After dropping Isaiah off I arrived at the Historic Trails Interpretive Center. The entrance was disappointing. Not only was there no smoky Buffalo Bill mirage to greet me, but there were great clouds of smoke gasping out of the hood of Vandrea. Thinking it was a simple case of overheating I let it cool down while I went inside to enjoy the museum. As luck would have it, the interpretive center is actually part of the NPS and therefore free to card carrying members. Damn, now I couldn't prove to the Visitor center lady that I could afford $3.
The town of Casper holds an esteemed place in history as it was the location where 400,000+ people passed through going west, each branching out from there to different locations. With this in mind, the multi-million dollar interpretive center was architecturally designed to give the visitor a pioneer's perspective. From the hike to the entrance from the parking lot, the covered wagon reminiscent entrance way and the blue tiles that lined the ceiling that represented the North Platte River, each detail was well considered.
The center holds six different sections representing each type of westward traveller-nomadic Natives who followed buffalo migrations, fur trappers, pioneers on the Oregon Trail, Mormons heading for Zion (Salt Lake City), Gold Rushers and Pony Express employees who made sure communication between the West and East was possible before railroads (They could get from Missouri to California in 10 days). Each area included not only an abundance of information, but an interactive exhibit. I "crossed" over a river clutching a barrel in the back of an oxen pulled wagon, attempted (not all that successfully) to pull a realistically weighted handcart as the Mormons did and "rode" a bumpy stage coach. My favorite exhibit though was the one dedicated to the Martin party.
During the Mormon emigration to Zion a party of over 800 people including very young children set out for Salt Lake City, but did so too late in the year and experienced unbelievable hardship. Recently I've been fascination by learning about other religions, especially the Latter Day Saints. Reading Jon Krauker's "Under the Banner of Heaven" sparked my interest and had already prepared me for the exhibit on this tragedy. As you sit in the museum in a small theater you hear the voices of the McBride family, talking at first excitedly about their voyage, then later despairingly as the cold sets in (cold air filters through a vent "chilling you to the bone" or at least giving you a vague sense of being uncomfortable). You experience with the remaining McBride children the loss of 150 lives and finally, as you yourself try to suppress the tears, you hear the youngest boy crying "Father?!? Father?!? Wake up!" A very moving experience.
The only possible disappointment came when I watched the over acted introductory video, though even this was mostly redeemed as the theatre was surrounded by life like three dimensional (more so than the actors) mannequins that were incorporated into the presentation through spotlights and great sound effects.
When I came back out to the van I had expected it to be completely cooled down. Not only was it still hot, adding water caused a water/coolant mixture to leak all over the parking lot. Without the help of my wonderful Uncle Rich and our AAA membership (thank you Betty and Gary!) we would have been in even more of a predicament. The whole ordeal included having to make several phone calls to the library and finding the librarians progressively less helpful (by the last time the librarian announced their was some girl calling who would not be picking me up), and Isaiah subsequently embarking on a walk across town to be with me and the van and the tow truck driver arriving an hour and 50 minutes faster than the 2-hour estimate, and before Isaiah could hoof it over, but not before he left the library. An added bit of mayhem included a kind but incompetent good Samaritan trying to help and...well I'll let Uncle Rich, who happened to be on the phone, while the stranger played mechanic in my other ear, describe the quality of the stranger's suggestions-
"Who is that?! Do NOT listen to him, he doesn't know what he is talking about!!"
In the end the very cool tow truck driver found Isaiah as he was walking towards where he thought I was and in the opposite direction of where I was now headed.
Strange as it may sound we had fun hanging out at the Thomas Crawford Repair shop. The staff was great and funny. They offered to let us sleep in the van in their lot and were willing to leave the bathroom unlocked for us. They made recommendations of where to go (in town and out of state) and played us YouTube videos. The owner himself was under the van in record time fixing the broken hose. Since it could have been a water pump or a head gasket we felt lucky, even with the $100 repair bill.
To cap off the evening we took Roger's (from the shop) advice and headed to On the Border for $1 Taco Tuesdays. Taco Night was so popular not one of the 50 parking spaces were vacant. We parked up the hill at the Walmart and found a dirt pathway directly down to the restaurant. On the Border is definitely worth the stop as I ate a fairly impressive amount of chips and salsa and Isaiah determined that it was one of the best ( $1 or no) tacos he has ever had. For the frosting on the cake (or butter on the popped corn) someone left a microwave popcorn bag taped to the Redbox machine (if they were really so thoughtful they would have included a microwave).
Interpretive Center
Quote from Interpretive Center "If you have ever thought about throwing your possessions in a car and heading out for parts unknown, you already know the feeling that propelled hundreds of thousands of emigrants westward in the 19th century."
Vandrea gets towed
Random act of kindess on the Redbox
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