One year I took my son to Custer’s Last Stand. 
after visiting my natural mom, Julia, in Casper. While in Casper, Wyoming, we visited Ft Casper. 
Custers last stand was just north of Casper, Wyo. Since we were out in that area, we decided we might as well go see it. It was an interesting sight, to see how dumb he was, and what a waste of human life. We visited the museum at the site.
From there we went to Fort Fetterman, 
which was near Douglas, Wyoming. There was only one building left, but the foundations to the other ones were still there.
We journeyed down to Ft Laramie. These two pictures shows the officers and troops quarters. 
There were several buildings at that fort you could go through. It was an interesting sight.
From there we went to Scottsbluff, Nebraska. 
This was a interesting sight, you drove up to the top of this big mesa and overlooked the whole valley. The city of Scottsbluff on one side of the mesa, and the city of Gering on the other side. The wagon trains went by this during their way west. We visited Chimney Rock, another landmark for the wagons going west. This is just east of Scotts Bluff.
I do not remember the year, but another place I have visited with my youngest son was Buffalo Bills retirement home near North Platte, Nebraska. 
This is where all of his show people retired, after they were too old to perform any more. They had some of his outfits that he wore, a barn with some of his saddles and pictures of his people that were in the show, and his buck boards he used. They also had some of Annie Oakley’s things there and some live buffalo.
One year we went to Minden, Nebraska, to see the Pioneer Village. 
They had alot of antique cars and different artifacts from the early days in Nebraska. They have several different buildings that you can go into, almost a replica of a small town. They even had a thing they put you in if you're bad, and you might end up in it all day long in the hot sun. 
Every year I usually go back to Kansas, to see my adoptive mom and my biological father. Each year I will do some research of some kind. One year I was looking for information on my natural mom's side of the family and did some research in St. George, Kansas. I went to the library in Wamago to look up some information on the family, mainly obituaries. I went and met a cousin living just outside of St George, Kansas. She gave me more information on the family. I traveled down to Arkansas City, Kansas to do some research, because some of the grandparents moved to that area to live for awhile, and some of their children were born in that area. I met a cousin in Hutchinson, Kansas and he gave me information on the family. So I began to learn more about my mom’s side of the family also. They were a little harder to trace, because they liked to move around alot. They were farm laborers. I met my aunt, the youngest sister of my natural mother, while in southern part of Kansas, at Caldwell.
One year I went to Iowa to do some research on my dads side of the family, and then went into the northern part of Missouri to do some more research. This was in Mercer County, Missouri. My next pursuits in tracing my family will take me to the state of New York, and do more research. I have traveled to Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Montana and Canada, to do research on my natural family. One year I went to Loveland, Colorado, to visit a first cousin and her daughters. I never met them, so I decided to travel there to meet them. Sometime in the early 90's I did that.
In late October 1996 I received notice from one of the researchers from my first reunion that there was a play about my great aunt being played at Idaho Falls Civic Auditorium on November 22, 23 and 25, 1996. 
I had heard about the play before, when it played in the theaters in Wyoming, but I never had a chance to go to it. The Idaho Opera Theatre was putting this one on. It was sung in English. The author, George Hufsmith, wrote the play back in 1972. He and his wife live in Jackson, Wyoming. He also wrote a book about the Sweetwater Lynching. He wrote to me to see if I wanted to come and see the play and be a guest of honor there at the theatre. I called him when I got his letter and I told him, yes..why not? I booked a flight to Idaho Falls from Columbus, Ohio for three days in November. 
I could only be there for two of the showings. I wrote to the rest of the family trying to get some more family members interested in going. One cousin and my brother Marvin came from Montana to be at the Saturday show. When I landed at the airport in Idaho Falls, the director of the Theatre met me there and drove me over to the hotel I was staying at. She picked me up every night when the show started. We went about a half hour early to listen to the author tell about the life of Ellen Watson, and what inspired him to write the play. 
There was a woman that owned a Cattle Kate clothing store in Jackson, Wyoming, she was there, so I finally got to meet her. I attended the Friday show and I was introduced as her grand nephew before the show started. I had to stand up from where I was seated in the audience, so the people would know who I was. They were tickled to have me there...a living grand nephew of Ellen Watson. Some of her great grand nieces came from Littleton, Colorado to be there for the Saturday show. The following picture is me with my cousins from Littleton, Colorado. A mother on far right, her daughter on left, and granddaughter. 
That was an expensive show for me, even though my hotel room was paid for, and so were my meals, it was the plane ticket that cost me the most to fly there. We visited downtown Idaho Falls, and the Falls, before the show started, during the day time. 
After the Saturday show, the cast had a cast party at the home of one of the cast members and we were invited to attend that, and enjoyed visiting with the different characters in the play. 
The name of the play was ‘The Sweetwater Lynching’. On Sunday I had to fly back home, to be at work on Monday. I was disappointed that I couldn’t stay for the Monday play.
This past June 12, 1998, I drove all the way to Reno, Nevada, which was 2,300 miles one way for a family reunion. I stayed at the Peppermill Hotel Casino. My brother Tom, from Lincoln, Nebraska, and my brother Marvin, from Miles City, also attended. I got to Reno on June 14th and went to Silver Springs to visit a cousin there, and some of the cousins from Montana showed up. We ate dinner at her place. They live on a small ranch and they showed me their horses. They ride the local range helping out on neighboring ranches. I checked into the hotel that night. My cousin, who was hosting the event, invited me over for a BBQ they were having. I tried to find their place, but couldn’t. I ended up in California! I took a wrong turn. Never did find their place, but smelled the BBQ when I was looking for it.
On Monday June 15th, the family started to check into the hotel. I checked in a day earlier. At about 2pm that day we drove over to the National Automobile Museum in Reno. We took a tour of it. The museum had several old cars. Some very expensive ones too. Met some very strange characters at the museum too. 
When we got back to the hotel they had a hospitality room set up, so that the relatives could meet each other after they checked into their rooms. 
On Tuesday, June 16, we went to Virginia City, the site of the Comstock Lode, 
and we toured the town. Then we went down to Bower’s Mansion, near Carson City for a barbecue. We played horseshoes, volleyball, and just sat around talking. 
On Wednesday, June 17th we went to Lake Tahoe, for a ride on the M.S. Dixie, a stern wheeler. 
This was a 2 hour cruise around Lake Tahoe. Here is a picture of our family group that went on the M.S. Dixie. 
More pictures of the family enjoying themselves on the M.S.Dixie. 
That evening the family had a dinner planned for us at the Elks Lodge in Reno. This was our final meal of the reunion. 
I had to get up front and ask the family where they wanted to go for the next reunion. 
We all hated to see the reunion come to an end. The next reunion will be held in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the year 2000. My brother Tom will be hosting it. I look forward to attending that one too. I haven’t missed one yet.
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