It Is Good To Be Home
When we decided to head out to Wyoming for this vacation, one place that immediately came to mind was a trip to visit the former ranch of my great great grandparents. If one goes out to your great great great grandparents, one has a maximum of 62 direct ancestors. Of my 62 direct ancestors, all have direct ties in Iowa and all but 4 of those are buried in Iowa. Two of those not buried in Iowa are buried only 50 feet south of the state line and the other two are buried out in NE Colorado though they were born in Iowa. Those two people moved independently out to Wyoming, met, married and bought their first ranch in SE Wyoming, not far from the path we were going to use to head back home on this trip. So I plugged the coordinates into my GPS and off we went.
Eventually the paved roads ended and we turned into a private two track gravel land running through pastures over cattle guards and with numerous private property signs saying no trespassing. I figured since I was planning on introducing myself should anyone still live there that I wasn't trespassing and proceeded on. After a couple miles of proceeding down the two track lane through several pastures, I came to the scene above. I drove in and knocked on the door of the house but it looked deserted and not lived in though cared for. There was a security camera above the door so I'm guessing someone is wondering what I was up too. None of the buildings looked old enough to be belonging to my great great grandparents though the house could have been and had just been resided or added onto at some point. Being on security camera footage though, I didn't want to poke around any so we just left the same way we came. I did liberate a large stone from the edge of the two track lane to take home and add to our landscaping out front as a way to remember my brief visit.
From the ranch of my great great grandparents, we drove for awhile and then stopped in the small town of Chugwater to visit this place which I found listed in Atlas Obscura online. Obviously others know about Atlas Obscura as there were several others there checking it out as we were. While one of my daughters got an orange soda fountain drink, I walked across the street to the general mercantile store and bought a "prairie pie" which they were known for. It was a granola bar the size of.... well... a cow pie and looked a bit like one from a distance but I'm guessing much tastier. I have never eaten a cow pie so don't know that for certain. We also stopped in at a store known for it's Chugwater Chili seasoning and bought a bottle of spice for our pantry. They were all out of chili so I don't know how it tastes.... yet.
From there, we finally exited the great state of Wyoming into Colorado and before stopping for the night, drove to the small town of Berthoud where my great great grandparents spend the final years of their lives after they sold their ranch and are buried there. I haven't written much about Maude but have written a bit about William Wells and his father and grandfather. His father was a Civil War deserter and burned to death in a fire while guarding a train depot and his grandfather died after being run over by trains. William found out about his father's death while aboard a train. Needless to say, the family had bad luck with trains. William however lived a decently long life and after ranching, spent the latter part of his life farming near Berthoud, Colorado. With my visit to their grave, I have now visited the graves of all my great great grandparents. I still have I think a half dozen or so graves to visit to complete seeing those of all my great great great grandparents.
We spent the night in nearby Fort Collins, Colorado at a generic motel. It had a good view of all the dog owners taking their dogs out to shit on the grass in the early morning hours and "forgetting" to pick it up and dispose of it. We spent a short day driving east to Grand Platte, Nebraska where we stopped in for a visit with one of my wife's nieces. I never wrote about it but she lost her boyfriend to suicide a few months ago and we made a trip out to support her during the funeral, the only ones to be with her during that time. She is doing a bit better but still has a way to go in the grieving process. The following morning, we bid our goodbyes and made the long drive the rest of the way home.
As I always think when I return home from a long road trip, "It is good to be home."
All in all it seems like a most interesting trip and the kind that I would probably like to take. Somewhere here in Eastern Ontario, not all that far from us, would be my great grandparents old farm or just homestead. I’ve had thoughts of trying to find it.
ReplyDeleteI like standing on land my ancestors owned and cared for. It makes me feel closer to them than a cemetery plot which they likely never stood on.
DeleteSounds like a very interesting trip, Ed. As always, thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking that I would like to do a little less travel in the Far Abroad over the next few years and more in the Near Abroad (e.g., driving). This is all new country to me, and a day trip here and there is not at all the way to explore.
Home is best.
I am at the stage of wanting to do the reverse, having explored just about every state in the union with the exception of Rhode Island and Alaska.
DeleteIf you haven't been out to the east along the gorge, I highly recommend it. We bought tickets on a school bus shuttle and explored all the waterfalls inside the park and had a great day since we weren't having to worry about parking. I also enjoyed just driving south of The Dalles region where we got to see some arid wheat fields, to lush cherry orchards to high alpine scenery near the dormant volcanoes.
If I had your family history, I might avoid trains! Sounds like y'all had a good trip.
ReplyDeleteI have tempted fate in the past and lived to tell the tale!
DeleteThanks for sharing your adventures, Ed. Retracing your great great grandparents’ footsteps and visiting places tied to your ancestors sounds like it was definitely worth it. Good luck with the chili seasoning and welcome back home.
ReplyDeleteFall and chili season will soon be upon us!
DeleteThat's such an impressive feat, visiting all the graves of your great great grandparents. Most of mine were in Scotland or Italy so that would be tough for me to do. I think my paternal grandmother's people have been in the U.S. the longest. I don't understand the lack of etiquette of some dog owners. It's appalling. Travel is great but home is also very nice!
ReplyDeleteNobody thinks long term of the actions anymore! I’m pretty sure most of my family goes back to the immediate years after the Mayflower judging on how many branches simply fade away with records.
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ReplyDeleteGreat scenery and family history
Thank you!
DeleteIt's been awhile since I had an old fashioned soda fountain drink.
ReplyDeleteThe lady manning the counter wasn’t very friendly which is why I walked across the street for the prairie pie. Had she been friendlier, we probably all would have had a soda fountain drink.
DeleteYou had a good trip! Too bad no one was home the day you visited your great great grandparents old place.
ReplyDeleteI looked up the owner online and wrote a letter. Perhaps there will be more to write about in the future.
DeleteThis sounds like a very meaningful road trip (vs. just the usual sight seeing). Kind of a shame no one was home at your first stop.
ReplyDeleteWe try to avoid the typical road trip destinations. I looked up the land owner when I got home and wrote them a letter. Perhaps there will be more to blog about in the future.
DeleteGreat narrative, Ed, and I also thank you for sharing. Your eloquent and direct descriptors, e.g. "all the dog owners taking their dogs out to shit on the grass" brings a smile. I am supposed to take a trip in that direction in late Sept/early Oct but some recent obstacles might prevent it. Fingers crossed. Your state is one of eight I have still not visited, and I hope to remedy that soon. I'll let you know when I head that way!
ReplyDeleteYou are always welcome for a stop over in my neck of the woods Bob. Maybe my neighbors dog will come over and shit in my lawn while you are here!
DeleteSounds like a fascinating trip.
ReplyDeleteIt was a mixture of exploring new territory and revisiting places I had been in my childhood.
DeleteYep, nice trip; avoid trains. That's a strong genetic tendency! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to take an extended train trip sometime in this lifetime. I'll make sure to update my will before I leave though!
DeleteSounds like an interesting trip. I wonder if the predominance of trains in your family history has more to do with their importance to the local culture at the time and less to do with bad luck! The soda fountain sounds pretty great, but I'm less certain about the prairie pie. It's great that you could be there for your wife's niece.
ReplyDeleteSome dog owners seem to think if they're nowhere near home and they don't know anybody, they can get away with not picking up. Super annoying.
You hit the nail on the head Steve. Trains were everywhere back then and I'm sure both of my ancestors that died due to them had ridden them hundreds of times prior without incident. I have only ridden a train twice so I still have a lot more rides left before something bad happens.
DeleteI have farming roots in Iowa as well. I remember visiting my great aunt in Buffalo Center many times as a child. That is where I got my introduction and love for pheasant hunting!
ReplyDeleteOur pheasant population down here ebbs and flows. I think it is on an ebb cycle as I haven't seen one in quite awhile but in my youth, I used to see them by the hundreds.
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