North…..to Wyoming

We’ve made it to Colorado and we’re headed north to Wyoming. We’ll spend the night in Casper, because in the morning I need to see a lady about some jade. Wyoming is one of the biggest producing areas of jade in the world, and I’m supposed to pick up a bucket of jade I’ve already paid for and maybe buy some more.

Tomorrow we’ll go on to Story and settle in with Bob and Ramona Rogers for a few days. Bob is the editor of Shooting Sports Retailer, for whom I used to write until I got into a dispute with the publisher over a check he refused to pay and he summarily fired me. I’ve missed writing for Bob, so it’s nice to have a few days to visit with him and Ramona and catch up on everything.

Tomorrow afternoon also will be range day. I was planning to bring along a Ruger Hawkeye to shoot and then ran into eye relief issues with it. Because there was some confusion about getting the right caliber, I didn’t get it until last week so I didn’t have time to solve the problem. I was going to bring both it and my H&R for backup, but when I packed the gun case last night, it was three pounds over the allowed 50. I guess with Rick’s .30-06 and my two .25-06s in a Kalispel case, I should have expected that. I stewed on it a while and decided I’d rather shoot the single shot H&R—which I’ve had for about 15 years—than risk a hunt on a gun on which I haven’t worked out the bugs. So the Hawkeye stayed home, and I’ll hunt deer with it in Florida.

One thing I’ll say for the Hawkeye, though, is that it’s one sweet shooting rifle. It’s a consignment gun for me to write about, but I have a sneaking feeling I’m going to pay for it and keep it.

It’s been a long time since I’ve made this long ride up I-25 from Colorado to Wyoming. Except for more development just north of Denver, I can’t say much has changed. It’s still some lonely country in places, with a whole lot of nothing out there. But the High Plains have their own beauty that’s a world apart from my native Florida. I’m glad to be back.