Northern Wyoming Thanksgiving experiences.
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2011
1
110
Trip End
Jul 01, 2017
Where I stayed
Gillette, Buffalo, Wyoming
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Here near the Montana border leaf management is much like herding fish. None of these things follow directions and giant gusts of wind seem to either assist or work against you. We are employing an infamilar method of shoveling tons of wet leaves into the back of the truck then put bags of leaves on top, in order to get them to the local dump..
Today we drove for an hour to "Gillette" which is the 4th? most populated city in Wyoming. Place looked modern as hell with all those useful stores which serve even the smallest populations, while traditional stores go under. I am mixed on this practice. Nice to find a Mickey D's in the middle of Wyoming, but the cookie cutter big stores like Walmart do seem to ruin a place;s identity to some extent. But I do like the cheap prices.... Maybe not enough to go to a Walmart. "Sheridan" seems a nice mix of the old and the new. I am still amazed about the low population, yet Wyoming seems quite modern in many ways. I like the old style. I am "Old Style", I am one of the few who regard the radio as the foremost bulwark in my personal entertainment. Books would be second. Internet would be third. My pocket knife is a distant 4th.... I remember the simple ways...
I do remember crossing the famous "Power River" half way to Gillette. This would be a nice drop off point for a multiday river canoe trip. I could go to New- Orleans from up here in a month or five... Food for thought.
Heading away from the "Big Horns" was a sad thing for my friend "Carlos" since he loves the mountains so much, but I love the hilly canyonated green rocky plains to the east. In Wyoming, the plains rarely are flat, they don't have many trees. I do prefer the hilly Mars-like landscapes of Wyoming, To me they are far interesting than the high Rockies which sport the same species of things. Plus the towns in these isolated Martian realms have distinct identities.
Gillette, due to their current mining situation is all rich and aglow! Modern to say the least. My previous residence during the previous summer "Green River" Wyoming, was an early 19th century beauty, especially the ancient, giant, and working rail yard where I happened to stay near, I spent the 4th of July there as a stranger on a motorcycle trip and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sheridan is a decent mix of new and old. Cool place for certain.
Spent a couple cold winter's days up in Jackson Hole, the winter before last, and nearly died trying to snowboard the first time on a sleep blue slope. Jackson Hole is always a hoot, and near Idaho and my previous home town of "Logan", Utah.
I am becoming quite of a student of Wyoming in general. Texas used to be much like this many years ago. Now Texas is the worlds 12th largest economy or something. I like the old ways. Wyoming is my new Texas.
Tonight us cabin people working on pre-Thanksgiving dinner in the "Big House", Charles and Missy are excellent hosts. Missy and her friend stated the dinner cooking, with not many details left out. Tomorrow will be grand with a full table. including many Chinese restaurant workers, and much Dallas Football as well.
I spent my last hour and a half, getting pummeled in a Jacuzzi where all forms of stress and body aches completely went away. I consider the access to a good jacuzzi one of the fundamental Human Rights that all should enjoy. A good jacuzzi will beat a full body massage any day, while causing an old one to feel years younger. Of course one needs abit of exercise in their regimen.
Another fantastic day in the far north.
Thanksgiving was centered around watching football for the most part. Sorry folks, Dallas got their arse kicked by the Redskins... Again. I don't care too much as long as the earth continues to spin.
The Chinese guests arrived around 5:30 and they got to watch two hours of Football although most couldnt understand any of it. "Chong" and his sister "Ling" joined us which made this a most rockin Thanksgiving, and a chance for us to practice our lack of language skills with each-other. I had been to their Province near GuiYang during the summer and we had much to talki about! They reminded me how wonderful and gentle most Chinese folks are. We plan to play some "Majhong" in the very near future. Good thing their boss is an excellent interpreter.
Spent the rest of the night alone with Charles and Melissa's well trained dogs "Vog" and "Mokey", which are a giant German Shephard and an opportunistic Golden Retriever, and I am quite fond of both of them. I spent an hour in the famous Jacuzzi which again, made me fell much younger due to the powerful jets in the right places. All older folks should have one of these. Not some cheesy hot tub but a true jaccuzi with strong jets, high heat, and variable locations to move around to. The Jacuzzi on a cold winter night is a luxury that few are lucky enough to experience. I feel like a jillionaire!
My previous 5 Thanksgivings were spent alone in Utah or China and were sad, lonely affairs. This excellent one will probably be remembered for a lifetime. Im sure that Christmas will be an equal period of "Belonging Somewhere" which is important to most of us humans,.,
