It’s one of my go-to countries where I always feel right at home… America The Old Faithful.
It’s the land of the young and the hopeful, and those in their golden years.
Yes the best old geezers… and I’m not talking Joe Biden or Donald Trump either.
No, these are the old geezers of The Great American West, chief among them Old Faithful.
Old geezers
The geezer in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming erupts every 44 minutes to two hours, rather less frequently than the Scary One.
And it is known to spew 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of boiling water to a height of 106 to 185ft feet lasting from a minute and half to five minutes.
Wyoming lays claim to most of the 3,500sq mile Yellowstone Park, while Montana and Idaho also own some of it.
And much of it is covered by the Father of the National Parks Scot John Muir, who hails from just along the road from us here in Dunbar, East Lothian.
Wyoming’s footprint on Yellowstone is undeniable but more contentious is their ownership of Buffalo Bill.
Fits the Bill
A good old Wild West row has brewed ever since William Cody died in 1917 in Denver, Colorado.
The Coloradans make a big thing, as you would, of that and any visitor to Denver should check out The Buffalo Bill Grave and Museum on Lookout Mountain.
Thing is though that the good people of Wyoming claim Bill for themselves and insist that it is a vagrant who rests for eternity in Colorado.
And they celebrate the superstar cowboy in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
We’ll maybe leave that to Wyoming and Colorado to fight over and just be grateful that it’s double bubble.
Buffalo Bill, of course, was a global star of his time on account of his touring Rough Riders which included one Sitting Bull.
Little Big Horn
And you can see where he and Crazy Horse had their greatest triumph in Little Big Horn, across the border in Montana.
Now if you have a middling or less knowledge of the Mid West don’t beat yourself up over it… as even American History students are always learning.
I don’t know where Ted Ransen is now but I hope he’s on a ranch.
Because he knocked the narrow-minded Scottishness out of me when he told me that if I didn’t know the capital of North Dakota then how should I expect Americans to know the capital of Scotland.
You don’t forget things like this.. it’s Bismarck.
And finally the US is the gift that keeps on giving and you can always rely on America The Old Faithful.