| Owners Art and Charlotte Andersen's latest news ; From Email: I just wanted to take a moment to let you know how much we appreciated your help in finding someone to work on our rig. Mike was most helpful and he got us in and taken care of so that we can be back on schedule tomorrow. I will recommend your RV park and Motel to any one I know who is coming this way. Once again, thanks for being so helpful.... CJ and Scott (space # 25) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Hello, we stayed at the Motel last week and just wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed it. It was quiet, clean and the rooms were just beutiful as well as reasonable priced. We are recommending it to all of our friends and family who will be traveling in your direction. We also plan on staying there again as soon as we can. Thanks for making our stay so wonderfull. Doug and Karen" PS- It was a nice touch to have frozen meals there, it actually hit the spot after a long bike ride, we didnt have to get back on again. We look forwad to dinning at the restaurant when it opens It is an awesome summer here in Dubois. Exceptional spring rains have made the mountains greener than usual, and big winter snows have the rivers running full. We're posting a few comments we get from guests after their stay, and appreciate any note about the Longhorn after we have put so much work into it. |
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| Connie baking rolls and taking reservations |
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| Wind River range near Dubois, taken from 14,000' |
The Wind River Range are the most rugged mountains in the lower 48 states. Little of the mountains can be seen driving through the area, but from the air, at 14,000', the view is incredible. Home to dozens of glaciers and hundreds of lakes, these mountains are intimidating to fly over, horseback through, or hike. Home to more species of big game animals than anywhere else in the US, they are also unique in that respect too. They are beautiful.
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| Longhorn hay fields in July |
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| Salmon fishing on Lake Michigan during the Oshkosh airshow. |
Our annual trip to the EAA airshow and flyin at Oshkosh, WI, also includes a fishing day on Lake Michigan. This year the King Salmon were really biting and Char landed this 24lb salmon right off the bat. We continued to catch 15-20lb salmon until after dark. This biggest one will be mounted and in the Longhorn restaurant when it opens, along with all the other trophies of Art and Charlotte's.
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| Our friend Maj Paul Brown flying the Heritage flight at Oshkosh in the A-10 |
During the week-long airshow, one of the performances was our friend Maj. Paul Brown flying the A-10 Warthog in the special 'Heritage Flight', a tribute to military aviators present and past. The other aircraft are a P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning, representing WWII, and the F-86 Sabre from the Korean War era. This was a high honor to Maj. Brown in the last year of his flying career with the USAF.
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| Kansas wheat fields with the Grizzly Cub's shadow going oover it |
A trip to Texas earlier in July, in the Grizzly Cub, had us flying low over the harvested stubble of Kansas wheat fields. I took this picture early one morning while flying about 200' above the ground. Our shadow against the stubble made an enjoyable sight. Even with the 100*plus heat in Texas, the trip in the Super Cub was very fun.
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| Ellsworth Air Force Base Flyin, Maj Paul Brown, A-10 Demo pilot, and Warren Pietsch, airshow pilot from ND |
We flew the Grizzly Cub to Rapid City and the civilian fly-in and airshow at Ellsworth Air Force Base last weekend. To fly in to the Air Force base is a rare event and we didn't want to miss the chance. We met our friends from SD, Dave and Linda Peterson in Spearfish and flew in to the show together.
This was a lucky chance to see airshow-pilot friends fly, including Maj. Paul Brown who is the demo pilot for the A-10 Warthog, and Jim Pietz of Pierre, SD who flies both a radical show with his Extra, and also a new show with a Beechcraft Bonanza. Jim was flying the Extra for this show.
Paul Brown is originally from Texas, now based in Tucson, AZ. When he isn't traveling to airshows around the country flying the A-10, he is flying his Cessna 180. His flying routine is spectacular, and the tight turning and fast climbing capability of the A-10 keeps him right in front of the crowd all the time. We really enjoyed all the new people we met through Paul, and hanging out with him during the weekend. We'll try to meet up with him at future shows as this is his last year flying the demo's.
Jim Pietz is a long-time friend that we have huge admiration for. Jim owns and runs the FBO ('airport service station') in Pierre, SD, and flies airshows for fun. Everything we've ever done with Jim and his business has been a great experience and top notch. We'll see him fly again this year at other shows, including Air Venture at Oshkosh, WI in July. Oshkosh is Carnegie Hall for airshow performers, and those invited to fly are truly being 'honored' in doing so.
We also met Warren Pietsch of Minot, ND, who along with his brother Kent, fly an incredible airshow with small fabric 'Cub like' aircraft. We had seen them fly many times before at the Reno Air Races and at Oshkosh, and it was a real honor to be introduced to them by Paul. Their wild act was voted 'Airshow Act of the Year' and is my favorite.
This was a lucky chance to see airshow-pilot friends fly, including Maj. Paul Brown who is the demo pilot for the A-10 Warthog, and Jim Pietz of Pierre, SD who flies both a radical show with his Extra, and also a new show with a Beechcraft Bonanza. Jim was flying the Extra for this show.
Paul Brown is originally from Texas, now based in Tucson, AZ. When he isn't traveling to airshows around the country flying the A-10, he is flying his Cessna 180. His flying routine is spectacular, and the tight turning and fast climbing capability of the A-10 keeps him right in front of the crowd all the time. We really enjoyed all the new people we met through Paul, and hanging out with him during the weekend. We'll try to meet up with him at future shows as this is his last year flying the demo's.
Jim Pietz is a long-time friend that we have huge admiration for. Jim owns and runs the FBO ('airport service station') in Pierre, SD, and flies airshows for fun. Everything we've ever done with Jim and his business has been a great experience and top notch. We'll see him fly again this year at other shows, including Air Venture at Oshkosh, WI in July. Oshkosh is Carnegie Hall for airshow performers, and those invited to fly are truly being 'honored' in doing so.
We also met Warren Pietsch of Minot, ND, who along with his brother Kent, fly an incredible airshow with small fabric 'Cub like' aircraft. We had seen them fly many times before at the Reno Air Races and at Oshkosh, and it was a real honor to be introduced to them by Paul. Their wild act was voted 'Airshow Act of the Year' and is my favorite.
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| Maj Paul Brown taxing after flying a stunning A-10 demo |
Here is the A-10 Warthog being taxied back in after a blistering demonstration of it's ability by our friend Maj. Paul Brown. The A-10 is the 'tank-killer' of the battlefield, meant to provide close air-support to ground troops. It's known for it's ability to repeatedly attack ground targets with precision, taking only 30 seconds to climb around for another 'run' on enemy targets. We had not seen Paul fly his routine and were really glad to hear he was going to be at the Ellsworth show.
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| Red bluffs south of the Big Horn Mountains flying home |
We flew our Grizzly Cub airplane over to Spearfish and then into Ellsworth for the weekend show. Flying the Griz is always fun as you typically can fly low in the empty spaces of Wyoming, getting an incredible view of the country. The photo below was taken while flying along a green valley rimmed with red bluffs on both sides. I shot this photo out the front window as we flew home.
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| Our first longhorn calf born here in Wyoming ! |
Our new longhorn calf born May 5th is doing great. She survived the spring visits near town by wolves an grizzly bear, and now shouldn't have any more 'hurdles' to clear. She's a beautiful calf, one of the nicest we've had.
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| The 210 in the air, taken by Boyd Livingston, Dubois, using a mirror on the wing. |
March 16-18:
Boyd Livingston of Dubois took this photo of he and Art flying the Andersen's Cessna 210 back from Texas recently. The photo is a refection out of a convex mirror on the underside of the wing. The mirror is used to check the landing gear position before landing, but in this cas made an incredible mirror-photo of Boyd and Art flying. Boyd has tried to convince some that he stepped out on the landing gear to take their photo, but no one is buying it!
Art and Charlotte try to make one trip a month to the San Angleo, TX area to see Art's Mother who is in a rest home there. Often times there is an empty seat and there are many that offer to take the trip with Art if Charlotte is working.
Boyd Livingston of Dubois took this photo of he and Art flying the Andersen's Cessna 210 back from Texas recently. The photo is a refection out of a convex mirror on the underside of the wing. The mirror is used to check the landing gear position before landing, but in this cas made an incredible mirror-photo of Boyd and Art flying. Boyd has tried to convince some that he stepped out on the landing gear to take their photo, but no one is buying it!
Art and Charlotte try to make one trip a month to the San Angleo, TX area to see Art's Mother who is in a rest home there. Often times there is an empty seat and there are many that offer to take the trip with Art if Charlotte is working.
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| The Grizzly Cub over Texas. |
March:
Art has begun flying again after months off due to surgery and complications from it. Last Saturday another local pilot, Harold Albright found a sow grizzly and two cubs while flying. He readioed Art and they both circled the trio of grizzlies getting an incredible view of the areas most famous animal. The grizzlies are just out of the den and very hungry. Some get too close to town and already one grizzly has had to be trapped and relocated. These bear were worrying a small herd of elk about 200yds from them when they were found from the air. Both black and grizzly bear as well as wolves have reduced Wyomings elk calf crop from 65% a few years ago to now only around 35%. Other factors involved have further reduced the number of bull elk more so than the cow elk. Years were spent bringing Wyoming's elk herd back from a few hundred animals. Introduction of the wolves as long as very high numbers of grizzly are taking their toll on moose as well as elk. It seems we loved elk back to good numbers but then lost interest in elk and brought wolves in. Now 1,600 wolves take out a lot of big game every week, year round. It is a very hot topic here in Wyoming, even though having the wolves provides a whole new dimension to the NW Wyoming high country.
This photo is an air-to-air photo of our Grizzly Cub over a close friends ranch near the town of Menard in West Texas. Art and Scot Warren are flying the Grizzly Cub, and Frank Hinds took the photo. They had been out to Lee Callan's ranch for an early morning breakfast and were heading back to San Angelo to pick Charlotte up off the airlines having been at work that week.
Art has begun flying again after months off due to surgery and complications from it. Last Saturday another local pilot, Harold Albright found a sow grizzly and two cubs while flying. He readioed Art and they both circled the trio of grizzlies getting an incredible view of the areas most famous animal. The grizzlies are just out of the den and very hungry. Some get too close to town and already one grizzly has had to be trapped and relocated. These bear were worrying a small herd of elk about 200yds from them when they were found from the air. Both black and grizzly bear as well as wolves have reduced Wyomings elk calf crop from 65% a few years ago to now only around 35%. Other factors involved have further reduced the number of bull elk more so than the cow elk. Years were spent bringing Wyoming's elk herd back from a few hundred animals. Introduction of the wolves as long as very high numbers of grizzly are taking their toll on moose as well as elk. It seems we loved elk back to good numbers but then lost interest in elk and brought wolves in. Now 1,600 wolves take out a lot of big game every week, year round. It is a very hot topic here in Wyoming, even though having the wolves provides a whole new dimension to the NW Wyoming high country.
This photo is an air-to-air photo of our Grizzly Cub over a close friends ranch near the town of Menard in West Texas. Art and Scot Warren are flying the Grizzly Cub, and Frank Hinds took the photo. They had been out to Lee Callan's ranch for an early morning breakfast and were heading back to San Angelo to pick Charlotte up off the airlines having been at work that week.
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| Our new Lab pup, Weezie, far left. |
February:
On top of Art being in a full leg cast, and Charlotte being away in Fargo, ND working, the latest addtion to Andersen Farms kennel arrived anyway. 'Weezie' was born Jan 7th in the panhandle of Texas, our third pup out of Sage, still the most titled Pointing Lab in the country. Sage pups are a handful, driven, a bit hard headed, and tough, but they are incredible hunters and retrievers when they grow up. 'Weezie' was picked up when she was 7 1/2 weeks old and we have kept her with us 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. When Art was in the hospital in Mayo, we boarded her in a Rochester pet hospital/boarding place. She is a doll, and now, at over 3 months old is a bouncing, chewing, challenge.
On top of Art being in a full leg cast, and Charlotte being away in Fargo, ND working, the latest addtion to Andersen Farms kennel arrived anyway. 'Weezie' was born Jan 7th in the panhandle of Texas, our third pup out of Sage, still the most titled Pointing Lab in the country. Sage pups are a handful, driven, a bit hard headed, and tough, but they are incredible hunters and retrievers when they grow up. 'Weezie' was picked up when she was 7 1/2 weeks old and we have kept her with us 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. When Art was in the hospital in Mayo, we boarded her in a Rochester pet hospital/boarding place. She is a doll, and now, at over 3 months old is a bouncing, chewing, challenge.
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| Weezie at four months old. |
May:
Here's Weezie at four months old, a very, very handsome dog. Art's working with her starting her retrieving and getting her ready for a fall season of pheasant hunting.
Here's Weezie at four months old, a very, very handsome dog. Art's working with her starting her retrieving and getting her ready for a fall season of pheasant hunting.
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| Trix, our first 'Sage' pup on point, hunting pheasant. |
Trixie, our first Sage pup, is now 5 years old. This is an early photo of her pointing pheasants. Before we moved to WY, we had a pheasant hunting lodge in South Dakota. We worked for years to build an impressive kennel of Labrador dogs. Trixie was our first 'natural pointer' and retriever, and never needed to be trained. At 2 1/2 months old she knew what to do and did it. She remains totally untrained still, and will most likely be the best all around dog we'll ever have. Art still hunts and guides in South Dakota in the fall, with our six Labs.
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| Art and Charlotte in Alpine, Texas. |
