Thermopolis, Wyoming

One of our objectives on this trip across the American West was to avoid the freeway as much as possible, and I’m happy to report that on our run from Yellowstone to Casper yesterday we were 100% successful.  One of the towns we visited was Thermopolis, a delightful little place that looks and feels like America.  I really like Wyoming.

Thermopolis gets its name from its mineral hot springs.   We loved the place, and after a fantastic lunch at the One-Eyed Buffalo, we walked around town a bit.   There’s a dynamite town square with a statue of a cowboy on horseback, and on the statue’s pedestal they had an assortment of area ranch brands…

I started laughing when I saw all of the brands, and Sue asked me why.  I told her it reminded me of the old Bill Dana joke.  Bill Dana is the guy who created the fictional Jose Jiminez character, and this is my favorite story of that era.   Dana was on the Steve Allen show, and Allen said to Dana “I understand you own a ranch.”

Dana answered, “yes, the name of my ranch is the Bar Nine Circle Z Rocking O Flying W Lazy O Crazy Two Happy Seven Bar 17 Parallelogram Four Octagon Nine Trapezoid Six Ranch.”

Allen then asked, “Well, do you have many cattle?”

Dana, of course, had the perfect answer:  “No…not many survive the branding.”