Laramie

With each passing mile as I head toward Laramie, the dim mountains grow clearer. I cannot help but think God built a wall around the West to keep mere mortals at bay.

 

The closer you get the less you see the mountains and the more you see the valleys.

At long last I arrived in Laramie after a climb from 3800 feet to 7200 feet in elevation.

Why am I excited about coming to Laramie, WYO? A year and a half ago I made an off-hand comment that the next thing we'd see in genre mashing would be an ‘erotic paranormal romance western mystery.’ I’d know more than said it when I knew the story. I got more excited about it as the year progressed and in November, in seventeen days, I wrote it. Then rewrote it before the end of the month.  By January it was published under the author name of my evil alter-ego, Devon Layne. It has become Devon’s most popular book in both eBook and print.

Great. The only thing is that I set the story in and around Laramie—a place I’d never visited. Now I’m wandering around looking to see if anything I said about the area is true. In general, so far the terrain is what I anticipated. Lots and lots of range land with the major crops being hay and cattle.

They have coffee! I bought five pounds of Coal Creek Coffee Company coffee before I got out of town! And a couple of "Turbos"--their name for a shot in the dark.

A lot of the story takes place around the University of Wyoming where Cole and Ashley are students. My first major story error was that there is no view of the cemetery from any window in the library at the University of Wyoming.

 

The Coe Library, however, is fantastic. And it is only steps away from the Student Union. That I got right, at least. The University campus is beautiful. Even the newer buildings have kept to the same sandstone construction as Old Main, the original building. UW was founded in 1886, four years before Wyoming became a State. And don't forget that the first legislature of the new Territory of Wyoming in 1869 passed a bill granting equal political rights to the women of the territory. Twenty-one years before it became a State!

The Greenhill Cemetery was much more visible from the fraternity houses. I somehow imagined Avenue of Flags to be a broad paved way lined with flags. All the paths thru the cemetery are dirt tracks. The Potters Field, however, is much like I imagined Caitlin's 1887 grave to be.

There was a big farmers market in downtown Laramie on Friday afternoon. I’m told it is there every Friday. The streets are closed and the booths line 2nd and Grand. I had a big Mexican lunch next door to the Buckhorn Bar and Parlor. All the brothels were finally closed in the 1960s. That was Caitlin and Kyle’s meeting point. The places on First all face the railroad that got the town started in 1868.

I was uncommonly lucky to delay my visit to Centennial until Saturday.

It was Centennial Community Day and there was a whole feast of activity at the history museum depot. There were community garage sales and ladies selling strawberry rhubarb pie. Yummy.

The countryside near Centennial is much as I imagined it though I probably chose the worst possible location for Cole's ranch in Albany County. It’s impractical to move cattle onto these steep slopes for summer grazing. Just to the east there are miles and miles of rangeland. I was told there are few ranches left though. The cattle are trucked in, graze, and are trucked out. Still, if I were Cole I wouldn't give up this land without a fight.

There’s an interesting thing about cattle that I didn’t realize when I started writing about ranching. Think of every picture you’ve seen of cattle or buffalo in movies or old western TV shows. They’re all bunched together. Well, that may be true when they are being driven or are frightened, but when grazing, a hundred head of cattle spread out over acres and acres of land. The same is true of buffalo. You can’t call them solitary by any means, but they sure aren’t fighting over the same tuft of grass.

 

With a population of only 582,650, Wyoming is the least populated state in the Union. It ranks 49th in population density at just 5.85 people per square mile. It is unfathomably beautiful. I would consider moving here, at least in the summers. Some of the big ranches are being subdivided and you can buy a 40-acre ‘spread’ just west of Laramie for only $85,000. Of course, then you have to put something on it to live in. The economy here seems to be good if house prices are any indication. Most of the real estate ads I've seen around Laramie are in the $500k range. In 2011, Money Magazine identified Laramie as one of the best cities in which to retire. It’s on my list!

Having actually visited here, I’m seriously considering writing a sequel to “Redtail” this fall. There are as many stories as people in this great state. In fact, I’ve already started research and character development for the story that I’ve tentatively called “Raven.” I might even get back to Laramie before I head south for the winter!