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For the second time in my adult life, the sincerity and veracity of a claim I made about Wyoming history was questioned yesterday.
The first time this happened, it was 1995. Wifey and I took our 11-month-old son on a Wyoming-bound road trip to see Mom. While we were there, we made the decision to drive from Casper where Mom lived to the northeast corner of the state to check out Devils Tower and then Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota.
In the discussion about the upcoming trip, I repeated the legend about how Devils Tower got there and why it has all of those vertical lines on it. In essence, a big bear installed them while chasing some young Indian girls and their picnic basket.
In response, Wifey and Mom looked at me with great derision. Even my son generated a side eye.
It probably goes without saying that I trafficked in absurdity as much back then as I do now. The women in my life knew this and were convinced I was feeding them a giant line of pasture patties.
Yesterday, over thirty years later, it happened again.
Wifey and I were at her mother’s house here in San Antonio when I pointed out a small Wyoming flag on display near the front door.
“You know I get flashbacks every time I see that flag.”
“Why is that?” My mother-in-law sensed I was laying a trap. She’s seen signs of the absurdity over the years as well.
“Well I lived down the street from the lady who designed it. I think her name was Keyes.”
“In Casper?”
“Yeah it was back in the late 70’s. Our Cub Scout group visited her at her apartment and she told us about entering a contest or something like that. I was 8 or 9, and I’m guessing she was in her 70’s or 80’s by then.”
I had completely forgotten about that time all those years ago, and I spent the next few hours reminiscing about my youth. When I was in 9th grade, I had a social studies teacher who claimed to live next door to Mrs. Keyes. I remember her discussing some noise in the hallway the previous night. Granted, the timing of her complaint about that event coincided with the story in the news that Mrs. Keyes had passed away.
Later in the day yesterday, I found myself with Wifey back at her mother’s house. Her mother reported that she had done some research about the origin of the Wyoming flag. The results absolved me of any wrongdoing. It turns out the story was not as far-fetched as originally presented.
Derision avoided.
Speaking of derision, it subsided thirty-somethin’ years ago in the Devils Tower National Monument Visitors Center where we encountered a display telling that same story about the rock-climbing bear.
Sadly, that display left out the bit about the picnic basket.
