Farewell, Wyoming

Since I was in such a hurry to leave for the winter break, I'm afraid I failed to give Wyoming a proper online farewell. I'd like to take the time now to sum up our month-long stay and what Silver 3 thought of our project. To get the official overview, please download a copy of our project portfolio. It summarizes all our accomplishments and might give you more details than you'd get on my blog. I spent a lot of time writing and designing it, so I hope you enjoy it!



My fellow team members have made no secret of their antagonism toward their time in Sheridan. While they insist it was a terrible experience, I, being an optimistic schumck, actually rather enjoyed my time out on the Western range. The version of events I post on my blog is definitely filtered through my own rose-colored lenses.

That's not to say that they aren't justified in their opinion since we did face our share of hardships. The work, as I've mentioned in previous entries, was tedious, and it was very easy to get discouraged and frustrated. But it was much more than that. The weather was by far the coldest I'd ever experienced. I had always thought I wanted to live somewhere with white Christmases, but I quickly learned the folly of my thinking. The air was so frigid that it stabbed my nose, throat and lungs like sharp needles when I breathed. After just a few minutes outdoors, my fingers felt like they were being slowly sliced off with a frozen knife, and my face managed to go numb and hurt at the same time. The ephemeral snows, while lovely enough while they lasted, left the ground a muddy slush when melted and clogged up my boots with brown sludge. Getting up at 5 a.m. shivering in a communal basement shared with 10 other people in a stranger's home was no picnic either.



The distance was also an issue; Wyoming is not only the least populated state in the Union, but also one of the largest. Everything is so far away for each other, and it takes forever to travel from one town to the next, leaving you feeling very isolated. Compounding the issue is that our government van is limited to a 25-mile radius from home, so even though the Bighorn Mountains were just an hour drive away, we weren't allowed to go without official permission.



Despite the shortcomings and trials, there are things I will miss, like waking up every morning to a spectacular view and the wide-open Western skies. In Wyoming, the sky just feels bigger, even when it's interrupted by mountain peaks. The light is more diffuse and the colors more vibrant at sunset and sunrise with a distinctive color palette that is unique to the state.





I'm also a sucker for the small-town atmosphere where everyone knows your name. Being from the big city, I think I'm more easily charmed than most by quaint locales, and Sheridan was definitely one of them. Main Street, lit with Christmas lights, looks like it was taken right out of a Rockwell painting. Moreover, it had a feeling of vibrancy that many small towns lack. Despite the small population, there was a sense of high expectations for this little city. The shops buzzed with activity, and restaurants were packed with people waiting for tables. Any visitor could tell that citizens here took pride in their hometown, from the modern library to the abundant public art.



As you've read in my previous posts, the people are incredibly welcoming and generous. Whatever faults we may have found in our sponsors, it definitely wasn't a lack of hospitality. Our project sponsors invited us out for dinner three times over the course of the month and made delicious home-cooked meals. I didn't even write about my experience visiting a local church in Sheridan, where the folks literally didn't let us out of their sights until we had eaten a delicious potluck lunch and received our visitors goodie bag. One fine elderly woman even fished cash out of her purse — bills and lots of change — and insisted we take it as pocket money. On our last evening in town, we were invited to the Habitat for Humanity Christmas party at Java Moon, where we were recognized for our work, got to eat lots of yummy party food, and received gifts of travel coffee mugs.







So, yes, Wyoming was cold, dreary, and tedious. The work was hard, and there were some internal conflicts within the team as we adjusted to one another's personalities, values, and modus operandi. The tension got so bad toward the end that we had to use one of our evenings on the road trip back to Sacramento as one big venting session to air our grievances. This turned out to be rather constructive, and in retrospect, I don't think our problems are all too uncommon, especially for a group of complete strangers forced to live and work together. As our team leader describes it, AmeriCorps NCCC is a bit of a sick social experiment, or perhaps a bizarre reality television show. Either way, it's been an adventure and a really challenging growth experience. I can't say it's what I expected going in, but I'm glad for the opportunity to learn to survive outside of my little comfort zone. The project in Wyoming really set the stage for the rest of the year, and I think I'm better equipped now to face whatever comes my way next.

Farewell, Wyoming!