Ping Pong

The summer I was 16 my parents let me drive by myself to Ten Sleep, Wyoming  to visit Vernon and Doris Rice.  Vernon was my dad's cousin; in fact, my dad was named after Vernon's dad, Edward. They had come to visit us the summer before and invited me out to visit them at their ranch in Ten Sleep (418.3 miles from Clifton).  This was before the Ted Bundy days so getting lost was the biggest fear parents had.

Those who know me know that I'm a real homebody so this was quite the adventure.  Things went quite well until I was somewhere near the Idaho-Wyoming border.  The road wound through the tree-lined canyon. The problem with that is that there were tall trees lining the road and the sun was out so it gave an on and off again flickering effect.  I can't even watch the water running in the bath and it gave me a really bad case of motion sickness.  That's the only time I thought of turning around, but I'd promised them a visit and stubbornness is a Rice family trait.

After what seemed forever, I came across the Badlands.  They are just as described.  It was so wonderful to reach the pretty town of Lander, population about 7,000 which seemed like a major city. Ten Sleep is two and a half hours from Lander.  The thing is it's like a mogul moonscape.  You cannot see any sign of life, just dirt mogul after dirt mogul. Just when I was about to lose hope, right around the next group of moguls, there was nestled the cutest little town!

Ten Sleep was so named because the American Indians measured it as ten sleeps from Ft. Laramie, Yellowstone Park, and Stillwater, Montana.  (That's how I used to tell the kids how long it was til Christmas, etc, so many more sleeps.) 

Vern and Doris were salt-of-the-earth people, very welcoming.  They were ranchers and far more important in the community than I realized, though they gave no indication. Food was homemade. Doris made beautiful quits and she gave me one. 

Vern took me out on the ranch to check on the sheep.  He had two sheepdogs, Ping and Pong. I had not ever seen, nor have since seen, anything like the work they did.  He just whistled here and there and those dogs acted like kids turned loose in a candy shop.  They must have run miles gathering up all the sheep and did it so fast they were like two little blurs.  My recollection is that they were big collies, black and white. 

One day they took me to Buffalo, a town you would expect they would film Lonesome Dove or Longmire.  He bought me a beautiful yellow western scarf. It was a wonderful day and a wonderful trip.  There are many wonderful people who bless our lives.