in town.

awe. sweet lander. I'm here. and I have bright yellow sheets on my bed. (a room for $7 a night!) I'm staying in a dorm-style hotel until I find a place to live. but I just got here, so I have to settle. adjust. and look around a bit. then find a place.

I got pulled over today, just outside Laramie as the speed limit goes from 65 to 35. I was going 53. Preface: the rest stop between Ft Collins and Laramie is closed. and there isn't much of anything between the two locations. So I stopped at the first gas station I saw in Laramie (my intention for the last 20 minutes). Moments earlier I noticed a highway patrolman pull a u-turn. ugh. Officer Collins pulled in right behind me and turned his lights on. how nice. I parked. Got out of my car (yes, I know you're not supposed to, but I was dying!). He got out of his car >how are you today? >I'm sorry, I really need to use the restroom! eye contact. apologetic. walk into the store. >well you come talk to me when you're done... He gave me a warning and mentioned my ticket would have been about $100 but considering my "situation" he'd just give me a warning. God bless that man.

later, just as I was 80 miles away from town, I saw a sign: Independence Rock, 20 miles. So I drove 40 miles out of my way to visit the rock. It's disguised as a rest stop. I rested. and then took a walk over to the rock and I decided I'll have to go back in the summer, or at least on a warmer day with people who might want to look around and scramble to the top with me to see people's 150 year old names etched in stone.

my side trip triggered an interesting thought-line in regards to our generation's fondness for the Oregon Trail game that we all played in elementary school. its presence on facebook is amusing now (I think I've died a few times?), but perhaps may also be socially-telling of our deeper desire for significance. Oregon Trail nostalgia is descriptive not only for the floppy disks and MS DOS prompts we used in 3rd grade, the ways we started preschool without a thought of personal computers and finished college with wireless-capable laptops, but also for the adventure we sought in light of historical realities. nobody wants to live in Tetris-land. but we all want to save our friends from Typhoid and build a raft that will get us safely across the river. or perhaps it's just me and my new adventure speaking, surrounded by pioneer/historical landmarks here in Wyoming. the parallels seemed more clear earlier when I'd been driving for 6 hours already...