Long Rider with a Cause

Ross Welfl was a bull rider when he was a young man. The Cody, Wyoming native is older but may not feel wiser some of the days he’s riding horseback along the roads from Cody to New Mexico this summer. He’ll be doing a lot of nights alone under the stars and spend a few with family and friends. We met him yesterday along Wyoming Highway 20-26 between Shoshoni and Casper. Welfl went on a ride for charity once before, back in the early 1980s, but not near as far as he’s going this time to raise money for the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

Ross Welfl is calling his trek “Coins for Cancer” and you can donate by sending money to: Bank of the West, 1330 Sheridan Ave., Cody, WY 82414 The tax ID number is: 62-0646012 You can also give online and follow Ross’ progress by going to: www.coinsforcancer.blogspot.com

Roping Light

Last night there was a delightful lightning show low in the sky over east Cheyenne. I woke up about 12:50 this morning and could not turn away from the silent popping of branch-like patterns that bristled alternately sometimes providing the brightness level of a Wyoming full moon. Massive cloud formations were outlined in front of some of the electrical charges. Shapes gave way to imaginative interpretation of form. Was that one a moody Abe Lincoln? Another quiet zap. That sure looked like a mama grizzly digging for grubs.

I heard a couple of big rigs pull off College Drive. No doubt the drivers had video or cell phone cameras at the ready. These are times I wish I could shoot pictures properly and had the equipment to at least make an attempt. Alas, I am just a writer and a talker. Shooting is the forte of my colleague Mike. By this time, maybe 1:20 in the AM, I recall the existence of an ancient video camera stuffed underneath a Thomas Molesworth chair situated in my cramped study. At the time of the chair’s purchase on a screened front porch along 18th Street, I was told by an unassuming older gentleman seller he remembered as a boy seeing painted ladies doing business in the old Plains Hotel lobby occupying said furnishings. But that’s a story that will have to wait its turn.

I gather the camera and its electrical connection and head outdoors to capture the lightning before it fades. Herein is the result. Nothing like Mike could have brought to you but he did edit the video and add music to it for a nice thirty seconds or so of unique ogling. And you might justifiably wonder: what has this to do with a cowboy story? Nothing really, except one of those silent bolts shined the black plastic head of my roping dummy in the backyard and I thought to myself, man, I sure suck at roping.

The sky popped awhile longer and I was given to consider again what has often made me feel blessed to reside under these Wyoming skies. While I am sure many other eyes caught the lightning action, it seemed nature and her beautifully mystical weather disturbance was offering this hour-long broadcast at no cost, to no one but me.