Wilson Price Hunt Trail (‘Astorians’) 1811 — 1812

Day 19: August 31st, 2006 Jackson

Breakfast is again at the Village Inn, because I don’t want to search around. But also this time the service is as bad as it can be. Then I drive over to the next gas station. Around a quarter past ten I start my search. First I try to find this Driveline company. But I am not able to locate them. So I try my luck at autoTech on my list. Because of the weekend they cannot take a look at it before next week. But they recommend Able, who are a bit further down the main road. Unfortunately they also don’t have time. But they find Flat Creek Automotive, where I shall drive to.

They are willing to take a look at it tomorrow. But if I want to depart tomorrow, they most likely must put in a new transfer case, which is around $2000. A rebuild transfer case would be around $1000. But he will try to locate one today.

Then they organize a room for me at the Antler Inn in Downtown. From there I am able to get everywhere without a car. And they also give me recommendations for breakfast and dinner. Then they drive me over to the motel. First I check the video taping, which I was not able to complete yesterday. When I am ready to start my city tour of Jackson I realize, that I have forgotten my sun screen in my car. Hopefully this will not end up in a sunburn…

S Cache St, Jackson, WY

W Broadway, Jackson, WY

W Broadway, Jackson, WY

W Broadway, Jackson, WY

W Broadway, Jackson, WY

W Broadway, Jackson, WY

W Broadway, Jackson, WY

W Broadway, Jackson, WY

N Cache St, Jackson, WY

N Cache St, Jackson, WY

N Cache St, Jackson, WY

W Deloney Ave, Jackson, WY

W Deloney Ave, Jackson, WY

Town Square, Veterans Monument, Jackson, WY

Town Square, Jackson, WY

The city itself is maintained as old wild west town with a lot of beautiful and old buildings. Because I have plenty of time, I video tape and take pictures of almost the whole downtown area. Then I make another visit at the Visitor Center to see, if they have some more info about Hunt. Unfortunately they don’t, but instead I take a whole bunch of picture postcards with me. Then I walk over to the little museum to visit this one. There they tell me about the daily shootout, which starts always at a quarter past six.

Marshal Big Steve, Jackson, WY

The Marshal there is 82 years old and was heavily wounded in the war with Germany. Since then he has a crippled hand. Nevertheless, he gives me as a German guy a warm welcome and also shows me a little elevated spot from where I should have a good overview of the shootout.

Stagecoach, Jackson, WY

The shootout goes until 7pm. Then I chat for a while with the Marshal Big Steve. He is doing this job already for 33 years. He had also played in countless wild west movies. I say good–bye to him and take a picture of the stagecoach.

All the time I wait for the call from Flat Creek Automotive in vain. I really would like to know, how things will proceed tomorrow. After the shootout I call them, but nobody answers. I hope, they were able to organize everything and I am back on the road by tomorrow…

I walk back to my motel and check the video taping of today. To my horror, my video camera only shows dropouts for the whole shootout. It looks like all taping can be scrapped! But lucky me it ends up that everything is alright when I check the video taping again back in Germany!

But at this time I don’t know about my luck. Therefore I walk over to the Sweetwater Restaurant pretty disappointed. The prices are pretty high in this restaurant, but the dinner is excellent. Also their service. Around a quarter past nine I pay and walk back to my motel pretty full.