We’ve been moving right along, Bluff, UT for a night, two nights in Meeker, CO and on to Lander, WY to meet up with grandkids, McKyle and Aislynn. Kyle having obtained his Bachelors Degree in Wild Land Management and Wildlife Biology has landed a job with the Natural Resources Conservation Service-Sage Grouse Initiative. Basically he works with the BLM, Forest Service, state agencies and area ranchers to maintain the Sage Grouse’s range. If this sounds like keeping people out, it’s not. It’s goal is to maintain a healthy Sage Grouse population to keep them off the endangered species list.
Aislynn, drove up from Denver where she is attending collage studying crime scene forensics. We all spent the weekend doing tourist stuff, visiting and eating way too much.
One of the the highlights was visiting the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois. This museum opened in 2020 and houses a collection of military vehicles and weapons. Over 500 tanks, trucks, jeeps, and various speciality vehicles, all of which have been restored and most are in running condition. The museum is divided into galleries, each representing a different war. At 160,000 square feet under one roof, with technical descriptions of each vehicle, displayed in ways depicting how many of them were used. So, who collected all these machines? They are the collection of one man.
Dan Starks, is the retired CEO of Abbott Laboratories and is on the board of directors for St Jude Hospital. He didn’t start out collection military vehicles with a museum in mind, but as his collection grew, he began showing his collection, which at the time, was housed in two barns. There was so much interest that he built the current building at a cost of 100 million dollars. In the town of Dubois, he built a facility to restore the vehicles and employs 6 full time employees for that work. If you go to the museum you just might meet Dan as he routinely acts as a tour guide.
One of the galleries holds small arms including some historic guns. General Pattons pearl handled Colt 45 semiautomatic pistol, a revolver owned by Wyatt Earp, and a .79 caliber Dutch flintlock musket which fired the first shot at the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolution. This musket was owned by Private John Simpson, who upon hearing the order, “don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes”, immediately stood up and fired the first shot. He was later court marshaled for disobeying an order, but received little or no punishment. He continued his service till the end of the war. His musket was recently sold at auction by his descendants and the winning bid was a whopping $492,000 and shortly thereafter it went on display in a prominent display at the museum.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MILITARY VEHICLES
Our next stop was just a short way up the road to the Wind River Gorge for an overnight stop in a state park campground. We managed to snag the same spot we’ve stayed in before with a view of the gorge and river. The next morning we continued north with another overnight stop at Devils Tower. This was a disappointment as the place was packed. The campground was full due to half of the spaces closed. There was an hour wait for a parking spot at the visitor’s center, so we made a U-turn and found a small RV camp with a view of the tower. Next on the agenda, we headed east into South Dakota then north to Bismarck, North Dakota. We stayed at General Sibley Campground, a beautiful park on the outskirts of the city. Big spacious campsites under an umbrella of mature trees, and grass all around. Turns out Bismarck has miles of paved and designated bike paths, so I finally got in an early morning ride.
Of course being in the state capitol, while Cathie stayed behind, I paid a visit to the capitol building. Unlike many capitol buildings, North Dakota’s has no dome. Completed in 1934, after the original building burned to the ground, the new building was built in the Art Deco style and is 18 stories tall. The next day, Cathie joined in and after doing the laundry took a tour of the former governors’ mansion. Built in 1883 as a private residence, the State bought the home and it served as the Governors’ residence from 1893 to 1960. During it’s restoration, 13 layers of wall paper was discovered on the ceiling in the living room. As in all of North Dakota’s state historic sites and museums, admission is free.
You’re all caught up now, but stay tuned for the next episode,
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