Our most recent Wyoming book was so successful and so much fun that we are now planning on doing another one in 2014.

         The new one is called My Wyoming: Stories and Photos of 101 Favorite Places. We are asking people from all over the state to submit stories or suggestions of their favorite places that they would like included in the book.

         Format will be similar to Wyoming’s 7 Greatest Natural Wonders, which was published in 2012 with a second printing in 2013. That book concerned itself only with “natural” settings. 

         The new book will be about both favorite natural and man-made places in Wyoming. I can see special emphasis on places like the Oregon Trail, the Medicine Wheel, Frontier Days, Fort Laramie and such. Format of the new book will be identical to the earlier book featuring 14 fold-outs and the most outstanding photography ever seen of Wyoming.

         Last time, we used 31 photographers and seven writers. The book sold 14,000 copies in about a 15-month period. It was certainly one of the best-selling books of its type ever done in the state.

         We plan to go back to those original 31 photographers plus solicit additional photographers. As for writers, we will also solicit those same original seven writers but will open it up to everyone in Wyoming to write something nice about their favorite places. We will try to match up their stories with the photos to make it an even more pleasant reading experience.

         The stories should be from 150 to 500 words in length and those that do not make it in the book will be included in a web site called www.mywyomingbook.com. We would like the stories to be “personal” with you telling us how your feel about the places and what wonderful experiences or events occurred there that make you love these places so much.

         Please send your stories or photos or ideas to: mystory@mywyomingbook.com or mail to box 900, Lander, WY 82520.

         Back during my years as a member of the Wyoming Travel Commission, I always liked the way we divided the state into four regions for tourism purposes. Randy Wagner, a former director of the commission, helped me recall the make-up of those regions. They go like this:  “North” was Park, Hot Springs, Washakie, Big Horn, Sheridan, Johnson, Campbell, Crook and Weston.  “Central” was Fremont, Natrona, Converse, Niobrara, Platte and Goshen.  “South” was Uinta, Sweetwater, Carbon, Albany and Laramie.  “West” was Lincoln, Sublette, Teton and Yellowstone National Park.  

         We also will be offering businesses the chance to buy books in quantities and have their own custom cover printed so that they can give them out to their customers. This was a very successful program with the last book.

         The book also proved to be an effective fund-raiser for clubs and organizations and school groups back in 2012 and 2013 as it was an easy “sell” when going door-to-door raising money in Wyoming. That first book was something that everybody wanted and I think this new book might even be more popular.

         That earlier book, Wyoming’s 7 Greatest Natural Wonders, obviously found a perfect niche among folks who love the state. But as the guy who put it all together, it was frustrating with all the great photos that I sifted through that were not “natural.” We sorted through 2,500 photos to come up with a final total of 200 but it was stunning the quality of the photos that could not be included because of some man-made aspect to them.

         Thus, I have been chomping at the bit to do another book, which will include lots of photos of folks at events and places that did not qualify for that first book. We also will still include a lot of “natural” scenes because Wyoming has an abundance of such places and we will be matching photos with essays submitted.

         Two examples of this would be Randy Wagner’s vast array of incredible images of the Oregon Trail. Another would be Fred Pflughoft’s pictures of the lodges of Yellowstone Park. Both Scott Copeland and Jeff Vanuga have amazing images of petroglyphs, which could not be used in the last book because they are man-made.

         I am really excited about this project and we are hoping to have published copies of the book available to the public during the fall of 2014.

         We are soliciting your stories and your photos of your favorite places. You are invited to join in the fun.

            God bless Wyoming and keep it wild. – Last diary entry by 15-year old Helen Mettler in 1925.

            Based on somenews stories there is no shortage of “wild” events occurring around Wyoming in recent months that have caught my attention. Four come to mind:

            • How do you describe being chewed on by a grizzly? How about like sticking your head into “a cement mixer full of razor blades?”

            That was the description given by Nic Patrick of Cody who nearly had his head bitten off by a sow grizzly bear last summer on the South Fork of the Shoshone River.

            According to Powell Tribune, Patrick, 65, is showing a lot more respect for his assailant than most of us. He reportedly has accepted that he was in the bear’s territory and should have taken more precautions.

            After five surgeries he has a pug nose now (soon to have a prosthetic nose) plus lots of welts and scars on his head, face and all over his body.

            The incident occurred at a place he calls Grizzly Junction where four game trails converge near his South Fork ranch. He was checking an irrigation gate when he heard his dog yelp. He walked around the corner and saw a sow with two cubs just 25 yards away.

            In a flash the bear was on him, hence the cement mixer description.  

            Patrick got into the fetal position, and the chomping and biting and munching began. Finally, the bear was satisfied and left. Patrick struggled to his feet and walked a quarter mile back toward the house. He stopped in a shed to get a rag to cover his mutilated head so as to not scare his wife, daughter, son-in-law and four grandkids.

            He still supports grizzlies being in the area but says people need to pack bear spray and learn how to use it. He suggests practicing with inert canisters before hiking into grizzly country. If not, “It’s a pretty steep learning curve when you need it,” he concludes.

            • Although the grizzly appears to be at the top of the Wyoming food chain, mountain lions and wolves are prominent players in the backcountry.

            In Jackson, Game and Fish biologists were not happy when they saw a wolf had killed five mountain lion cubs. The Teton Cougar Research Project had mothered the cubs.

            A lion being tracked for six years by the Kelly institute was recently documented to have killed a wolf.

            Sometimes, even in nature, an eye-for-an-eye may occur more often than people originally thought.

            The lion was well known by Mark Elbroch, biologist for the project. The Jackson Hole News and Guide reports quoted him: “The wolf killer is a 101-pound female that lives in the Gros Ventre headwaters. She is a funky-looking, overly feral cat that is as smart as they come and nearly impossible to catch.”

            Elbroch said it was more common for wolves to kill lions than the other way around.

            There have been three documented cases of lions killing wolves in recent years, one of which was a wolf named B-4. She was one of the very first wolves introduced to Yellowstone.

            Nature can be a cruel place even to the cruel.

            • And if you mess up and cause a big fire in nature, the government can be cruel in exacting its revenge, as a Jackson man recently discovered.

            James G. Anderson Jr. received a notice that he owed $6,309,394.94 for his part in causing the Horsethief Canyon wildfire that burned five square miles of forest just outside of east Jackson.

            The Wyoming Business Report said Anderson is accused of burning trash in a rusted out barrel in the back of his property. The wind came up and the fire got out of control and headed into the neighboring national forest.

            At its peak, the fire employed 650 people, nine helicopters, 40 fire engines and three bulldozers. Jackson was threatened but narrowly escaped thanks to a herculean effort. The Forest Service said the actual cost to the many agencies was over $9 million.

            • And someone who was relentless in helping to keep Wyoming wild was the late U. S. Sen. Craig Thomas. 

            His wife Susan, who is director of the Thomas Foundation, is encouraging applications for at-risk students to apply for scholarships.

            It is an effective program and one that might tame some of our wilder young people who need to get important training for future jobs. She says the foundation mentors the students throughout the process.

         Santa Claus retired. The Easter Bunny went AWOL. And the Grinch has officially wiped out the financial Christmas being anticipated by members of Wyoming’s advertising media in 2014.

         When Liz Cheney bowed out of the U. S. Senate race against Mike Enzi, literally millions of dollars of advertising revenue went up in smoke. It disappeared never to reappear again. 

         Most members of Wyoming’s media like and support Sen. Enzi. Many were appalled at the idea of a newcomer like Liz taking on such a venerable leader as our Mike. This was a race that obviously should never have happened. Enzi was on pace to slaughter his challenger, no matter how much money she spent.

         But oh my gosh, the ad dollars that were going to be spent in Wyoming in 2014 on that race! It had the potential to be the most expensive race in Wyoming’s history. All those advertising dollars would have been spent on Wyoming newspapers, radio and TV. Even local printers would have had a bonanza.

         This campaign was potentially so rich it could have qualified as economic development. I have been working for decades promoting economic development on a local and state level. This election cycle money bonanza fit the true definition of such development because so much of the money would have been primary dollars. The term “primary dollars” describes money that comes into an area from outside. Meanwhile money that just percolates and re-circulates around a town is called secondary money. No, this was big-time economic development, especially for the media folks who I happen to know so well.

         The feisty and well-connected Liz had already proven she could raise millions on the national scene. And Mike had matched her dollar-for-dollar by the end of 2013.

         The Cheney campaign had already dumped a small fortune on Wyoming TV, newspaper and radio in November and December on attack ads against Enzi and for some positive advertisements as she built name recognition.

         Some outfits that supported Enzi had run a number of ads against Cheney mainly on TV. You could see this was going to be a world-class media donnybrook. It would be the Niagara Falls of money for statewide media. Not sure any members of the media bought new sports cars or even added units to their presses yet but it was going to be a very profitable year.

         I spent over 40 years as an owner of media businesses. And the best time of year was the election cycle. It was easy to sell those ads (cash in advance, please). If you went to the effort of producing special promotions, the potential was almost endless when it came to generating money. 

As a newspaper columnist and pundit, election cycles were great fun for me because of the opportunity of writing columns and editorials and even exposes’ about politicians and political issues. Everything about the election cycle was good from the perspective of a media owner.

         And 2014 was going to be one of the best years ever.

         Although the Cheney-Enzi race was not going to personally affect my bottom line, it sure was going to provide some wonderful fodder for future columns.

         I had compiled a file folder full of 39 odd stories and items about the race that could be plugged into future columns here and there. But no more. 

         Liz is already yesterday’s news. She bowed out very quietly. It apparently occurred at 3 a.m. in a subdued news item on CNN.

         On the day it occurred the temperature in Riverton was -26. Nancy and I were in San Diego where the mercury was 101 degrees warmer at 75. Nice time to be outside Wyoming.

         My phone rang early when a reporter from Casper wanted to confirm that my column back in November revealed that Liz’s 13-year old daughter had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Liz was truly upset about that diagnosis while gabbing with our Fox News All Stars coffee group in Lander. Yes, she was very open in talking about it, I told the reporter. 

         That phone call was how I heard Liz had dropped out. Then I started to try to find out more about this amazing announcement. One of the biggest Wyoming news stories in 2013 became a totally non-story as the year 2014 rolled in.

         And the Christmas-like advertising bonanza during the summer of 2014 never materialized for the media companies in Wyoming. It was gone forever. Bah humbug!

Ever since most of Wyoming got pelted with that first snowstorm in September, I have been itching to get to a warmer climate.

         On Dec. 30, we climbed into our nine-year old motorhome (aptly named FollowMyNose) and started our slog southward.

         We earlier got eight inches of new snow. South Pass reports kept claiming chains were required and heavy fog was making traveling dangerous. In other words, be careful. And in additional other words, do not attempt crossing this mountain pass in a 55-foot long unit that included an old motorhome and a tow car.

         So I sat around and stewed. Nancy thought it was great. She was still putting away Christmas decorations. 

         We inched our way along on icy roads under blue skies. I had programmed my cell phone to check the weather in places like Lander, South Pass, Rock Springs, Kemmerer and Evanston. I had been checking them feverishly prior to departure.

         We traveled slowly and I found myself behind a woman who was obviously scared to death. She kept driving about 25 mph. I was chomping to pass but the timing was not right.   We finally got to the summit and pulled into the rest area.  “Miss Pokey” was there. Rather than complain, I said, “have a Happy New Year.” (And please stay out of my way!) 

She was driving a car with Johnson County plates and those folks should have been used to driving over a pass. Have you been over Tensleep Pass in winter? Whew!

         I put shoulder to the wheel and drove 10 straight hours. The sky and the highways were clear and the wind was nonexistent. That is a great time to put as many miles on as possible when you are driving a 13-foot tall rig north or south in the Rocky Mountain region.

         Apparently Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton liked to take his family on RV trips and made it a policy that his stores would open their parking lots for overnight stops by RV drivers. 

         Not all stores do, though, as the ones in St. George, Utah, apparently do not. However, the Wal-Mart north in a town named Hurricane (pronounced hurr-a-kin) allowed RVs.

         Camping across the country at rest stops, truck stops, Cabela’s and Wal-Marts is called “boon docking,” a description that fits us well. 

         Next morning, I checked my cell phone for the temperature. It read 30 degrees. Then I noticed it was programmed for South Pass. It was two degrees below freezing on a Wyoming mountaintop.

It was 28 degrees!

         I told Nancy, “Honey, we have not gone south far enough. Let’s go.”

         That reminds me of the old story about the guy who was also tired of winter. He took his snow scraper and put it under his windshield wiper. “Why are you doing that?” a friend asked. “I am going south until somebody asks me what that thing is for?”

         We ended up at the Circus Circus RV park in Las Vegas and spent New Year’s Eve there along with officially 335,000 others. It was a spectacle.

         Las Vegas Blvd., also known as The Strip, was closed off and 2,900 cops patrolled as fireworks were shot off the roofs of eight different casinos.   

         Last fall we visited the Chinese island of Macau, which has overtaken Vegas as the busiest gambling destination in the world. Trust me, they cannot compete with Vegas when it comes to glamour. Or neon. I think it was Lenny Bruce who said Vegas is where “neon goes to die.”

         We took in the show Jersey Boys, which is the best stage show I have ever seen. Even better than Les Miserables,’ which we saw on stage in London 20 years ago.

         Best fireworks show was off the 100-story tall Stratosphere, which suited me just fine. Nancy was already in her pajamas by midnight and I was sitting outside on a lawn chair with my new best friend, Tim, a longshoreman from Long Beach, who came up to Vegas for this event. He had started a warm blaze in a portable fire pit. Together, we watched the various rooftops explode in pyrotechnics.  Then I went to bed.

         Sorry if this column put you to sleep, too, but darn it, I have a deadline to meet! Happy New Year and let’s hope your lives are a lot more interesting than this meager travel diary.