WESTON, Wyo. - For as long as he can remember, Frank Bliss has enjoyed digging in the ground in search of clues about the past.

He remembers when, as a five-year-old, he found fossils at Merna.

More recently, the 1974 University High School graduate has been digging at his 3,000 acre ranch on the border of Wyoming and Montana.

Among the fossilized remains he's found are those of dinosaurs.

While his more significant findings will end up in museums, some of the more commonplace ones will go home with tourists staying at Bliss Dinosaur Ranch.

Bliss has owned the ranch for six years.

He hasn't always been a rancher.

He once owned a pet store, worked as a policeman and owned an internet service provider company.

However, through it all he's always been "a geologist at heart."

When Bliss, who has a master's degree in geology, isn't digging for clues to the past, he's planning for his bed and breakfast facility on the ranch.

He believes the location is ideal and that the fossils will make an irresistible destination.

The ranch is located in a broad valley between the Black Hills and the Big Horn Mountains.

The nearest stoplight is 74 miles away, he said, and the night sky is perfect for stargazing.

Although his ranch is as different as night and day from Bloomington-Normal, Bliss has fond memories of Central Illinois.

"It had a good influence on me. I get back once or twice a year," he said.

His mother, Marian Littrell of Bloomington, is proud of her son and not surprised by his fossil discoveries.

"I expected it. He loves to dig in the dirt," Littrell said.

Frank Bliss

Age: 49

Residence: Weston, Wyo.

Family: Wife, Patty; son, Chris, 17; parents, Marian Littrell, Bloomington, and the late Rodger L. Bliss; sister, Betty McKnight, Bloomington; brother, James Bliss, Phoenix; and sister, Alice Arneman, Nashville, Tenn.

Favorite quote: "You pay your dues and look for clues."

What else: Is a firearms instructor, teaches self-defense and considers himself a technological geek.

SOURCES: Frank Bliss; Marian Littrell; Compiled by Bob Holliday