Wyoming!
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2011
1
109
110
Trip End
Jul 01, 2017
Sheridan, Wyoming
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Yes it's a bold and close to a very egocentric statement. I'm totally not like that statement except for the fact that I tend to "Travel" and do not particularly even want to do so. Travel is a pain in the neck (and other parts), and generally involves a lot of standing, waiting, sitting in impossible places and positions, and the big giant elephant in the room: THE UNKNOWN!!!!
Travel is always a great trip which is made more memorable than a few smacks in the face caused by "THE UNKNOWN" which will make you change your travel plans often. It will also cause you much great positive and negative surprises! Positive like the cool peasant fruit stand outside the walls, but mired with the fact that you have to come and go through a gate of guards who record everything about you. China was a great place for an optimist! But I focus on what I saw, and I wrongfully (according to people that just want the high points), give China a realistic lights, rather than to focus on the great and positive all the time.
Overall, China's positive's to tend to outweigh the negative's. I am being drawn back there at this very moment! China is my spiritual home to say the least.
Now I'm in Northern Wyoming, just outside of "Sheridan" named for some cruel CivIl War general or someone. It's cold and windy up here most of the year. The fewest people live in Wyoming than any other state. Yet it's a far more interesting place that Kansas for example: I have no idea why most folks do not want to live up here?
Wyoming has some of the top wilderness in this country, with "Yellowstone" as it's crown jewel. "Yellowstone" is the place that tries to recreate America before all the tourists ruined it. But the tourists have ruined it. We all gotta see it, six hour traffic jams are characteristic of that awful place. I live at the foot of the Easternmost range of the Rocky Mountains known as the "Bighorns" The 70 mile wide range of over 13000 foot peaks extends like 300 miles up into Montana. Most people pass through here in there way to Yellowstone, yet the Big Horns are taller and more natural. Sorry we don't have the Grizzles and Wild Killer Buffalo, nor do we have the giant hordes of humanity!.
The people up here are "open hearted", they have not been disappointed by as many people, as those in the rest of America. Their noble attitudes protect them to a great extent, since their innocence could leave them wide open otherwise. I do well with people like these,
In many ways this place seems more foreign than China to me. Main reason being, that I just returned from there and am new to things like forks and knives at the table. But Wyoming is truley it's own distinct and admirable culture. Strong, well-centered people up here. Direct and honest... most are beyond the corruption that I have seen in other places. People say what they think and rarely put on airs. The Chinese were similar in this fact.
My friend here owns half interest in a China restaurant. I eat free Chinese food every day, and most of my close friends in Wyoming are either Chinese-Americans, or Chinese from Hong Kong. So I will assume that my trip has not ended. Due to my own Sino-centric outlook that I always have had, including a familiarity (and belief) with a few of the Chinese Philosophies that I have subscribed to for the past 30 years. This is a smooth transition to living in the state of Wyoming because of this. Chinese food and culture every day is good for this cat!
What can I say about where I live, outside the people I previously described? Its a majical place. Wyoming! Endless miles of hilled plains with rocky outcrops stretching upward on occasion, the winds are harsh, yet the wildlife seems to be quite abundant. Antelope, geese, turkeys, and the White tailed deer, which challenge you to drive past them while they graze in the middle of the cites. I've seen many new types of birds here, and little squirrel looking varments, and praire dogs, raccoons, rabbits ect.... Many more animals than China seems to have, but I have not been out in the far west of that country.
Between the high deserts and plains of Wyoming are a series of mountain ranges. The previeously described "Big Horns" are to the north and east of the state. There are also mountains near the big city of "Caspar". The "Wind River" range is a few hundred miles to the west and are probably the most natural mountains in the lower 48. The "Unitas" are way down south and west of here and sport the big towns of "Green River" and "Rock Springs" where Dick Chaney plays around with his mining interests with his big new heart. A couple hundred miles north of there lie the Tetons, Star Valley, Jackson Hole, and finally "Yellowstone National Park" which I mentioned before. Wyoming is an amazing place to be.
