No sense of direction

The last couple of "wanderings"  have included the ghost town of Lynch where my parents lived before they had children; Kaycee, home to Chris LeDoux and more importantly, Kerry's Nana; the beautiful little town of Buffalo; and Castle Gardens Petroglyph site. This covers a huge chunk of central Wyoming, and did not all take place during the same "wander".  Wyoming is having its pay-off for a brutal winter and a cold, wet spring.  The prairie is covered in sweet green and decorated prolifically with wildflowers.

  Places that are never even damp such as the aptly named Powder River, are flowing with melted snow and rainfall.  Grass ripples luminescently in the sunlight and the sweet, sweet smell of sweet clover and alfalfa wafts through the air.  There are few places more heart-achingly beautiful than a green prairie surrounded by blue mountains.  In a few places the bright red clay peeps through and the occasional "break" of jutting rocks interrupts the ocean of verdant grasslands.

During the long, cold winter, when the thermometer refuses to rise above zero and the wind howls and bangs at all the windows like it, too, wants in out of the cold, I often wonder why on earth my ancestors stopped here.  Why didn't they travel on to the lush productive lands of Oregon and Washington?  Or head to the mountains of California?  Someplace where mother nature doesn't go on a rampage for months on end....  And then spring comes.  And the stormy skies "aren't cloudy all day".  Wildlife teems like this is their own personal Eden, the breezes soften and smell sweet and suddenly you are surrounded by the world's largest estate lawn.  That's when I know why they stopped.  And that's why they stayed.  The wild rolling prairie comforts the winter weary like a blanket from God.  The fresh prairie air revitalizes and recreates life within your soul.

I love to wander through the back road byways of Wyoming.  So much to see and experience.  So much history right beneath your feet.  Thousands of pioneer feet pounded their way across this land.  Some didn't make it and occasionally you find a sad, lonely marker to give memorial.  Some scraped and pounded their mark into the sandstone bluffs, so that others might know of their journey.  Some stayed, staked out claims either for the land or the minerals and fought a hardscrabble existence.  They might have taken lessons from their more indigenous brothers, who, instead of fighting to tame the wild land, just lived in harmony upon it.  They roamed like the buffalo, moving along to another spot when one was unproductive.  They left their mark as well.  Amazing and fascinating carvings on cliffs and bluffs, odd rock features on the ground, their tools and artifacts of their daily lives lend proof to the myriads that came before.  If you are lucky and blessed, you may find a left over from another era.

I am often left amazed when I consider the nomad, the pioneer, the explorer..  Surrounded by a sea of grass and sage dotted with huge bison,  and yet they somehow knew where they were going.  They had an objective to reach for, a destination in mind, or a familiar route to follow.  I am lost in the moment when I seek solace in nature.  Don't know where I am going, and usually don't care much.  In this odd land, the mountains aren't always reliably north-south ranges, rivers and streams meander around like lost sheep, and the sky seems endless.  I have a reasonable sense of direction when I'm someplace that cooperates.  Someplace where the landmarks are plain and obvious and where the mountains are always on the west....  but set me down in a rugged badland or on the prairie?  Well, it's a good thing I know the sun sets in the west.  Which also isn't totally reliable this time of year....

When I try to decide what I am to do with my future, I feel as though I'm lost in the prairie on a cloudy day.  Comfortable, surrounded by beauty, and absolutely clueless about what direction to turn, and not really sure I care. I am rapidly approaching the mid century mark and I still am not sure what I want to be when I grow up.  I just want to think "que sera".  So, I'm just going to wander a bit longer and relish the wonderful world, and if anybody wants me I'm lost in an ocean of sweet, blooming prairie,,,

PS...  I am still looking for a job, so even if I'm wandering out of service, please leave me a message!  I may not have a sense of direction, but I do have a sense of responsibility!