I think I wrote about my father being an avid camper on Mother’s Day. My stepmother was a good sport, but I am not convinced it was her idea of a great time, looking back.
People talk about Wyoming like it’s empty. Maybe that’s because they’ve never stood in it long enough to understand what all that space is doing, or rather not doing. Wyoming is uninterrupted. The land stretches so far that you measure distance by weather, which changes every 10 miles, rather than distance. Watching a thunderstorm build in the Red Desert and still have time to finish your coffee before it reaches you.
As a kid, I traveled all over the United States. My father was determined that we saw as much of America as we could.
He bought a Kingswood estate station wagon by Chevrolet when I was around 13. Before that, we had a huge Plymouth station wagon. What they had in common was that we could often stretch out and sleep when traveling.
There are newcomers to Wyoming who believe Spring really does come in April; that’s kind of adorable. A seasoned Wyomingite knows April is simply winter wearing a lighter jacket and acting unpredictably.
The first time I saw the Fossil Cabin, I had pulled over to actually see the signage on the outlaws who had roamed the nearby land. There was also some information on the dinosaurs that had once been in the area.
I looked over at the stone house that was known as the “Fossil Museum,” and it looked a bit worn down.
Some towns are born quickly, growing up around railroads, gold strikes or even an intersection. Saratoga quietly bubbled into existence because the earth just couldn’t contain itself.
There are places in Wyoming where the wind never stops talking, fences lean like an old man telling a story, and barns stand out like a visiting dignitary.
One of the first Australians I became great friends with was from Melbourne. I met him while in Hawaii. I was running a youth hostel in Waikiki, and Luke was visiting his uncle.
I don’t remember why he came to the hostel, because Luke’s family was connected and well off. Another uncle was the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, a large city and the capital of South Australia.
In Wyoming, planning for drought isn’t a “maybe someday” thought; it’s a constant, carefully monitored possibility.
Anyone running cattle, horses, or putting up hay has a mental playbook in their head, ready to take action the minute winter snowpack looks thin, or spring rains amount to nothing but a drizzle.
Throughout the week, I am still typically driving all over the county, except the Little Snake River Valley. I’ve logged plenty of miles again in 2026, from Rawlins to Elk Mountain and back, and most of that time behind the wheel has been on U.S. 30 and the smaller roads I prefer. And once again, I’ve had the same epiphany.
Last week, I went to the Rawlins Senior Center and I discovered Copper France, President/CEO of the Bank of Commerce, was giving a presentation on scams that he wanted to warn seniors about.
He, Nicole Murray (also of Bank of Commerce) and Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken have also gone to Baggs and Saratoga Senior Centers to warn attendees about scams that are out there and how they work.
The other day, I watched one of my favorite movies of all time. It is truly an amazing film and although it won the Golden Globe for best foreign film in 1993 and was nominated for best foreign film at the Academy Awards, I hardly know anyone in Wyoming who has seen it.
If you’ve spent any time in Wyoming, you’ve probably heard someone say, “We saw a buffalo!”
And then gently or maybe not so gently corrected by someone who’s been waiting their entire life for this exact moment. “Bison”, said with the confidence of someone who owns a snowplow shovel and knows how to use it.
