BUFFALO - An abandoned homestead in the high desert of southwestern Wyoming is the inspiration for a new book by a Buffalo author.

Ann Baldwin Curtis, who wrote "Good-bye My Love," said the site of old buildings has fascinated her and her family for many years.

Curtis, a Wyoming resident for most of her life, identifies herself as "a Westerner through and through." She said she and her late husband, Ed, loved the desert.

"There's such solitude in the desert, such peace," she said. "I love the mountains of northern Wyoming as they, too are peaceful. But the desert with its wild horses, `squeakies' (ground squirrels), lizards and other wildlife is special to me. And, there are no bugs there."

The Curtises started a supper club, Bon Rico, soon after their marriage.

"In fact, we decided to purchase the site near Kemmerer while on our honeymoon," she said. "Ed had four daughters, and I had three sons. We put all the children to work as soon as they were old enough, and they were a lot of help."

Ann's oldest son, Dean Iannelli, jokes that Ann and Ed started the restaurant to "feed all us kids."

Whatever the reason, the entire family worked long hours and went to the desert for some relaxation whenever they could.

The family headed for the desert one day and discovered the homestead buildings northwest of Lyman.

"We named the site the 'Desert Hilton' and enjoyed taking our camping gear out, rolling out our sleeping bags to enjoy the peace and quiet of the desert," she said. "One night we thought we'd like to sleep in the two-room shack. We tabled that idea when we discovered some other guests, pack rats to be exact. Didn't take us long to retreat to our under-the-stars site."

Curtis said no one they've spoken to knows who settled the site. The homestead site included a fruit or possibly root cellar underground which had caved in, a two-room house, a barn with a tack room, an ice house, chicken coop and lean-to's for the animals.

"As we walked around the grounds, I couldn't help wondering about the person or persons who once lived here," Curtis said. "Around the area are many old still sites from Prohibition days. All this seemed so amazing to me, how people settled here where life was so hard. The wind blows a lot, there's not much water, and it can be beastly cold in the winter. As one old-time saying goes, the wind could blow so hard that a chain would blow straight and when the wind stopped, the chain just fell down hard."

As Curtis thought more about the homestead site, she decided to create some imaginary characters and try writing an account of how it might be that a family would locate to Wyoming and begin a new life. The leading female character that came to mind was a young Jeanna Wilkes, whose life is uprooted when her father, Ned, quits his job and joins the Army during the Civil War.

After the war ends, Ned Wilkes is home for a short time. A knock at the Wilkes family's door brings orders for the lieutenant to report to Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory. Jeanna's mother agrees to follow her husband west, but the decision is much harder for her daughter.

Eventually, the family arrives in rough and tumble Wyoming, and Curtis's book recounts the twists and turns of Jeanna's life on the high desert.

Curtis said she had long wanted to write. As a high school student, her desire to do that was thwarted when she, after writing an assigned article, was accused by her teacher of plagiarism.

"I never got over that, and my insecurities about writing grew worse when I attempted to write some family history and my father threw away my papers," she said. "Now with my family grown I'm doing what I always wanted to, and I don't intend to stop."

A sequel to "Good-bye My Love" has already been sent to the publishers, and a third book is developing in Curtis's mind and her computer. She says each sequel will be left open enough to continue the stories inspired by an old homestead.