We were driving down one of the back roads in Wyoming when I was suddenly reminded of that old TV show, Rawhide. I could almost hear the theme song:
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them doggies rollin’,
Rawhide.
Driving on the open range out west can be much more interesting than staying on the I. It’s not unusual to see cattle feeding on the grass along the road. You have to watch for those who want to roam out onto the pavement. This was the first time, however, that I ended up in the middle of a cattle drive. Cowhands were busy tending the herd; I think they may have been moving the cattle down to lower elevations for the winter.
There weren’t many cars on the road so we just drove slowly on whatever part of the road was available. In some places you could have put your arm out the window and touched the cattle. Some looked at us as we passed by but most just kept mooving along. I have no idea of how many head of cattle were out there but in some places we could see quite far up the winding road and they were ahead as far as we could see. As we made progress through the herd, the view in my mirrors looked like we were being chased by a stampede. Most continued to walk along in the desired direction but a few occasionally turned around and headed back or walked off into the ditch. One even stood crosswise in the middle of the road as if trying to stop us.
As we drove slowly along I took pictures through the windshield, the mirrors and through my open window. I was surprised to see one of the cowhands also taking pictures so I decided to photograph her. She just smiled.
Although I didn’t see any deer or antelope playing, I never heard a discouraging word and, except for some white fluffy ones, the sky was not cloudy all day!