I think i've been here before (part 2)

Six years ago, I came with some people from my church to scrape and paint the house of a poorer family of the Arapaho Nation.  We left that week having finished our house with a few coats of cream yellow paint, feeling quite accomplished.  Today, my main goal, even more so than birding, was to find that house and see how it looked after all this time.  I started off by driving to Ethete, to the high school where we stayed during our week of service.  That was easy enough to find.  It's a pretty big high school and it stands out in the desert-like landscape of the surrounding area.  I hiked around the building, reminiscing a bit on my previous time here, noting how the weather was nearly the same...hot.  But I liked it.  Finally working on my farmer's tan.

A wyoming republican

Next, I headed off to find that house.  There werent many roads in the area, and I could recall doing our work in a community called "Arapaho" something.  The town of Arapaho was only 15 miles down the road, so I figured I'd head there.  Landmarks began to look familiar and it was all coming back to me.  Sure enough I found the development of houses where all of us volunteers did our painting.  And there it was, the yellow house.  Still yellow too.  I swung into the development, and parked in front of the house.  I was tentative as to whether or not I should get out and say hi.  I wouldn't have much to say to the residents...."hi, I'm just passing through, but I painted this house 6 years ago and just wanted to see how it looked."  I figured I'd go for it.  I rang the doorbell twice and nobody answered.  I remembered the family that lived there when we worked on the house was very secluded, and didnt really communicate with us too much.  Perhaps they didn't want to open the door to a complete stranger.  Maybe they weren't home.  Either way, it was nice to see that for the most part, besides some finger paint work laid down by the neighborhood kids, the yellow paint was mostly still on and looking good.  Satisfied, I continued to where I am now, in Casper, WY.

It took some time to get here, with stops along the highway at Hell's Half Acre, Boysen State Park, and Goldeneye Wildlife and Recreational Area, all of which were interesting places.  Really, these are the only public access points between Riverton, WY, and Casper, a 100 mile stretch of nothing but cattle lands.  There are a few "towns" along the way, which arent more than 2 houses and a gas station.  I saw more Pronghorns than I did people this afternoon.  If it seemed desolate driving through southern Saskatchewan, it doesnt compete with that of the central Wyoming landscape.  Literally everywhere you look is sagebrush and rocky outcrops (It's actually quite unfortunate that its all fenced off and private.  You could easily hop one of the fences and walk for 50 miles in any direction before you hit another road or saw another person).  But like I said, I've made this drive before, so I knew what to expect.

How do you get a town named for 10 people.  We need one of these for the Moontower.

Desolation in central Wyoming

I plan on spending the night in a small state park about an hour south of Casper, and then making my way to the Fort Collins, CO area tomorrow.  I am finally going to be seeing a familiar face on Friday.  Ashley, a friend and recent grad from the bio department at Ithaca is entering grad school out in Boulder, and is working out there for the summer.  It will be nice to finally talk to someone besides myself for once.