We’ve always celebrated Fridays, as far back as I can remember. It was the starting line for the race into weekend fun. The spot on the weekly calendar, where we shifted gears from work -a- day, to time to play; or something like that. I think we probably appreciate Friday’s more now in our Golden Years than we did back when we worked 40 or 50 or sometimes 60 hours a week.
The truth is we’re probably just as busy now in retirement as we were back then. The difference is that now we’re doing exactly what we want to do (mostly), instead of what someone else is telling us to do. In other words, we smile a lot more but it’s still fun to get out and go exploring. So, we started something new this summer.
We call it – “Fridays are for Fun.” We set Friday aside to mosey around the neighborhood, exploring places a little closer than normal. A slower, more relaxed exploration – 3MPH; “The Speed of Life.” Sometimes we head off to get a taste of big city culture, sometimes we explore the smaller towns that dot the High Plains. Other times we find a place to go for a hike, check out a museum or sip a brew or two at a craft brewery.
Last Friday we decided; “Let’s Try Tribune.” We’ve been back and forth through Tribune, Kansas dozens of times as it’s on one of the primary routes we’ve used over the years to drive back and forth between Colorado and Texas. We even stopped there a few times over the years but we never spent any time exploring the town or the region.
We don’t always agree on routing for our Friday explorations. I’m a big fan of getting off the main thoroughfares and traversing the many miles of gravel and dirt roads that criss-cross the neighborhood. That’s not Vickie’s idea of a good time but she’s a good sport more often than not. She probably remembers the dozens of times I’ve dead-ended in some dusty cow-pasture. Or gotten stuck up to the axles in a mud hole. Or was lost in the middle of nowhere when the low-gas dummy light starts blinking.
So, she’s come up with a few rules;
- No two-tracks or trails where the weeds between the tire tracks rub the bottom of the vehicle.
- No driving off pavement with less than a quarter tank of fuel.
- Absolutely no mud.
Tribune has a Disc Golf Course at the local park, so we took the discs figuring we would get a loop in while we were in town. The wind was blowing close to twenty mph though, so we only played nine holes before we had to stop so Vickie could untangle the wind knots in her hair. By then it was time to go for some food, drink and merrymaking and we headed for, “The Alley Bar.”
First person exploration is the way to go most of the time but food is a different matter. I’ve learned the hard way over the years that leaving it to chance can be disastrous. I’m a big fan of little “hole in the wall” diners, drive-ins and dives, especially in this day and age of cookie-cutter crapola. But when it comes to food, I always try and do a little research on the WWW, to make sure what the majority of folks have to say about a place.
The Ally Bar’s reputed to have one of the finest examples of a Rueben sandwich in all of Western Kansas, so that’s what I went with. Vickie went with the Philly Cheese Steak and we traded back and forth. They’re supposed to have some amazing hand cut fries too but we’re still working off the massive calorie load from the Fajitas we gorged on last Friday in Colby, so we opted for a small scoop of potato salad and Cole slaw.
They had a nice variety of craft beer at “The Alley Bar” from a number of breweries in Kansas and Colorado. I was expecting Bud, Bud Light and Miller Lite when we pulled up, so it was a nice surprise. After a pleasant lunch we finished exploring Tribune before heading home on the gravel roads along White Woman Creek which heads in Colorado, close to home and meanders across Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas.
There are several versions of how the creek got its name. One tells of a Cheyenne Indian attack on a western settlement in retaliation for an earlier raid on their camp by white men. Several white men were killed and the Indians recaptured their stolen goods and kidnapped 12 settlers; 10 men and two women.
The two women stayed with the tribe and married Cheyenne. One of the women; Anna-Wee, fell in love with Chief Tee-Wah-Nee, and bore him a son. While most of the men also were accepted and remained with the Cheyenne, one man was eager to leave and after several months with the tribe, was able to steal a horse and escape to Fort Wallace.
He convinced the army that the others were being held against their will and led a group of soldiers to the Indian camp. They attacked and killed the Chief and his infant son. Anna-Wee retaliated by killing the man who had betrayed them. She then continued to defend the tribal village until she too was slain. The legend is that her ghost haunts White Woman Creek.
Here’s the image gallery; “Let’s Try Tribune.”