Wyoming’s Tumble Inn Cowboy Being Restored To His Former Glory

An icon of Wyoming's old highway days, The Tumble Inn cowboy has lost his hat.

Located in what is left of the little back highway town of Powder River Wyoming, on Highway 20/26 between Casper, Wyoming and Shoshoni.

Out in the open prairie, it can't be missed.

This sign was put up before there was such a thing as interstate highways.

Those old back highways were much slower back then.

The Tumble Inn was a restaurant and bar with a few motel rooms for travelers, or those who had too much to drink and did not want to drive home.

The old sign has been falling apart for decades.

Not long ago it looked like this:

I walked the area with Tim Mandese, who was taking the pictures for me.

We could not find the top of the sign.

Did someone from the town scoop up what fell and take it home?

Notice not only is the hat gone, but where is the arrow?

So what was the cause of the damage?

Turns out it is not damage at all, but the beginnings of restoration!

Does that mean someone has purchased the sign? Yes!

Johnathan first tracked down the owners of the sign and got to work convincing them to sell to him. Turns out it was a package deal. They told him he could buy the sign and the inn along with it.

Thorne acknowledged that there was plenty of damage done by years of Wyoming weather and wind, but work has already begun to get the sign back up!

He even has an Emmy award-winning cinematographer on hand to showcase the progress!

There's still plenty of work to go before this old cowboy is shiny and new. But you can follow along with updates here.

For now, any photos of this old sign will not be complete. But one day the Tumble Inn Cowboy will watch over Wyoming drivers again.