The Long Road Home

I'm not a great airplane passenger and as my husband and I left our home for my journey to Wyoming, I looked down at my constant traveling companion - a little scruffy orange monkey-doll and thought... "We'll be alright." Just as I finished my thought, I looked into the sky and clear as could be, I spotted an angel in the clouds and knew for certain - it was a safe day to fly.

As Murphy's Law would state, because I wore 3 inch high comfortable foam flip flops, my plane from Phoenix was delayed. This "slight delay" (as the captain called it) caused me to have to run from gate A21 all the way to gate A63 (in ten minutes or less) to make my connecting flight to Riverton from Denver. Had I worn my running shoes (which I did on the way BACK to Phoenix) then the connecting flight would have been delayed (as it was on the way BACK to Phoenix)! LOL

So, I didn't inform Grandma of my trip to visit and I called her on Friday upon arriving in Thermopolis. While I had her distracted on the phone… I rang the doorbell. Since I could hear the bell – I told her, "Get that, I'll wait." And when she answered, it was ME! YES! Just as planned!!

She was quite awe-struck and it was genuine happiness - worth getting her ticker all excited for!! She kept going on and on about what a great surprise it was...

Our first plan was to go to lunch at one of the local sandwich shops... there are TWO, thank you. ;) -- Then after waiting about 2 hours to indulge in a cold turkey sandwich, we headed off to see the buffalo in my hometown's pasture. All of the cows were having cute little fuzzy babies and they posed for my camera like professionals. They get this tourist thing - a lot.

Back to the running shoes… First. I am not a runner. I try and I try but running and I just don't blend well. I can do it, but I'd rather not - that is - unless there is absolutely not one other option for working out. And. In Wyoming... There wasn't. The nice thing about running - all I need is a great pair of shoes and some wicking socks and I can be working out as fast as I can put my shoes on. My Uncle Jim is a runner so we started to run short distances together and he decided I was ready to tackle the Old Cody Highway. Sure. Ok. So - the Old Cody Highway is about 1.25 miles - straight up. LOL - maybe not straight up, but darn close... There is certainly a healthy incline that kicked my butt very quickly. Out of some devine act of nature, I made it to the top and we started the "easy" jog back down. We were talking, laughing - telling stories - when Uncle Jim says, "I think that's a... snake." Just as the last of syllable of snake... exited his mouth, I looked ahead and saw a scaly reptile recoil and begin that familiar faint --- rattle --- and the sound of itty bitty Mexican maracas filled the air. So, our jog came to an abrupt stop and Uncle Jim put himself between me and harms way (that'd be the rattle snake) as we took a few -large- steps outside it's range and moved along. Uncle Jim had the idea of relieving the snake of it's existence but I convinced him that it would soon be on it's way back to whatever it was doing before we tried to run him over. Anyway... the run should have taken 20 minutes according to Uncle Jim and when I checked my watch it had taken 34 minutes. Must have been that darn snake. ;)


With all of this "running" under my belt (4 days) I participated in the Pageant Days 5K (3 mile run) that Saturday. Whew – who knew that the change in elevation from sea level to 4300 would have such an effect? Well, I had an idea it would but I wanted to run the race with Uncle Jim. He is a much better runner than I, and I asked if he'd run with me or dust me, to which he replied - "I'm running WITH you, I'll help you keep your pace." And he did - matched my pace every agonizing (mentally for him, physically for me) step of the way.


He's very encouraging to run with and likes to set goals. At first our goal was to catch a cute lady in grey shorts. Well, we caught her, passed her and then.... she passed us. Oooopsy. So, our next goal was again - to pass the lady in the grey shorts. As I was studiously working on that goal - a lady in WHITE shorts passed us. Oooopsy. Then the goal changed. Our new goal was to pass the lady in the white shorts. This went on for a couple of miles and when he once again encouraged, "Our goal is to catch the lady in the white shorts," I replied, "Uncle Jim, my goal is simply to finish the race." To which he again encouraged, "Ok. Our goal is to finish the race.... and catch the lady in the white shorts." *laughing* Well, I never again caught the lady in the white shorts and certainly not the lady in the grey shorts. As it turns out - grey shorts got FIRST - white shorts got SECOND - and, you guessed it... slow shorts got THIRD. The funny (most amusing) thing is - Uncle Jim place THIRD in his age group as well! This is amusing since when they announced his name and placement, he shyly whispered to me, "I hope they don't say my time." ((WHAT))?? That was one of my best times and - obviously - one of his worst. LOL!! He should have hoped that they wouldn't print it in the paper - which they will! Regardless of the time - I had a wonderful time running with him and am proud to have such an encouraging and gracious athlete to have participated with. What happened to Uncle Jim's medal? Well, being the great man he is, he gave it away to a lady who didn't place. What happened to my medal?? It's right here at my desk! :) It is great and I have a nice memory to keep...


Trina also convinced me to do the Blessing of the Waters pageant so - that's a fun and scary memory to keep as well... I guess if you've lived in Thermopolis (or visited) long enough - everyone gets cohersed into doing the pageant at least once - and this was finally my year. As you can see by the photo, we had to dress in beautiful native clothing and sing the "Dama Upa" song for an audience! *cringe* Yes, I sang - pretty darn well by the last day. That's kind of funny, too! The last day was raining like crazy and the show still went on! So, here is the choir group - decked out in make-up and native American beauty - singing our hearts out to a "crowd" of 10 people? I don't know - maybe there were more. I couldn't really see through the stinging rain in my eyes. ;)


Saying farewell to friends and family is always difficult. I hadn't been back home for well over 3 years and it felt good. Slow traffic... Nice (mostly nice) people. Memories. It was all worth it and my new goal is to pass the lady in the grey shorts - next year.