Saturday August 1, Loveland CO

Driving out from camp this morning we spotted the local County Fair, always like to see what is happening in the small areas, so turned around. It was the Goshen County Fair, a week long event that had begun on Monday. Evidently we had missed the big day, Thursday, where the whole county has a holiday, and there is a street parade, then everyone goes to the fair, so the show was winding down.

It reminded my of a typical A and P show in New Zealand, there were the exhibition halls with the produce and flowers, stitching, painting and photography.

And the stock. Walking in we saw a young chap preparing his Suffolk lamb for show, its head was tied to a frame as he clipped it. With his cowboy hat on, he was full of concentration, but was happy to have his photo taken, then offered to “show” it for us. He told us he was 12 and belonged to the 4H club, a bit like the Young Farmers Clubs in NZ, but these children start at a younger age, and the learn the techniques of correctly showing animals. His 14 year old brother competed in the bull riding the night before and got a second place.

We had a long chat with the family, they had a ranch about 3 hours away where they ran cattle, using horses for stock work, but they ran a few sheep for showing.

Into the exhibition halls where we met one of the organising committee, she was on a broom sweeping the floors. Her and her husband bred stud Angus which they sold in the states and overseas, and she taught at the local high school.

Outside in the exhibition ring, the older 4H teenagers were being judged for their handling and showing of heifers. The animals were beautiful groomed, saw them using large “blow driers” on their coats to fluff them up!

It was one of those stops that gave us a feel of rural America.

Much of the days drive through the corner of Wyoming was through areas such as Laramie County, kept thinking about the early settlers as they travelled through here on their long journey west. It looked like the sets where the western movies and TV shows were made, and you could imagine the Indians hiding in the rocky outcrops.

After a 7 degree start this morning, the day really warmed up to over 30, and the traffic was pretty heavy. And the bikers passed us in the hundreds heading to Sturgis, it is like all roads lead there like the spokes of a wheel.

We stopped at Cheyenne for fuel, have never seen such a busy place, it was the intersection of 2 major interstates, trucks were everywhere and it took ages to fuel up. Had thought we would take a look around the city, but after this encounter in the heat, decided to head south into Colorado, we will be back in Wyoming on the western side as we head back north.

Great to leave the city behind and get into the open country again, and headed for Loveland in the base of the Rockies.