Miles City, Montana - Dancing in the Street

It was a full, fun day yesterday and here's just one of the things happening yesterday.

But, today's the big day so hang on to your hats cowboys/cowgirls.

Yeehaw!

Ray

Bucking Horse Sale - Rodeo

Today's feature: Photos of Rodeo

What a beautiful day yesterday in Miles City that was packed full of excitement. Above are my photos of the bucking horses and their riders. (3 pages) What a day!

Video to follow soon but today we leave the wonderful hospitality of Jim & Jan and head out to see more of Montana/Canada and other States. Life is good!

Cheers! Ray

Video -- Bucking Horse Sale

Greetings:

Today's video - The Rodeo

We haven't had good internet speeds since we left Miles City, Montana but here at the Fairfield Inn, Great Falls, Montana we have excellent speed so here goes with a new video.....The Bucking Horse Sale. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

It really was neat being so close to the action!!!

Cheers! Ray

Sounds like you and Penny are having a great time with Jim & Jan. Thanks for sharing Ray.

Parade - Miles City Bucking Horse Sale

You've seen dancing in the streets and the rodeo. Today is parade time ; > )

Cheers! Ray

Quick Draw - Bucking Horse Sale

Today's video: Quick Draw

So far, have posted 3 videos: Dancing in the Streets; Rodeo & Parade. Today covers the Quick Draw portion of the events that took place on Sat., May 17, 2014. Artists have 30 mins. to paint or draw a piece of art work. There will be two more videos following "Quick Draw."

Cheers! Ray

Miles City Photos - Bucking Horse Sale

Today's video: Touring Miles City, Montana

Here's the 5th of 6 videos covering our wonderful visit to Miles City, Montana as guests of Jim & Jan Bastian. This video covers a walk-around that Penny and I did of Miles City the day after we arrived. The walking tour started in the morning as there was no way we would be able to enter some of the historic bars later in the day as cowboys/tourists would soon be pouring into town.

It was a fun day and we really enjoyed looking at all the sites and talking with the friendly people of Miles City.

What fun!

Cheers! Penny & Ray

Jim & Jan Bastian

Today's video: The Bastians

Penny and I had a wonderful time visiting with Jim & Jan Bastian as their hospitality and generosity was over the top. Many memories to reflect upon now that we are back in Cleveland and we are so glad the Bastians invited us to the Bucking Horse Sale..if was fun!!! (The rodeo video is now one of my favorites)

We traveled by car for 20 days, 6,009 miles from Cleveland and saw various National Monuments/parks that were just beautiful. We even made it to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to visit 2008 World Cruise friends.

And now, this is the 6th & last video of the Bucking Horse Sale journey.

Life is good!

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Video: Day trip Calgary to Banff and return

Jim Bastian had previously asked me to post videos of what Penny and I saw before and after our visit with them during the wonderful Miles City Bucking Horse Sale and since it's a very cold blustery day in Cleveland, I thought I shoot off a video.

2008 World Cruise friends are Canadians that live in Calgary and Palm Springs and they invited us up for a visit to see their new digs in Calgary and since it would fall in line with a journey to Montana, it was a no brainer. While in Calgary we did a day trip to Banff and we're sure glad we did....It's drop dead gorgeous there.

If you want to see what we saw, click on link above and you start off riding with us in our van to Banff. Hope you don't get car sick!

Cheers! Ray & Penny
p.s.: Yellowstone will follow in a few days.

Sure is beautiful Ray....hope Penny was driving (JK)

Just gorgeous!, but I'm freezing after watching it! What was the elevation?

Another Kathy:

Banff is indeed gorgeous but really it wasn't as cold as it looks. I had a long sleeve shirt and a thin pocket vest on and was quite comfortable. Elevation is about 5300 ft. I believe.

Hi Marcie - Yes, indeed, Penny did most of the driving during our 6,000 miles, 20-day journey. We saw huge chunks of beautiful country on our journey. More this year. Love our National Park System!

Cheers! Ray

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Yellowstone-Roosevelt-Tower/i-38vtD2P/A


[url=
http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Yellowstone-to-Chandler/i-GwjQ8Kw/A
( 18 1/2 mins)
][/url]


http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Yellowstone/i-Zc34xbv/A

( 17 1/2 mins)

Wasn't Calgary beautiful! Now it's on to Yellowstone National Park. We loved our visit here and hope you enjoy seeing what we saw.

When image appears, click on triangle and away you go.

Cheers! Ray
p.s. Lots to see here so I won't bother you for about a week or so ; > )
p.p.s.: Hope the videos show ok on your end. I never posted 3 links in one post and it all doesn't look right.

Yellowstone National Park ~~~

Wasn't Calgary beautiful! Now it's on to Yellowstone National Park. We loved our visit here and hope you enjoy seeing what we saw during our 2 1/2 day visit:

When image appears, click on triangle and away you go.

Cheers! Ray
p.s. Lots to see here so I won't bother you for about a week or so ; > )

] VIDEO: Yellowstone - Part 1 of 3 ( 9 mins)[/url]

[url=
http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Yellowstone-Roosevelt-Tower/i-38vtD2P/A



http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Yellowstone-to-Chandler/i-GwjQ8Kw/A



http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Yellowstone/i-Zc34xbv/A

Ray, and Penny you do a great job! Thank you so much for taking us along.

Hi TedC:

Glad you liked the Yellowstone videos. It's quite the place. Because of the Bastian's invite to the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale, we saw plenty of beautiful scenery resulting in some 20 videos. You'll be seeing some more of that journey before I close out the Montana adventure.

We'll be heading to our ol stomping grounds in Louisiana soon and can't wait to get into the bayou country and savor some mouth watering Cajun cooking and unique scenery.

Life is good!

Cheers! Ray & Penny

You’ve been to Miles City, Montana for all the exciting activities there during the Annual Bucking Horse Sale, you’ve been to Banff and Yellowstone and now you’re off to Devils Tower.

Devils Tower was the first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Monument's boundary encloses an area of 1,347 and is located near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River

Elevation ~~ 5,114 ft

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/5/i-G4Phwfj/A

Today’s destination: Pompey’s Pillar National Monument

You’ve been to Miles City, Montana for all the exciting activities there during the Annual Bucking Horse Sale, you’ve been to Banff, Yellowstone, Devil’s Tower and now you’re off to Pompey’s Pillar located 25 miles northeast of Billings, Montana

Pompeys Pillar National Monument is a rock formation located in south central Montana, United States. Designated a National Monument on January 17, 2001, and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, it consists of only 51 acres, making it one of the smallest National Monuments in the U.S. It was previously designated a National Historic Landmark on July 25, 1965. The new Pompeys Pillar Interpretive Center opened in 2006. Exhibits in the 5,700-square foot center relate the journey of Captain William Clark and his detachment, including Sacagawea and her son Pomp, down the Yellowstone River Valley in 1806.
The pillar itself stands 150 feet above the Yellowstone River and consists of sandstone from the late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, 75 – 66 million years ago. The base of the pillar is approximately 1 acre.
The pillar features an abundance of Native American petroglyphs, as well as the signature of William Clark, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Clark's inscription is the only remaining physical evidence found along the route that was followed by the expedition.
The inscription consists of his signature and the date, July 25, 1806. Clark wrote that he climbed the sandstone pillar and "had a most extensive view in every direction on the Northerly Side of the river". He named the outcropping after Jean Baptiste Charbonneau—the son of expedition member Sacagawea—whom he nicknamed "Pompy". His original name for it was "Pompys Tower"; it was changed to the current title in 1814.

VIDEO: Pompey’s Pillar ~~ ( 16 mins )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/3/i-CWRNt8b/A


Gallery of Photos: ( 3 pages ) Will give you an opportunity to read some of the signs that whisk by in the video ; > )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/3/

Today’s destination: Little Big Horn National Monument, Wyoming


You’ve been to Miles City, Montana for all the exciting activities there during the Annual Bucking Horse Sale, you’ve been to Banff, Canada; Yellowstone; Devil’s Tower; Pompey’s Pillar and now, Little Bighorn National Monument, Wyoming.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to Lakota as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which occurred June 25–26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, was the most prominent action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. It was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho, led by several major war leaders, including Crazy Horse and Chief Gall, inspired by the visions of Sitting Bull. The U.S. 7th Cavalry, including the Custer Battalion, a force of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, suffered a severe defeat. Five of the 7th Cavalry's twelve companies were annihilated; Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law. The total U.S. casualty count, including scouts, was 268 dead and 55 injured.

Public response to the Great Sioux War varied at the time. The battle, and Custer's actions in particular, have been studied extensively by historians.[2]

Video: The Battle of Little Bighorn, Wyoming ( 20 mins )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/4/i-68dhxLm/A

Gallery of Photos: ( 5 pages )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/4/i-68dhxLm

Happy Valentine's Day

Today’s destination: Union Pacific RR’s Golden Spike Tower overlooking its freight classification yard

You’ve been to Miles City, Montana for all the exciting activities there during the Annual Bucking Horse Sale, you’ve been to Banff, Canada; Yellowstone; Devil’s Tower; Pompey’s Pillar, Little Big Horn and now, the Golden Spike Tower, overlooking Edd Bailey Classification Yard, North Platte, Nebraska ~~

Bailey Yard is halfway between Denver and Omaha. It covers a total expanse of 2,850 acres (11.5 km2) and is over 8 miles (13 km) in length and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide. The yard has 200 separate tracks totaling 315 miles (507 km) of track, 985 switches, 766 turnouts, and 17 receiving and 16 departure tracks] Union Pacific employs more than 2,600 people in North Platte, most of whom are responsible for the day-to-day operations of Bailey Yard.

An average of 139 trains and over 14,000 railroad cars pass through Bailey Yard every day and the yard sorts approximately 3,000 cars daily using the yard’s two humps. The eastbound hump is a 34 feet (10 m)-tall mound and the westbound hump is 20 feet (6.1 m) high. These are used to sort four cars a minute into one of the 114 "bowl" tracks, 49 tracks for the westbound trains and 65 for eastbound. The bowl tracks are used to form trains headed for destinations across North America, including the East, West and Gulf coasts of the United States, and Canadian and Mexican borders.

The yard also includes a locomotive fueling and servicing center that handles more than 8,500 locomotives per month, a locomotive repair shop that can repair 750 locomotives monthly, and a car repair facility that handles nearly 50 cars daily. The car repair shop replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels each year. The yard features an in-motion wheel defect detector developed by Union Pacific that uses ultrasound technology to inspect each wheel. It is the only such detector in the world UP has also developed a method for changing wheels in the field on empty westbound coal trains, which enables three workers to use a hydraulic jack under the couplers between two cars and exchange the trucks. This has reduced the time needed to replace trucks from up to 12 days to 8–12 minutes.
Locomotives can be serviced in a NASCAR-like pit stop facility staffed by five crew members—an electrician, machinist, fireman, oiler, and car inspector. Locomotives are serviced in 45 minutes without detaching them from their trains.
Because of the enormous amount of products that pass through Bailey Yard, Union Pacific describes the yard as an “economic barometer of America.

VIDEO: Union Pacific RR’s Golden Spike Tower, North Platte, Nebraska ( 13 mins)

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Golden-Spike-Tower/i-GbJcqtT/A

Gallery of Photos: ( 3 pages )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Golden-Spike-Tower/i-GbJcqtT

Cheers! Ray
P.S. You might have guessed it but I was a "railroader" for some 30 years, 28 of them with the Union Pacific, primarily in the sales/marketing dept.

Today's Destination - Carhenge, Alliance, Nebraska

You’ve been to Miles City, Montana for all the exciting activities there during the Annual Bucking Horse Sale, you’ve been to Banff, Canada; Yellowstone; Devil’s Tower; Pompey’s Pillar, Little Big Horn, Golden Spike Tower, overlooking Edd Bailey Classification Yard, North Platte, Nebraska and now Carhenge~~

Video: Carhenge, Alliance, Nebraska ( 5 mins )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Carhenge-Memorial-Day-5-26-14/i-MF6x3bX/A

Photo Gallery ( 2 pages )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Carhenge-Memorial-Day-5-26-14/

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Carhenge is a replica of England's Stonehenge located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska, on the High Plains region of the United States. Instead of being built with large standing stones, as is the case with the original Stonehenge, Carhenge is formed from vintage American automobiles, all covered with gray spray paint. Built by Jim Reinders, it was dedicated at the June 1987 summer solstice. In 2006, a visitor center was constructed to serve the site.

Structure

Carhenge consists of 38 automobiles arranged in a circle measuring about 29 meters (95 ft) in diameter. Some are held upright in pits 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) deep, trunk end down, and arches have been formed by welding automobiles atop the supporting models. The heelstone is a 1962 Cadillac. Three cars were buried at Carhenge. Their "gravestone" is a car that reads: "Here lie three bones of foreign cars. They served our purpose while Detroit slept. Now Detroit is awake and America's great!"

Carhenge replicates Stonehenge's current "tumble-down" state, rather than the original stone circle erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC.

In addition to the Stonehenge replica, the Carhenge site includes several other sculptures created from autos covered with various colors of spray paint.

History

Carhenge compared to Stonehenge.
Carhenge was conceived in 1987 by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father. While living in England, he studied the structure of Stonehenge, which helped him to copy the structure's shape, proportions, and size. Other automobile sculptures were subsequently added to the location of Carhenge, which is now known as the Car Art Reserve. Carhenge was listed for sale in 2011 for $300,000.
Carhenge is used frequently in popular culture, and makes appearances in film, popular music, television programs and commercials. It is the subject of the 2005 documentary Carhenge: Genius or Junk?, and features in the 2007 travel book1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die.

Carhenge will be in the path of the Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.

Today's Destination is Homestead National Monument, Beatrice, Nebraska ( 15 mins ) and is the last stop of our video trip.

Penny and I were so pleased that Jim & Jan Bastian invited us to attend the annual Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City, Montana as we had a wonderful time and saw some beautiful sites because of that invitation.

You’ve been to Miles City, Montana for all the exciting activities there during the Annual Bucking Horse Sale, you’ve been to Banff, Canada; Yellowstone; Devil’s Tower; Pompey’s Pillar, Little Big Horn, Golden Spike Tower, overlooking Edd Bailey Classification Yard, North Platte, Nebraska, Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska and now final destination, Homestead National Monument, Beatrice, Nebraska. (Hope you enjoyed the video journey that comprised some 20 days, 6000 plus driving miles to/from Cleveland, OH)

Homestead Heritage Center and Education Center

The Homestead Heritage Center, dedicated in 2007, contains exhibits that treat the effect of the Homestead Act on immigration, agriculture, native tribes, the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, and federal land policy. The roof line of the center resembles a “single bottom plow moving through the sod,” and the parking lot measures exactly 1-acre (4,000 m2). A separate Education Center features science and social science presentations that can be shared with classrooms anywhere in the United States through distance-learning.

Tallgrass Prairie.

The park includes 100 acres (0.40 km2) of tallgrass prairie restored to approximate the ecosystem that once covered the central plains of the United States—and that was nearly plowed into extinction by the homesteaders. This restoration, which necessitates regular mowing, haying, and prescribed burns, has been managed by the National Park Service for more than 60 years and is the oldest in the National Park System. The park maintains about 2.7 miles (4.3 km) of hiking trails through the prairie and woodland surrounding Cub Creek, accessible via all-terrain wheelchair.

Palmer-Epard Cabin

The restored Palmer-Epard Cabin was built in 1867 about fourteen miles northeast of the Monument. Over more than sixty years, Palmers and Epards lived in the 14 X 16 foot structure before it was converted to grain storage. The cabin, built of squared logs of mixed hardwoods, consists of a single, earth-floored room downstairs and a small attic. It was donated to the park in 1950 and has been moved and restored several times through the intervening years.

Freeman School

The Freeman School, built of foot-thick red brick with carved limestone lintels, was the longest continuously used one-room school in Nebraska history (1872–1967). The school also served as a Lutheran church, a polling place for Blakely Township, and a community center for debates, clubs, and box socials. The National Park Service has restored the school to look as it did during the 1870s.

The Freeman School was the focus of an early, influential judicial decision regarding separation of church and state. In 1899, Daniel Freeman sued the school board after a teacher, Edith Beecher, refused to stop praying, reading the Bible, and singing gospel songs in her classroom. In Freeman v. Scheve, et al. (1902), the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that Beecher’s activities violated provisions of the Nebraska constitution.


VIDEO: Homestead National Monument, Beatrice, Nebraska ( 15 mins )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Homestead-Nation-Park-Beatrice/i-qJmZMnB/A

Photo Gallery ( 3 pages )

http://ray-penny.smugmug.com/2014-Vacation/MontanaMay/Homestead-Nation-Park-Beatrice/


Cheers! Ray & Penny