Tinnelli's House of Wonder

We arrived Moneta, WY, to realize we were short on fuel and with no choice but to continue the 22 miles to Shoshoni. There, in search of beer, we parked in front of an imposing building. Built in the '20s by President Ford's grandfather, an industrial baron, Ryan Tinnelli bought it from the Masons (the cult) over 15 years ago. It includes five theaters which visitors are encouraged to find by means of investigative discovery.

In homage to a former life.

The Front Room

This Way...

One of Five

Near the Ensconce-etorium

where one ensconces...on the throne.

A.k.a. The Ceramic Defecatorium

By Ryan Tinnelli

Two of Five

Affixed to a Bench

Now With Six Locations

Video by RoadTrippinNomad

action begins at 1:25

For more information or to schedule a tour, contact Mr. Tinnelli at 307 251 7956.

Golden Spliffoes Fill Your Eyes

Early in our courtship, testing my worthiness, Ms. Cook suggested in her inimitably sweet way, that I  create a new cat-part word. Over the preceding months I'd learned how she and her brother had developed an extensive nomenclature of/for cat-parts, so this was no small matter.

We were southbound on interstate 25 about to enter what's known as THE BIG I -- the interchange for Interstate 40 and Interstate 25, the place where ALL the Mexican ground-based drug traffic gets routed to the rest of the country. It's interesting.

In those days, 28 years ago, it was an aerial maze laden with skid marks and deep scars in the concrete barrier that (sometimes) kept vehicles from plunging the 200 feet to the ground.

As I began the approach to the I-40 westbound onramp, it came to me....SPLIFFOES!! The poochy part of a cat's face where their whiskers come out. She was impressed. The rest is history.

Nightmare of the Casper 5th Wheel

Continuing our northward trend, we left Laramie for Casper. But unfamiliar with Casper's camping options and facing a full day of "chores," we again opted for an AirBnb (up 'til now we've had good luck). At $69.00 a night it seemed a bit pricey, but sounded convenient.

The unit was pictured by itself without the surrounding buildings and though the neighborhood was described as urban we were completely unprepared for what we found....urban WASTELAND!!!

Still, neither of us having ever been in a 5th wheel, we approached with curiosity. Someday, when I'm totally bored, I'll look into where "Fun Finder" is positioned in the market. We found it hard to believe anyone would buy ANYTHING this chintzy....except maybe as a hovel for your immigrant slaves that you condescended to let have some pseudo plumbing (it stank!) and a noisy refrigerator.


We left the next morning earlier than I've broken camp from anywhere except the time I inadvertently camped at the wrong end of a shooting range.

UW Art Museum - Part II

In the lobby is an installation by

Nxt 2 photos by: Who's that Gurl?

Clock at lower right for orientation.

One can only speculate as to what helped Mr. Predock transition.

In the building's center

Who dat?!!

Among the collections are 50 from Dorothy & Herbert Vogel's nation-wide distribution.

Dorothy & Herbert in 1992

My fav from the 50 for 50.....

University of WY Art Museum - Laramie

The Museum's website.



Perhaps he's still there, but in the mid-'90s when I held a regional exhibit of art by architects, Antoine Predock had his offices in Albuquerque. His buildings at that time were easily ignorable; they looked like bunkers. Below is his United Blood Services building.

Knowing he was probably too busy to bother with the application process, but with a gnawing suspicion he might enjoy being included, I went to his office to invite him to participate. As we stood discussing the project, he pulled a sheet of paper from a nearby printer and, using a felt-tip pen, drew an image similar to the one below (see more here). It sold, for $300.00, before the show even opened, to a University of New Mexico student of architecture.

You can imagine my astonishment at discovering the University of Wyoming Art Museum was designed by the same man.



Photo by: Who's That Gurl?

My Pic of: Who's That Gurl?

Laramie....Wyoming

The latch that keeps the door of her camper from swinging in the wind broke; my rear door latch needs a new pull chain; there's laundry; the weather was gorgeous yesterday but then went back to monsoons. We found a cute AirBnb for $75.00 a night. (BEWARE the cleaning fee, taxes and other add-ons.)


Cute, as any gigolo will tell you, only goes so far. A former boarding house, the heat is controlled from downstairs (inaccessible) and the wiring hasn't been upgraded. So, while there are numerous strategically-located power strips, there're no space heaters and it'd probably be unsafe to plug one into a power strip even if there were.

But it's cute...

The baaaaath (said with Eloise's affected accent)....

We hope to visit the Ivinson Mansion and the Art Museum before trundling on....but it's rigorous out here.

 The nearest Public Lands camping we could find is 41.2 miles to the west at Arlington. It was raining when we arrived and required 4 whl drive to keep from tearing it up.

Piddling In Place

This IS a color photo

Having had our way with Laramie, we went north to Arlington where a wet, gouged out, two-track led steeply up. Even in 4 whl we were at risk for slipping into the trough between the tracks...a situation that would likely disable her refrigerator. (Oh, the travails of accoutre-ized rigs!). That plus the fact we didn't want to damage the road by driving on it when wet prompted us to take the first spot available. We stepped out to a magnificent view that included a flat-topped hill be-furred with the oscillating fans of a windfarm.



Only about a mile above the freeway and its endless stream of trucks, we were fortunate that the wind was in the right direction and it was quiet. And the hills are (well, they were yesterday afternoon) ALIVE with color from myriad wildflowers.

The Beaufort Scale lists 37 knots (42.5788 mph) as the low end of Gale. I think it qualified. And somehow the exhaust fan cover developed a crack. Not a major issue with snow, but likely to cause annoyance with rain. But she had an idea. I'm too fat to go aclambering. But SHE is an animal! (It was June 23rd, not 24.)

Spring thaw courtesy of her iPhone 8....

The next morning....