Later, a co-worker fixed me up with her friend who is a caretaker at a property next door to the ranch. Nice gig if you can get it! Last week, the property owner held a big RNC fundraiser at his home and House Speaker Paul Ryan was the guest of honor, along with John Boehner. Secret Service agents were everywhere and the ranch owners had to move horses to different pastures to accommodate the event and access to it. Apparently, Judge Judy Sheindlin lives one house over on the same road.
The property I visited sits on 3 acres along the Snake River and boasts a guest cottage, irrigated pond, lush lawn, and enormous log home.
Anyway, I rode my bike over for the date yesterday. My new friend has watched over the property for a decade, lives in the guest cottage and is well taken care of by his Houston based employer. His "cottage" has a garage, deck, river view, workout room, laundry, etc... much nicer digs than any of the ski resort or ranch employees have around here. He keeps his ski boat and dogs there and has access to all sorts of toys including a Polaris that we took for a spin along the dike. He brought his 2 labs, tubes and a Yeti cooler full of Miller Lite, and we waded across the rocky bottom of the river to explore some of the islands. A lot of fun!
The Snake River is constantly shifting based on water flow and melting snow, and sometimes these rocky islands are completely submerged. When they reappear, there's no telling what one might find there. Our wranglers frequently go over on horseback on their days off and find all sorts of old elk and other carcasses, skulls, raptor feathers and other cool things. Today, we saw some bear scat and also this huge tree that had been chewed by beavers.
The afternoon date was brief because it was my boss's birthday, the ranch owner, and he sprung for drinks for the crew at a nearby bar. Good crowd & lots of fun...such nice people to work for!
A ranch co-worker from Vero Beach invited me to tag along with her to a dinner party afterwards in a nearby town. Her friends have a house here in WY and are building a home in FL just south of Vero. I met them at the Stagecoach a few weeks back and thought they might be nice people to know when I'm in FL this winter, so I went. Their neighborhood, Red Top Meadows is a rural area of modest homes, cabins and equestrian properties with access to national forest, located 12 miles south of the town of Wilson.
Their cabin was charming, recently remodeled, with a rustic feel. We had a delicious Italian dinner of lasagna, meatballs in sauce, garlic bread and kale salad, followed by strawberry short cake.
Really fun people, and a perfect cool night to enjoy their outdoor fire pit while we dined al fresco! I still can't get used to the 40-50 degree evening temps in August.
South Fall Creek Road, the route we took to get to the cabin, was winding, very scenic and gained elevation to the point that our ears popped on the way there and back. Like most Wyoming highways, it was pitch black after dark, and the hosts warned us to watch out for deer and elk on the drive home. Sure enough, I spotted a deer on the roadside, and as we slowed, it ran right across the road in front of us. Close call, but we made it back to the ranch safely. Ah, Wyoming!
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