it was done during the Great Depression. Washington's face is 60ft from top of his head to bottom of his chin and 11ft across the eyes. This means if completed would be 400ft high. Lincoln's mole is 16″ across.

 

There were 400 people working with this monument and its surroundings and no one died whilst doing it. There is a granite wall recognising all those involved, only one man is still alive today – Donald “Nick” Clifford now 94. (He was actually in the gift store signing books, so an opportunity we couldn't pass up)

 

The avenue of flags leads you to the viewing platform and entrances to the presidential trail and sculpture studio.

90% of the work on the faces was done with dynamite and then Borglum could do the finer details.

The sheer size of this monument is amazing to see. There is also the amphitheatre, exhibit hall, restaurant and gift shop. If you ever get there it's a must see.

Apparently Mt Rushmore was named after Charlie Rushmore a New York Lawyer, who went out to check on some of his clients mining claims. It was reported that he may have made a sizeable donation hence the name may have come from then.

Kat – your local 'how fast can your fingers type' historian

July 28th, 2015

 

 

What’s Next?

Posted on by kathousekelli70

So we have been back from End Of Trail now for almost 2 weeks.

In that time it's been busy clearing washing, folding and ironing, for Jack, cleaning and reloading for the next trip, and of course a couple of club matches thrown in good measure and getting to the gym and swimming.

Then to the new fabric choices on the board, sorting out what needs to be cut, sewn, drafted, ordered and put into production.

It certainly has been a busy couple of weeks.

– finished making a bustle skirt and corset – sent!

– 2 vaquero suits underway, passementerie trim arrived and patterns half sorted in my head from photos.

– 2 reticule's made aka small hand bag or if you are Jack – a shell bag for brass……no comment.

– 8 corsets at varying stages of production on the table. Extra steel has now arrived for completion.

– 1 bar keep's apron.

Ready to cut out – 1 split skirt, 2 shirts, 1 pr bloomers, 1 pr pants.

 

Find fabric for – 1 civil war bodice, 3 corsets, 1 b-western outfit, 2 b-western shirts….and that's only a part of it.

Oh, and just a small portion of embroidery to be done.

But you know what, it's not a chore. Everything is different, I love it and can't wait for the next project.

This next trip though the sewing machine will be going with me to do some portion whilst enjoying some of the Midwest highlights of this great country.

This week coming we will be heading back up through to Colorado to Nunn and then spend a couple of days with Aspen Filly before heading through to Cheyenne, Wyoming and beyond.

Check out the 'Where Along The Trail' on the website to see the schedule.

See you on the trail!!

Kat xo