I Cursed that Mud...

After the 10k hike round trip over vast grassy BLM owned hills, I was tired and craving of all things...seaweed salad. My diet of coffee and gas station chips might not be full of protein and vitamins like seaweed, so maybe that was why I was craving it so much. I searched for sushi on my car GPS and followed its directions to downtown Casper. I haven't been in a "big" city since Denver a few months ago, it was a nice treat. I was glad to see that everyone at the sushi restaurant was Japanese, thus lowering my chances of food poisoning by eating Wyoming sushi. I ordered some spicy raw salmon and seaweed, savoring every bite of the luxury. There were two flat screen TVs behind the chefs as I sat at the bar, one was turned to CNN and the oil tragedy. The other had Anthony Bourdain and his show "No Reservations", he was in Uzbekistan. I was captivated by both TVs, having seen so little in weeks. I wished I had an excuse to travel the world like Bourdain, I did once date a guy from Uzbekistan though...he had a strange mix of Middle Eastern and Russian culture. I walked around outside a bit and noticed the Wyoming skyscraper, an oil building.

After the sushi, I hung out in the library for a long time doing work, reading magazines, and thinking up story ideas to send editors queries. I didn't want to think about the night. I bought some army green yarn to knit my friend Quick a hat, then went into the Sex and the City movie, or "Sex and the Sand Dunes" as one magazine called it. Yes, I knew it would be a bad movie of me staring at old women with wrinkles giving me no hope of looking good at their age when they are movie stars looking so bad and I am just normal. I was worried about Samantha getting arrested for having sex in a Middle Eastern country going into the movie, and she did! It is just rude to completely ignore the morals expected by other countries while visiting, even Americans should pay attention not to offend the natives. The movie was a long three hours of complete escape from my job and situation of living out of my car for it. There was a lot of over the top luxury, and some very ugly dresses that they paid thousands for I'm sure, it was fantastic!

I just wanted to camp in town somewhere, so went to a few places with pictures of little tents on the map. One was in a scary neighborhood along a raging river, another was a pathetic expensive patch of grass surrounded by RVs, and I finally gave up and stayed at another RV site with slightly more grass under some trees, I was so tired. I asked if I could sleep in my car if their was lightning, but still set up my tent in case I wanted to sleep in it in the morning for some good rest. Mud stuck to my flip flops, and I was just annoyed at that mud. I cursed that mud, I cursed my flip flops, I cursed the junk in my car, I cursed the "camp site", I cursed my job, I cursed the lightning, then my brave boyfriend called and calmed me down a bit before I fell into a peaceful sleep.

Banjo Dual with a Meadowlark

I drove down to Casper, WY to get in a few bird points around the area. I parked my car down a BLM road. I had to drive it by putting one tire on the center grassy part and the other tire on the veg covered side of the road to avoid scraping the underpart of my small car if I just followed the two track road. I think my car only has a clearance of three inches, but I'm just guessing here. I stopped in a really rough part of the road and decided to camp there. I looked at the huge cloud over me, and decided to sleep in my car. I pulled out my annoying box of art supplies that just seems to be taking up valuable space, since I have no time to draw or paint, and put it in a grassy field. I decided to sit on the box while I practiced playing my banjo. Birds competed with me and meadowlarks bellowed out their mating songs, their music sounding way better than mine. I put the banjo away around dark and read a little with my headlamp laying in the backseat of my car.

I was about to fall asleep when the lightning started. I didn't want to feel trapped if my car got stuck on the soon to be muddy road, so I drove back down to the paved road and parked there for a little while. I texted my boyfriend for some comfort, then couldn't stand it and drove around to take the lightning off my mind. I got hungry so drove to Casper for some greasy food at Taco Joes, then drove all the way back to the spot where I had to hike in the next morning to my bird point for 5k. Out of pure exhaustion, I finally fell asleep, careful not to touch the metal frame of my car with my bare feet.

This job is really getting to me, my stress level is high. My boyfriend saw a very grumpy side to me for the first time.

On the Tounge River

I stayed last night a campground off HWY 14 north of Sheridan in some little town, Rayson maybe. I was pretty frustrated after trying for hours to get close to the bird point that I was suppose to do off the side of a sharp mountain in the Big Horns. It was 4k away from the nearest road, and then down a step rocky slope put there to build the road. This point seems impossible to get to. I gave up and found a campground in town I was so tired. I looked at the cabins they had, but they reminded me too much of the crappy motel me and my co-worker lived in for two months in Coulee City, WA while mammal trapping. The lovely Blue Top Motel or "Blu op M el" with all the letters missing, the walls were so thin that I would hear our neighbor watching Law and Order at night. I preferred a tent site. The owner was really excitted about the birds and we talked forever about them as we walked around her property, she knew most of them but asked what a few were, like the yellow warbler that was happily singing along the raging Tounge River. I asked her if the river ever flooded the place, and she said that it did sometimes and told me which sites to avoid for that.

I set up my tent across from some people from Oregon who in a beat up van that had a few orange doors that were not rusted like the rest of the van. Someone else had a rusty suburban, and then there was a new looking sedan. They all started getting dressed up in nice clothes, the women spread out in the bathroom with curlers in their hair, complaining about their men to each other. I walked back outside and the men were putting on ties. Maybe it was a wedding or a graduation, so unexpected though.

I saw a grassy RV site with a plug in and got a good idea. I asked my new friend, the campground lady, if I could move to the RV site and she agreed. So I dragged my tent over there and plugged in my laptop from my tent, and the internet was excellent! It was the best luxury. I called my friend in Canada while looking on the internet for barn houses and cabins. My Oregon neighbors returned from...wherever they went. A teenage girl got out of the multi-colored van yelling at her boyfriend calling him a few names as she slammed the door and stormed into the bathroom, he sped off out of the campground and I chuckled to myself.

I tried reading but fell asleep in the middle of it. My eyes are way too heavy these days to stay awake past 10pm. I really took advantage of the internet today at that campground till check out time. I got some much needed coffee from the gas station and made it back to Buffalo.

Last night I had a text message asking me to pay my phone bill, and this morning they shut off my phone! I've never had it shut off in the five something years I've had it, but chasing birds around Wyoming doesn't pay very well. It put me in a really bad mood, increased by sugar, coffee, and lack of sleep no doubt. I had a hard time finding a pay phone, then the T-mobile office was closed for the day. I paid through the computer and my phone still didn't work. I was so mad! Then I realized that it was Memorial Day and I couldn't go through with my plans of getting a new bank, a new passport, or my business license in Buffalo. I'm in an old soda fountain in downtown now, using their free internet in exchange of shakes and pretzels, because the libraries across the state have been closed since Friday. Living in my tent in Wyoming is isolating enough without loosing my phone. I did pay for the rest of my banjo at CeCe's antique shop though, her sweet face helping me to bring me out of the bad mood.

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.

Sleeping in the Middle of an Oil Field

Just as I was nodding off to sleep around 10pm out in that oil field, the lightning started. I got in the front seat of the car and decided to drive off the hill I was sitting on. There wasn't any rain, just the bright flashes and rumbles. I parked next to a large metal building that must be some kind of oil pump house and tried to sleep in my backseat. I pulled my down comforter over me, as if it was an extra layer of my cocoon to protect me from a deadly lightning bolt. It was hot, and I really wanted to roll down a window, or plop my bare legs on top of my nest of covers and pillows, but fear kept me under the covers. 3:30am came, I should have drove back up the hill and hiked to my point, but I was so tired I didn't. Then around 6am I heard a door slam shut and could see two figures come toward my window through the rain drops that clung to it, plaid shirts blurred right outside.

I opened my door, aware I was just in my underwear and a tie dye t-shirt, it was so hot in the car. The cowboys peered in at me on my bed with curious looks, and one just came out and said it "Mam, did you realize that you are sleeping in the middle of an oil field?" there was a slight twain to his voice, having never lived in a city I'm sure. I was so tired I could barely talk, I wish I didn't look like a hippie in my tie dye, sleeping in my car like a homeless person.

"Sir, B.W. himself gave me permission to be on his land, I talked to him a couple of days ago." The cowboy relaxed a little at the mention of his boss' name. I explained that I was a biologist doing bird points and their rigid faces softened into sympathetic looks as I explained my sad story of the lightning and how the I felt safest next to the large metal building surrounded by telephone poles. Then almost broke into tears as I mentioned that I wasn't even able to call my boyfriend for comfort because I hadn't had cell service since early yesterday morning, and couldn't call his boss to remind him I was coming either. Then I added "Believe me, someone does not find this spot to camp in without a very specific purpose, hours of driving through the middle of nowhere, help from the neighbors, not to mention that 17 mile drive down B.W.'s ranch road. I have full permission to be here." They both apologized for waking me as they slowly backed away, and wished me luck with my bird surveys. The care taker said he probably just missed and email or phone call from B.W. and they got in their truck and left me in peace.

I drove up the hill and walked 3k to my bird point across some of the prettiest fields of flowers with butterflies everywhere. The birds were the most abundant on this point with all the oil wells than I had seen them anywhere else. The hike out was easy, and even though I got lost a little on the drive out and mixed up with big oil trucks leaving with black gold, I found my way out of there. I stopped at a small town that had a grocery/hardware/auto parts store for some tea and breakfast. The spark plugs were on the shelf next to the brownie mixes, something that made me laugh. The owners had a flat screen TV turned to CNN with oil spill coverage. We talked a bit about the tragedy and I explained I hadn't seen TV for weeks, so they filled me in on it. They said I was still in Montana and wished me well on my way back to Wyoming. The sign on their door said "Take off muddy and oily boots before coming in here." I giggled as I left this strange place.

Rual Wyoming...wait is that redundant?

I woke up to a bright light in the dead of night. Pete the park ranger was checking to make sure that I paid for my campsite at Keyhole Lake. I'm a few days past the need of a shower, and my now fire red head is a grease ball. I also have lots of crap piled in my car and may appear homeless. He asked me how long I planned on staying, he remembered me from three other nights. I explained I was a biologist studying birds which got him excited and chatty while I looked down to see if I was even wearing decent clothes. I had on my Mylie Cyrus $3-on-sale-Walmart mini skirt, and a t-shirt.

After getting just a couple hours sleep, I drove to my bird point off Highway 14 and walked across a grassy field with mud puddles, climbing over a few barbed wire fences. I disturb pronghorn all the time, and they grunt at me which sort of sounds like an armpit fart.

It is getting a little boring counting meadowlarks, but it has to be done. I walked as quickly as I could in between points to get the transect over with quickly. I then headed to Moorcroft to check if my paycheck was automatically deposited. I tried filling my car with gas, and it worked. I had a nice breakfast of biscuits and gravy with an egg over easy and bacon on the side. I had gone hungry the night before having put my last $10 in the iron ranger to camp and having taken back my camp stove to Walmart earlier that week for the much needed money. I spent a few hours in the library while a librarian with a British accent keeping an eye on me wondering why I lingered so long, I did some paperwork and read some more magazines. The ones that rural libraries subscribe to are pretty funny. Usually they have all the quilt magazines, a few on farming and livestock, and "Country Woman". Pink on the cover of Cosmo really stood out and I grabbed that one, having already read all the other ones at libraries across the state. There is a great article about raising chickens in city areas in "Organic Farming" by the way.

I had to drive sixty miles today to my next bird point, and never left a red gravel road covered in black cows, the North East corner of Wyoming is extremely remote, I only saw one truck on that road. The isolation from buildings, people, and my cell service really got me down. The dead town of Rocky Point is just a cemetery, after that the gravel road turned to clay and was rough to drive on with my three inches of clearance in my small car. Ruts carved the hardened mud causing me to have to balance on top of them. The ranch I was driving to was so remote, that I had to drive through Montana to get there, going through the small "town" of Ridge, MT...complete with a homemade sign proudly displaying "Population 2" in front of a red barn. I took a right and got lost trying to find my ranch.

I stopped at a pretty ranch house and boldly knocked on a screen door in my Census job sort of courage. I introduced myself to a ranch wife who was very friendly and surprised to have company. She said she was horrible with directions and we went out to the barn to find her husband while a teenage boy in chaps looked at me, standing next to a saddled horse. A man as leathery as his chaps came out to see what was going on. He finally smiled when I mentioned his neighbor's name and that I was looking for the right road leading to his ranch. He looked at my maps and gave me detailed directions down to an airplane hanger on the left of the road. They laughed when I asked if I was in Wyoming, and said I was still in Montana. The rancher looked at my little car and wished me good luck driving down to my point in my "puddle jumper". I joked that it couldn't even jump puddles and left, praying that it wouldn't rain.

I took a nice road, built with money as free flowing as the oil that paid for it, for seventeen miles into Wyoming and one man's ranch. At the end of the road was an oil field with beautiful spring flowers and dozens of oil wells making grinding sounds all around me. I cleaned up my car, gave myself a pedicure while sitting among the flowers, and had a peanut butter, walnut, and Nutella sandwich. I didn't hike out to my far away point to camp, even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, because I had a feeling that I shouldn't...

Beauty in a Dark Forest

The BLM office windows were bright as I gathered my trash out of my car, there was bags of useless crap sucking the pennies out of my purse in extra fuel use, and I snuck them into their outside trashcan before Dan came out and caught me. I woke up around three something to meet him there at 4:30am to go out to a bird point together on BLM land. He was an eager intern as we loaded up his SUV in case the roads were bad and headed out to a ranch owned by a woman next to the South Dakota border. We were amazed to find the most beautiful red cliffs in the black hills hidden behind her private property on public land, and no one else will be able to visit it.

It was a hard day crashing through brush on the virgin forest floor, I was constantly getting smacked in the face by branches. I was blank the first few points on the forest birds, being so use to sparrows in grassy sage fields, and thought I must look horrible to this kid who asked me what every bird song was. Years of birding helped the familiar songs come back to me eventually and I was able to write which birds they came from on previous points because of my detailed notes on unknowns. It helped to track a few birds down, as they sang from ponderosa pines as high as twenty-five meters. We were both excited to find a visible ovenbird high in a tree, he was the loudest bird in the forest, usually the robin is, it was the first time either of us had seen one. We also saw several rare white-winged juncos endemic to the Black Hills, and the beauty of the forest was amazing and kept us going though we were so exhausted.

I found Erin in the library again, with a kid from Mexico bugging her. She looked creeped out, until he gave up and left. We did paperwork and talked about our transects. After she left, I read some magazines then sat on the floor in the poetry section, trying to find inspiration for my lack of creative haiku.

I thought of the two Facebook emails a long lost friend sent me today. I had checked my phone for the time while climbing up a particularly huge mountain earlier and saw the first one. The name shocked me and I stopped in my tracks while Dan asked what was wrong, because he was sliding down the slope. I quickly read it, then pondered what it meant to me the rest of the day while wandering that forest.

It was dark when I made it to Keyhole Lake at Wind Creek. I put my last $10 in the camping envelope, and said a little prayer that my paycheck would be in my bank tomorrow. I am too tired to brush my teeth, or set up my tent, I'm falling asleep as I write. My eyes are so heavy...(pen mark where my hand slipped off my handwritten diary page).