DAY 49: "My New Friend, Rabbit......"

DAY 49:  Thermopolis, WY
TEMP:  High 90 / Low 45

"An old Indian told his grandson, "My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.  

One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies and ego.  

The other is Good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy and truth."  

The boy thought about it and asked, "Grandfather, which wolf wins?" 

The old man quietly replied, "The one you feed."

I met an Indian the other day.........an Indian that is now going to be my friend for a long, long time.  

Lee and Rabbit on Boss Hogg

We met Lee and Joy in Dubois, WY while we were camping there.....They had a trike; we had a trike...we were fast friends!  We rode around Dubois together; ate lunch together at the Cowboy Cafe downtown; went to the hardware store together and even sat outside and swatted mosquitos together.  

Joy, affectionally known as "Rabbit", a name given to her by her late father, is not quite a full blooded Indian, but almost.  She grew up as an only child in Florida and Louisiana; her great-grandmother lived in a teepee until the day she died; and has done more living in her left thumb than most of us all put together. She was a barrel horse racer for many years, until rheumatoid arthritis grabbed hold of her feet and made it near impossible for her to walk.  When she does walk; its with great pain.  She and Chuck have a great deal in common.

Liz and Rabbit

The other evening, while sitting out swatting flies drinking ice tea and getting to know each other, they told us about a neat little town just a few hours drive away where they have hot mineral springs coming up out of the ground all over the town.  They had been there several times over the years and each time, it gave Rabbit tremendous relief in her feet.  They also told us there was an RV campground there where they had 3 large pools of this mineral water, which is anciently known by the Indians to "heal" a person, with each pool being hotter than the next.  The more we heard, the more we knew we had to check it out.

The road to Thermopolis....Beautiful...Stunning.....Amazing!

So today, we loaded up the RV two days early and followed them to Thermopolis.  We are staying at the  "Fountain of Youth RV Park" here in Thermopolis and have been to the "healing" pools twice already, with the last time being tonight while being sung to, floating in the hot, hot spring water, by the owner and his two friends on their guitars.  

Our Campground host serenading us....

Truly folks, this is the stuff the RV campground books don't tell you about.........