Jeans and Dreams

After I made it out of the far reaches of the northeast corner of Wyoming with my car in one piece, I headed to Gillette for some much needed jeans. All of my jeans seem to have holes in them, some from barbed wire, some from over wear that have the thighs rubbed out from hiking so far, and one where the pocket started to rip because I have plenty of junk in my trunk. I had three choices, Walmart, K-mart, or Boot Barn. I figured I would get the best quality at Boot Barn, and tried on all kinds of brands. The sales girl remembered me from the last time I was in there and spent several hundred dollars buying new clothes that I could feed and ride horses in. I settled for some Carhartts, and asked to wear them out because my Cruel Girl jeans were on their last leg.

I really needed a shower, so I went to the new rec center run by the city. I have never seen such a nice place to work out, for $4 I got my shower and an hour of playing like a little kid on the water park quality slides and swimming. I couldn't jump off the high dive though. I knew it wouldn't hurt, I saw little kids doing it even, I just couldn't jump off of it. I'm not scared of heights, just really respectful of them I guess. Feeling refreshed I headed towards Sheridan for a point that was on public land and should have been easy to access. I decided to take the next day off, I was so tired and it was late. I called the Occidental Hotel and asked Chris if there were any rooms left. I mentioned that it was Angela and he was lost on who I was, then I said "the biologist who lives in her tent." He knew exactly who I was then, and said I should try the Blue Gable Cabins down the street. I promised to come by a little later for a beer.

My cabin was adorable, I just wanted to crawl in bed and turn on that black box hanging from the wall...what is that called...awe TV. I got wrapped up in several phone conversations with my boyfriend and parents though, then went to the Occidental to have a beer and listen to bluegrass music. It was nice talking with Rex and Chris, who looks like Alan Jackson and plays cover band songs in there once a week. Rex gave me some creepy looks the first night he saw me weeks ago, but he is a nice guy now. I went back to my little cabin and tried to turn the TV on, but my eyes wouldn't stay open long enough to see where the buttons on the remote were.

Me and Jimmy talked a lot about his ranch during that days phone call, what improvements it needs, he told me of new plans to get 12 more quarters of land and another 200 cows soon. I couldn't stop talking about ranching with my parents. I've seen pictures of dad as a teenager showing cows at the state fair, the man knows his way around a ranch. I tried to convince them that they didn't need to teach anymore, and they could start a Buffalo ranch in Wyoming. All they need to do is feed and breed, it could someday be an expansion of me and Jimmy's ranch.