Westward Ho!

Wednesday
12.13.06 – Omaha to Cheyenne
9:00am
We set out toward Portland for a well planned, six-week long marketing trip. In Portland we’ll be meeting with our marketing team: Maxwell_PR, our intrepid public relations outfit, Anvil_Media, the wizards of search engine optimization (SEO) and eROI, our email marketers. Then up-and-down the left coast to introduce America Creates and interview artists, guilds & co-ops for some terrific pictures and content. We’re excited! The dogs are loaded in the back of the wagon and our spiffy new luggage rack is on top of the wagon with our spanking new and loaded Thule luggage bag attached.

9:30am – 17.5 miles west of Omaha on I-80
“What the %#@! was that?” The luggage bag and rack are torn off the roof by the Nebraska wind, scattering clothes and shoes across the highway. (Sorry, no photos. Suddenly, we got very busy.) Sharon skillfully pulled off the highway onto the median. I jumped out and ran the hundred yards, or so, back up the road and began feverishly gathering our stuff before the oncoming semis pulverized our ever so carefully, cleverly (utilizing those vacuum storage bags [as seen on TV]) packed load.
An auspicious beginning… We threw everything in the back of the wagon and pulled of the first exit, into the truck scales. We repacked, laying everything flat under the dogs’ blankets and pillows. This gave the dogs a much more elevated position, which they liked. After a brief discussion about omens, the will of the gods, tempting fate, etc. we decided, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

The I-80 beckons on...






Cheyenne, Wyoming was to be our first night’s stop. We had planned to drive no more than 8 hours each day, and then stop at an older, mid-city hotel in each town. (Pet-friendly, of course.) We wanted to stay in hotels with character and, hopefully, characters as well. We chose the Plains Hotel.
6:00pm - Cheyenne’s historic Plains_Hotel is chock-a-block with wonderful details. It actually delivered what we were hoping for, real craftsmanship and period furnishings.

Starting with the mosaic of Chief Little Shield at the front door,

the wonderful neon and steel entrance to the lounge and the lobby, filled with original furniture by Thomas_Molesworth.

Molesworth handcrafted furniture in Cody, Wyoming and set the style when “Dude Ranches” were at their peak in the 1930’s. Molesworth made furniture for some of the most prominent Americans of the twentieth century. Here are a few examples in the Plains Hotel.

Among the hallmarks of his designs is the use of Inland Douglas Fir burls with hand-peeled fir legs and half rounds often upholstered in deep red Chimayo weavings.

The cowboy silhouette shown in chair (below) is representative of many silhouette forms throughout his work.
Above the lobby hangs a magnificent Molesworth chandelier. This teepee style chandelier has been much copied since Molesworth furniture began a renaissance in the late 1980’s.

But one of the most unique features of the hotel is the stain-glassed ceiling above the chandelier. The chandelier hangs from the center panel – the Sun – surrounded by the eight planets. That’s right, eight. Made in 1911, the ceiling predates the discovery of Pluto in 1930.

How ironic, we thought, given that only this past August, the scientists of the International_Astronomical_Union decided that Pluto would no longer be classified as a planet.

Oh well, Pluto, as a planet, lasted about four years longer than the Soviet Union.

A few more images of the Plains Hotel and Cheyenne.