Well I have made damn near a full circle, and for the third time in my life I call Wyoming home. Granted right now home is a borrowed horse trailer (with luxurious living quarters) and it is a step up compared to my tent and most hostels. I must say it is going to be interesting getting recivilized, working full time, having money, not carrying my worldly possessions on my back, and maybe even one day signing a year long lease on an apartment! (not sure I would survive that commitment right now..) Wyoming is beautiful though, and I have been gone so long that I see it anew, like meeting an old friend, talking about old times but then able to go out and have new fun and adventures. It is interesting to see how I have changed when so much here hasn’t. My first day in the state had me helping vaccinate 300 head of yearling heifers then on the drive home I saw a small herd of elk as indifferent to my passing as the mountains themselves. I look forward to relearning the trout holes in the streams and rivers of my childhood and seeing where the mountain paths take me as the man I am versus the boy I was.
This Tuesday I reported in to work at a nearby wind farm, one who’s wind turbines I had chased cows and fixed fences underneath almost 15 years ago when I worked summers out at the ranch. It is the perfect job for me, entry-level wind technician. I will be the person that gets to climb 300ft up into the turbines to keep them greased and all the nuts and bolts tightened. Over all this is the best way for me to learn about the wind industry and if I am a good fit for it. At the very least it is nice to be closer to family and in the mountains I grew up in.
I had a great job offer out on the east coast, near Philly, with a good friend who was a client of mine while I worked for Daktronics. I even went so far as to head back to the east coast, to reconnect with friends there and to, I had thought, start a life with all the good things I left. Once I got there though I quickly realized that I could not survive and be happy in the east coast society. Everything I was happy to leave behind, the traffic and congestion, noise and sheer amount of people was once again starting to drive me crazy and I knew I had left for the right reasons, I was just not a person that could live on in a high-populated area without mountains and be happy. So I spent the last of my money on a ticket west, said goodbye to my friends (again) and went to try to find a job either in Wyoming or Oregon, where I would be close to mountains and family and have the space to roam. I ended up lucking out and getting a job offer in McFadden Wyoming last Thursday. Which is good because that next Friday I was going to pack my things and drive to Portland where I was to try to find a bartending job and crash my best friends couch till I managed to get back on my feet and start a career in green energy. And now I have a job, but it is 50 miles from town and rentals are hard to come by that far out. Till I find a place (or give up and start commuting from town) I am living in a horse trailer 50 miles from the nearest single female with a full set of teeth, but where I have great fishing and hunting. All about priorities.
It has been one hell of a year I must say. Lots of good times, heaps of great times, and I can laugh at most the bad. Considering all I have done and the friends I have made it has been worth it. In the past year I have seen 13 different airports (many on multiple occasions! The bartender at the margarita bar in DIA knows me by name) I have biked over 3000 miles, flown around 25000 miles, drove 5000 kilometers and went out to sea 12 different times. I have dove to 36 meters under the sea and climbed 9548.98ft. I have run out of money 4 different times (you don’t know stress till you are down to 50 cents in your bank account, 3 days of rent paid and only 2 days of food) and done it all on only $10,000 total. Easily the greatest year of my life. After all, Life is all about enjoying the ride.
