Wyoming... Pt. 2- Just kill me now and get it over with

Day 2-

Our day started with a quick meeting with the local team at our hotel and then we started our 1 1/2 hour convoy to Pinedale where we would be working. Why we were staying so far away? No clue. Imagine driving for 110 miles and not seeing any houses, gas stations, fast food... NOTHING but sagebrush and antelope. Just before we got to Pinedale we entered the “town” of Boulder... pop. 75.

There in Boulder was a single gas station/bar that we stopped at to go to the bathroom before hitting the streets for work. I was having a hard time staying awake during the drive so I bought a Diet Mountain Dew and some sunflower seeds and chatted with my co-workers until we were all ready to go. As we left, in all my awesomeness, I rolled my ankle on the less than 6” step outside and fell to the ground. Looking back I must have looked a little something like this...



My left ankle did this awesome snappy crunchy thing and I was in a LOT of pain. After getting some ice and taking some time we decided to take me to the “hospital” in Pinedale. You would think in a small town the wait would be shorter because how many people could possibly be hurt? Nope, me and McD waited for an hour before I got called back. After 6 x-rays and lots of prodding it was determined that no, it wasn’t broken, just a bad sprain. They gave me a big walking boot brace and then the nurse went to find me some crutches. When she came back she gave me the crutches and told me that they were going to be too small but they didn’t have any other sizes except for someone who was 5’10” or over... I’m 5’2” on a good day so too small it was. At first it wasn’t too bad but very quickly I got rashes where the top rubbed on my ribs and elbows. Not fun.

McD and I finished paperwork (yay worker’s comp!) and went to get lunch since it was now 2:30pm. It was decided from the powers that be, that if I wanted to work, I could do my routes from my car and that would be fine. Awesome, thought I, I won’t lose any time. After lunch I decided to do a small area I had about 15 miles north of Pinedale. I thought this would give me time to chill out and just drive.

It was a beautiful drive, clear and cloudless skies and mountains that were beyond breathless.

When I got to my area I got a small taste of what the rest of the week was about to hold... as I was driving around my block (which was square on my map) I got to one corner to take a right, there was no right... there was a field to my right and a fence in front of me... hmmmm....
I took some time to watch the antelope run in front of my car and then did the other side of the block the hard way... driving around the long way.


After finishing up all of the 8 houses that were there I headed back to town.

Wouldn’t you know it, when I went to pull out from the country road onto the main road here comes a white truck flying over the crest of the hill. I had to either slam on my breaks in the middle of the road or floor it... so I floored it and took off as fast as the Aveo could go (which wasn’t very satisfactory). I continued to go fast because when someone pulls out in front of me, I’m pissed and they had better be going at least as fast as me. Well apparently, in Wyoming, white truck is code for UNDERCOVER COP... great. Lights go on and I pull over cursing to myself and wanting to crawl into a hole and DIE. The officer asked my my license and registration and asked the age old question... “So, are you in a hurry?” I explained to him my day and he excused himself to his truck to run my crap. As soon as he started walking away I started to cry... what was I going to do? I couldn’t afford this? Am I going to lose my job? Well, Mr. Officer was super nice and came back and told me to slow it down, he didn’t want to have to clean up an accident. He asked me if I would be ok, to which I told him yes, I would take a moment before I started driving again, and then he was off. I collected myself together and then, very cautiously, set off. FUCK!! REALLY?!?! Whew. That was close.

Luckily, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Once we got back to Rock Springs OG and I went to Applebee’s for dinner and had a MUCH needed beer. OG and I grabbed 6 packs at the store and watched the Laker’s game in my room which was not exactly a relaxer... but oh well. After that, all I needed was sleep, and sleep I did....

Until I woke up at 5am the next day... will this hell never end??