MEETEETSE, WY

We were all hooked up and ready to leave Greybull, but the truck wasn’t. Started up the truck and found out we had no brakes or power steering.  Lucky for us we found a garage in town, only two blocks from the campground that replaced the power steering pump.  It was only a 5 hour delay which didn’t hamper our plans too much since we only moved 60 miles to the small Town of Meeteetse, WY.  It is so tiny they don’t even have a grocery store.  There are taverns and restaurants – that’s it!  After enjoying breakfast we walked over to the Meeteetse Museums.  This is the town of cowboy photographer Charles Belden, where ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody hunted, Butch Cassidy rode, and Amelia Earhart was building her retirement cabin.  A good place for a lazy day of rest.

Now for the exciting news.  The fugitive Tracy Province, one of the two who escaped from an Arizona prison and murdered two RV’ers was caught by U.S. Marshals Monday in Meeteetse, Wyoming (a day before we got here).  He was doing his best to blend into the community.  His arrest came as a big surprise to local residents.  "I thought it was pretty funny when we first found out about it this morning," local resident Brian Hartman said.  "We've been drinking beer with him for the past two nights and I let him stay on the floor of my hotel the last two nights."  Province told people he was on his way to Indiana after his wife kicked him out of his car in Yellowstone.  He hammed it up with locals at The Cowboy Bar in downtown Meeteetse Saturday and Sunday night.  In addition to frequenting bars, he took time to take in a Sunday religious service, where the Pastor says he sang in the congregation and spoke with churchgoers.  When arrested this morning, he told authorities he was relieved the manhunt for him was over.  One of the local residents who had talked to him recognized his face on TV and called authorities.  When Marshals arrested Province without incident he was carrying a handgun and a hitchhiking sign.