This morning I visited NLBM, The Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a Bucket List item. It appears to be in an area which was a vibrant African American Neighborhood.
The Gem Theater is across the street.
Hank Aaron
The Kansas City Art Museum is called The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Front of the art museum
Paul Rudd says The Z-Man Sandwich at Joe’s Kansas City BBQ is the best sandwich in the world so I stopped. I wanted the daily special which was the burnt end dinner but I’ve had that before. Went with the Z-Man.It was really good. Joe’s is big and it was packed at 11:30 with locals which included 6 State Patrol Officers.
Woke up an hour and a half early so I got an early start. Checked into a hotel in Cameron, Missouri at around 4:30. Got 87 octane gasoline in southern Iowa for $3.37 which is what I paid in this area in 2018 on my first trips after I retired. The Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame in Kansas City is an hour away and opens at 10 am tomorrow so I’ll get a good rest after somewhat of a long day.
I don’t think monarchies should exist but I liked Queen Elizabeth.
In a week and a half I’ll be heading back to the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico for the fourth time I think. This time a friend and I have rented a house in a little town about twenty minutes from the river and have rented a fishing guide for the first day we will be fishing. I’ve always caught fish on the San Juan but could do a lot better with a guide. I’m tying a lot of tiny flies.
These are flies that work on the San JuanMidges the trout eat on my waders
On Wednesday, September 7th I’ll start heading back to the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico for a solid five days of fishing. It’s a 4 day drive. I could drive it in three days but why wear myself out? This will be my 4th time fishing this incredible river. I’ll start fishing Sunday, September 11 and will leave on Friday, September 16.
Haven’t been doing a whole lot except exploring the beautiful Driftless Area. Last night I had a good visit with a married couple I knew in the mid 70s. I was very good friends with him back then. They retired from a Chicago suburb to about 10 miles from where I’m camped in La Farge. So strange that he ended up being a tool and die mold guy just like me.
Fishing the Timber Coulee once again. I’ve usually fished it in June. Now the weeds are higher than my waist and the ground is uneven so it isn’t easy walking. Caught a few small brown trout.
Once again in the Driftless Area for some relaxation, some trout fishing, and to have a beer with a good old friend. I’ll be here four nights and will depart on Friday my seventieth birthday. What are ya gonna do? I’m camped at La Farge Village Campground. La Farge is a little town with its own little campground with electrical hookups, a dump station, potable water, and a bathroom with hot showers for $20 a night. The Kickapoo River, a fairly famous trout river runs through town and the drive in or out of town is beautiful with the road following the river through a valley.
Sounds like the high school band is giving a little concert in the park.
It was necessary to cut my Bighorn Mountains trip short. I’ve been home for almost two weeks. Soon I’ll take a short, maybe 4 days, trip to the Driftless Area to see an old friend and catch a few trout. There is a little town, LaFarge WI, in the Driftless Area that has its own inexpensive campground where I’ll camp. It’s a good deal, $20 with electricity, water, and it has a dump station. Pretty sure I’ll take a Lake Superior Circle Tour this summer.
Dump station is still not open. If it isn’t open by Friday morning it will be another very expensive drive to the public dump in Sheridan. There is a guy I’ve talked to several times. He’s very talkative. At first I didn’t know he manages the campgrounds up here. He stopped the first time because of my truck’s plates. He moved here from Wisconsin Rapids, WI 35 years ago. He and the two campground hosts acted like they didn’t know why the dump is closed. I knew why. Seems odd.
Heard our camp host, Wendy I think, just went to the ER in Sheridan because of an injured back and shoulder.
Just took a drive to send an email and get the weather and sports. Looks like it’ll be July before it will be in the 70s.
Someone asked me what the bathrooms are like in the National Forest Campgrounds here in the Bighorns. This is typical.
A beautiful clear warm day.
The South Tongue River is still high but it is lower today. The water is clear. Fished from 11:30 to 1:30 and was surprised to catch 3 brook trout on a #16 Bead Head Hare’s ear. Caught 3 more brook trout from 6 to 7:30 pm on the same fly. I tried a dry fly first, a small stimulator, and two fish rose to it but rejected it after a close inspection.
Fishing is on but it’s supposed to cool down for a few days. It was close to 70 today and I never saw one cloud.
My collapsible grill I’m happy with.
Thursday, June 23, 2022. Day 22
Woke at 6:30. 41 and sunny outside. 61 at noon.
Painted all areas of my “Hills” painting this morning. Sometimes a layer can seem like a step backwards. This layer feels that way to me but hopefully it’s a good base. I’m thinking two more layers and then some dicking around to finish it.
Here are two photos of the same painting at the same time using different camera settings.
Woke at 5. 33 outside and 66 inside. I think the near freezing mornings are behind me. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, I hope.
Need to find a dump station. I’ve been in my trailer for 14 days without dumping and my grey water tank (sinks and shower) is full. The dump station at Burgess Junction is not open yet. I might have to take a drive I don’t want to take. Can’t really take my trailer to Sheridan for chores. I won’t be able to park in some spots.
Thurs., June 16, 2022 Day 16
Woke at 5:30. 35 outside and 64 inside. Not much warmer.
Tried to fish the North Tongue River which is usually a little stream. It’s still high. While I was wading I would spook good size trout from just under the bank. That’s where they were hanging out so I couldn’t get to them. It was super windy. Trying to accurately cast a dry fly to within a few inches of the bank wasn’t going to work. The bank has a lot of what looks like willowy bushes that just have buds right now. I lost one dry/dropper rig to a bush across the stream. There was a deeper fast moving hole in front of it so I couldn’t get to it. Hopefully a few more days or a week the rivers will be fishable.
Friday, June 17, 2022 Day 17
Woke at 5. 44 outside and 67 inside. Feels like a big warmup.
12 degrees warmer outside made a big difference in my trailer.
The dump station up here is still not open. Had to drive to Sheridan to a huge Wyoming rest area on I-90 which has a free dump. A mile from the rest area is a U.S. Forest Service office where I bought a Bighorn National Forest Map. The woman behind the counter told me that Burgess Junction dump was closed because of a broken water line caused by the unusual weather and that it would be open sometime next week.
Sat, June 18, 2022 Day 18
Woke at 4. 59 outside and 64 inside.
Last evenings was perfect so I built the first campfire I’ve built in decades. It was pleasant. $6 for a small bundle of wood that seems to be enough for two small fires which will last about an hour and a half each. You can collect dead wood to burn. I’ll do some of that once in a while.
The Forest Service is behind up here because of the 30” of snow almost 3 weeks ago. This campground and another in the area don’t have working water pumps. The campgrounds just opened and I think the water has to be tested.
I chose to come here this early in the season in order to see the entire season. So far I’m getting my wish.
I’m camped at Tie Flume Campground for the next two weeks. It’s on the South Tongue River which is still pretty high.
Tie Flume siteView from my site at Tie Flume
Two years ago I was here twice, once in July and once in August I think, two weeks each time, for a total of a month. I caught many small trout.
August 2020August 2020
Like everywhere else the Forest Service has a shortage of camp hosts. When I told the 75 year old host at Ranger Creek that I was going to camp in the Bighorns for 100 days this summer, he said I should be a camp host and told me about his pay. There are signs at the entrance to the campgrounds looking for hosts. The pay varies by the size of the campground. He gets $1000 a month, his campsite, and some expense reimbursement. Works out to about $1500 a month. He and his cohost, his wife, get one day off a week. They live in Greybull, about a 35 minute drive away.
There isn’t anything wrong with it but I don’t want to clean the bathrooms a couple of times a day along with cleaning the fire rings and tables at each campsite everyday. The reservations and campsite postings must be handled also.
Every camp host I’ve encountered is a real talker.
The host here at Tie Flume seems to be very friendly. She must be 75 to 80. For a National Forest campground Tie Flume isn’t small. There might be 25 sites that need to be maintained and the sites reservations need to be handled. She’s in a conversion van from the 90’s and a tent. I hope it works out for her.
Turns out I can paint in my trailer if I lay the easel on its back on a TV tray I forgot I had under the trailer without extending the easel’s three legs.
The South Tongue River is still way too high
Sun, June 19, 2022 Day 19
Woke at 6. 52 outside and 63 inside. Warmed the trailer up in about 10 minutes. I think it’s supposed to be cool for a couple of days. At 11 am it’s 54 and mostly cloudy.
Once the dump station is open this will be a breeze. Every two weeks I’ll go to either North Tongue Campground or Tie Flume Campground. The dump station is about three miles from North Tongue campground. The two campgrounds are about ten miles away from each other. I will change campgrounds and dump my tanks and fill up with potable water every Friday. On the Friday I’m not moving I’ll hook the trailer up and take a short ride to the dump station. Right now potable water is an issue.
It’s Sunday so people are leaving. Local ATVers are taking their trailers, toys, and kids and going home. I realize they have every right but weekdays are much quieter.
Successfully started on a 12 x 16 stretched canvas painting using a photo I took a couple of weeks ago. By successfully I mean that I painted indoors and didn’t get oil paint on anything.
Don’t have any idea how the painting will turn out.
This is the first stage of the sky. There might be three more layers. The pencil drawing leaves dark smudges with the first layer of paint but the first layer will lock in or “fix” the pencil when the first layer of paint drys.
Kinda ballsy showing every step of a painting. Chances are the finished product won’t be successful.
Monday, June 20, 2022 Day 20
Woke at 5:30. 40 and sunny outside.
Painted the first stage of the hills and foreground.
It’s sunny but just under 50 degrees at 11 am.
Yesterday I learned that I can get water from a campground that is only 4 miles away. I have a 5 gallon jug with a top. One trip a day until the dump/potable water station will do it.
At 1 pm it was 59. At 3:30 it was 36 and snowing.
Droveto Greybull partly through snow. I needed to check on something. 67 degrees down there. On the drive back I saw two elk and a couple of antelope for the first time this trip. Almost every time I drive somewhere I see at least one moose. Two moose grazing together is common. I once saw three moose together and once four together. None of the moose, mule deer, antelope, or elk I’ve seen have antlers. Google this before posting this blog.
For the heck of it I went through the am and fm channels on my trailer’s radio. I wasn’t expecting to find anything. Campgrounds tend not to be placed at high points. The speakers aren’t terrible. Nothing on am but on fm I found Wyoming NPR loud and clear! Also one country, one classical, and one pop station. I was surprised to find anything.
When I’m painting at home I have NPR on my little system.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022 Day 20
Woke at 5:30. 32 and sunny outside. My furnace has been treating me well.
Yesterday I broke the end off of my HDMI cable. No movies until I go to town so I’m going to go today, a day early. I read a lot during the day, sometimes inside, sometimes outside.
Once it warms up I anticipate painting in the morning, fishing after it warms and the bugs and fish are active, and reading at night. For now I appreciate a movie at night.
There are two young families camped at adjacent sites. They spend the entire day outside. They each have their little rubber boots and rain jackets with hoods. Yesterday they were eating lunch at the picnic tables in the cold rain. It wasn’t pouring but it’s not for me. I admire the lifestyle but I wasn’t raised that way and it’s not for me.
