Last Day in Cheyenne So of Course Caching & A Nice Show 7/1/2010

Well this is our last day in Cheyenne so we were off into the city to see how many of the caches we could finish doing. There really weren't any historical caches out of the 15 that we found but a few of them did bring us to a couple of interesting places.
One cache we didn't find took us to a very nice sculpture called "The Drill" which was a collection of shoes on different items. Some of the places we found caches were in a small park on a triangle in the middle of 3 roads that had to do with Yankee Doodle Deming Hill. Some of the others were light post skirts at 2 restaurants, an auto store, Walgreens, Penny's and Target. Then we found 2 in pine trees one at a spa and the other in a park. A guardrail and on a fence along the Cheyenne Greenway were 2 of the others. By the way the Cheyenne Greenway is a system of paths that serve as a gateway to the parks and neighborhoods of the community and is 24 miles long.

The interesting site we visited and found 4 caches in is Frontier Park where Cheyenne holds it annual Frontier Days Rodeo "The Daddy of Them All". We found one in a tree, one behind a swing in the botanical gardens, one on a old time water wagon near the fairgrounds and one near a bronze statue of Lane Frost Rodeo Champion.

Cheyenne Frontier Days, held annually since 1897, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA, claims to be one of the largest outdoor rodeo and western celebration in the world. The event, which occurs during 10 days centered around the last full week in July, draws an estimated 300,000 people to the area every year. Lodging fills up quickly during the peak tourist season throughout southern and eastern Wyoming and even into Colorado and Nebraska.
The event features nightly concerts by popular music and comedy acts, a midway, a fair with rides, games, and food vendors, wild west shows featuring Western riding, an Indian village, and a large PRCA/PBR nationally sanctioned rodeo. A common moniker for the event is 'The Daddy of 'em All', based on its long history and the fact that the rodeo is billed as the largest such event in the world.
The event also features free pancake breakfasts sponsored by the local Kiwanis chapter. They are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with nearly 40,000 people taking advantage of this every year. In one week, over 100,000 pancakes are served, along with 3,000 pounds of ham. On the alternate days, the city of Cheyenne hosts a parade. Other attractions include the Native American Village that is free and open daily. Here visitors can experience the traditional Native American culture including pow wows and demonstrations. Not far from the village is Wild Horse Gulch. This is also a free area where visitors can get a feel for the Old West and its traditions.
The rodeo and the majority of the events are centered around the property of Frontier Park, but some of the events such as the pancake breakfasts are held in a different part of the city. The next event will be July 23- August 1, 2010, and that will be its 114th celebration.
Another annual event is an air show featuring the United States Air Force Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron, which takes place on Wednesday. The Thunderbirds share a long history with Cheyenne Frontier Days as they made their public debut there in 1953 and have continued to perform regularly since then. The ground portion of this show along with static displays and flying of other aircraft takes place on the United States Air National Guard side of the Cheyenne Regional Airport. The Thunderbirds' main aerobatic display is performed over the campus at the Laramie County Community College.
The rodeo draws visitors from different parts of the United States as well as international visitors. These visitors generally stay in hotels, motels, or in recreational vehicles. Temperatures around 81 degrees F and fair weather are normal for the time of year when this event is held.
Cowboy style bars and country and western themed establishments scattered throughout the city of Cheyenne are popular with many rodeo fans and participants, and they file in in large numbers after the night shows.
The amazing part of this event is that EVERYTHING is done by volunteers. Some of the stars who will entertain there this year are Kiss, Brooks & Dunn, Clay Walker, Sugarland and Alan Jackson so as you can see it is a big deal.
They also have the Professional Bull Riders and as I said we found a cache near the statue of Lane Frost who was a PBR. Lane Clyde Frost (October 12, 1963 – July 30, 1989) was a professional bull rider and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) member, who died in the arena at the 1989 Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo as a result of injuries sustained riding the bull "Takin' Care of Business".
Lane was born on October 12, 1963. At that time, his parents lived in Lapoint, Utah. However, Lane's father, Clyde Frost, was on the rodeo circuit as a saddle bronc and bareback rider, and Lane's mother, Elsie, went to stay with her parents in Kim, Colorado, while she waited for Lane to arrive. Lane was born in the hospital in La Junta, Colorado, the closest medical facility to Kim. Lane has an older sister, Robin, and a younger brother, Cody.
Lane started riding dairy calves on the family dairy farm when he was 5 or 6. He was 9 when he first got on a bull. However, to the relief of his family, he met Don Gay around that time, and Don told Lane that he should just ride calves and steers until his bones were more fully developed. Mrs. Frost says that they had been telling Lane the same thing, but according to his mother, "Of course he listened to Don!"
At the age of 15 Lane started to ride bulls on a regular basis. Before that, he had been competing on calves and steers. His first rodeo awards were won in 1974, when he was 10, at the "Little Buckaroos" Rodeos held in Uintah Basin. Lane stayed on a bucking Shetland Pony to win first in bareback, took second in calf roping and rode a calf in the "bull riding" event to place third. While rodeoing wasn't the way of life his parents exactly wanted for him, they never discouraged him, and helped him whenever they could.
Lane spent his first fourteen years in Utah, doing chores on the dairy farm his parents owned, and later competing in various rodeo events. When he was in junior high school (seventh and eighth grade), in Vernal, Utah, he excelled in wrestling. Although he never wrestled before entering junior high, as many of the other boys had done, because of his interest in rodeo, the coaches still had hight expectations for him. Lane, then weighing only seventy-five pounds, won forty-five matches, lost four times, and had two ties.
Lane also continued competing in the "Little Britches Rodeos", and any other rodeo he could enter, until his parents moved the family to the town of Lane, Oklahoma, in 1978 to escape the harsh Utah winters. He attended Atoka High School in Atoka, Oklahoma.
He was taught the art of riding by his father and also his dad's good friend, Freckles Brown, who was a World Champion Bull Rider. In Oklahoma, Lane was the National High School Bull Riding Champion in 1981. He was the Bull Riding Champion of the first Youth National Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1982.
On January 5, 1984, he married Kellie Kyle, a barrel racer from Quanah west of Wichita Falls, Texas.
Frost joined the PRCA and began rodeoing full time after graduating from high school in 1982. In 1987, he realized a lifelong dream when he became the PRCA World Champion Bull Rider at the age of 24. That same year, the great bull "Red Rock," owned by Growney Bros. Rodeo Company, was voted Bucking Bull of the Year. In 309 attempts, no one had ever ridden "Red Rock," and in 1988, at the Challenge of Champions, Frost rode "Red Rock" in seven exhibition matches and was successful in four out of seven tries. Frost went on to compete at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This was the first time that an exhibition rodeo was held at the Olympics.
On July 30, 1989, at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming, after completing a successful 83-point ride on a bull named "Taking Care of Business", Frost dismounted and landed in the mud. The bull turned and hit him in the side with his horn, breaking several of Frost's ribs. Lane initially rose to his feet and began running toward the chutes. As he was running and signaling for help, he collapsed and the fall he suffered caused the broken ribs to cut his left lung and sever the pulmonary artery. Lane was rushed to Memorial Hospital. After finding out that his heart was irreparable, the doctors pronounced Lane dead. No autopsy was performed. Frost posthumously finished 3rd in the event. "Takin' Care of Business" went on to appear in the 1990 National Finals Rodeo.
Statue of Lane Frost in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Frost is buried next to his hero and mentor Freckles Brown at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Oklahoma.
After Lane's death, Cody Lambert, one of his traveling partners, and a founder of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), created the protective vest that all professional cowboys now must wear when riding bulls.
In 1994, the biopic movie based on Frost's life, 8 Seconds, was released. Luke Perry portrayed Frost in the movie. Lane's best friend Tuff Hedeman was played by Stephen Baldwin.
Lane's memory has been honored in many ways. The medical team for the PBR league is named after Frost. The Lane Frost Health and Rehabilitation Center in Hugo, Oklahoma is dedicated to his memory. His parents live in Lane, Oklahoma, and travel to many rodeos around the country giving speeches in his memory. Country music star Garth Brooks paid tribute to Frost in his music video for the hit single "The Dance", as did Randy Schmutz in the song "A Smile Like That." In addition, the song "Red Rock" by The Smokin' Armadillos is about Lane. The song "I can still make Cheyenne" sung by George Strait is also thought to be about Lane.
Frost has been inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado in August 1990 and the PBR Ring of Honor in 1999, as well as the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, and the Oklahoma Sports Museum.
Frost's parents have authorized Cowboy Bible: The Living New Testament, with a sketch of Frost on the cover.

Well that was it for the caching in Cheyenne and we headed back to the coach for the afternoon. About 5:00 we headed back for the downtown area as they have "Gunsligers Shootout" in Gunslinger's Square at 6:00. The show lasted about 45 minutes and it was free. They had a bit on gun safety and then had a "shootout" and "hung" someone from the audience. After the show we headed down the street to the Union Pacific Depot and dinner at Shadow's Brewery. As we got there the trolley was pulling up loaded with men and women dressed in western costume and let me tell you it was authentic costumes. There were 2 or 3 of the men who had on the best western outfits that I have ever seen and they had pistols to match too. We had dinner as we both had cheeseburgers, salad and shared an order of sweet potato fries with brown sugar on them and honey butter to dip them in. The food was great and the Crow's Nest draft I had was nice also as the brew it right there. Then it was back to the coach for the day. Well that's it for Thursday in Cheyenne so until tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick

Frost's widow, Kellie, is now married to Mike Macy, a former rodeo performer and a rancher near Post in Garza County, Texas. The Macys have a son and a daughter.