Chapter 6... Return to Vedauwoo

Soon after I realized I had been in boulder for 3 weeks, I decided I had to bail out. The previous week was nice however. I laid low, drank red bull and rum, and started painting again. It had been a while since I sat down and painted, and my results were really rewarding. The whole family at the house was keeping busy. While everybody was at work, it was then my time to sit myself down and create...



I left the paintings with Brandon, Jessi, and Cici for putting up with me and allowing me to stay for so long. I said my farewell's and headed back to Vedauwoo, Wyoming with Mats and a friend of his. I was very excited to return. Vedauwoo is one of the best things to happen to Wyoming.
The first day out, we climbed at nataulis. After a few boulders a lightning storm came through along with some mild rain. Lightning was striking all around us so we took shelter under a rock with a scared dog we named Booch. The dog was startled by the thunder so he followed us around until his owner came to take him away. Within minutes of the last strike of lightning, the sun came back out allowing us to climb until we set up camp.




We camped and played for a few days. Each night we sat by a bonfire and sipped on bourbon while telling tales of travels and climbing adventures. Mats is considering traveling with me a bit. It would be after our trip to the Havasupi reservation which we both anxiously await. Plans are to meet in Salt Lake on the 4th of august to head down to Arizona. The campfires were nice, complemented by the cool Wyoming air and the full moon light...

In the morning of our last day, we packed up our site, and Mats drove me over to Laramie to start my hitch west. I was tempted to stick around and check out Laramie, but I quickly realized that it wasn't really the town for me and I was anxious to get to a bigger city. I sat at an indy coffee shop in Laramie for a bit contemplating whether or not I was going to stick around. There were some friendly faces and conversation around me, but with one cup of coffee in me, I was anxious to get out of town. I walked some 4 or 5 miles to the highway and threw out my thumb. One car passed every 5 minutes. It could have been the worst onramp to walk to in Laramie. Surprisingly enough, the 4th or 5th vehicle to pass stopped and picked me up.
As I opened the doors to the van, I saw stacks upon stacks of some kind of travel advertising. It turns out, the two guys who picked me up were brothers who were from the Mt. Rushmore area. There father owns a few hotels near the site, and there job was to drive around the country and drop off these travel magazines to gas stations and hotels. I helped them unload the van around the Laramie area, then the drove me 100 miles west to Rawlins, Wyoming.
Rawlins was a shitty little town like most in Wyoming. I tried to hitch in the blazing sun for the rest of the day. I sat at one onramp for about 2 hours waiting for somebody to stop. One car did come to a halt, but then drove off down the highway without me in the vehicle. There was a deer grazing in the field no more than 100 yards from me the whole time, allowing me something to observe while a car passed every few minutes. With thoughts of being stuck in Rawlins on my mind, I decided to hike a mile and a half to the other towns onramp. I sat there for about 3 hours. One car stopped but they were going the opposite direction. I was tempted to take it just to get out of town, but I didn't want to end up back in Laramie.
Frustrated, exhausted, and dirty, I decided to get a room for the night. I hadn't slept in a bed in a month. It was a great treat to myself. I showered, made some family phone calls, and cooked Mac out in front of the hotel. There was a beautiful lightning storm to watch over the train tracks. Back in my room, I took advantage of the wireless internet to line up a ride. Luckily, and I mean extreme luck, there was a woman in a RV heading out of Rawlins towards California in the morning. I got a hold of her and lined up a pick up in front of my hotel at 10am. Funny thing is, I soon realized she was in the car that halted the previous day on the onramp. She made a wrong turn down the onramp, and upon stopping to back up she saw me and didnt want to get my hopes up on a ride, and decided to drive down the highway to turn around.
She was amaizing. My godsend. Her name was Tracy. At the age of 51 she bought a RV and was heading around the country. We sat and told stories. I played with her 2 dogs while we cruised down the highway towards Salt Lake City. She cracked me up the whole time. At a rest stop, we let her dogs out and took pictures of the scenery. She smoked pot while I smoked cigs. After she caught her buzz, she showed me all of her pictures of the trip she was just on. It was kinda entertaining, but I wasn't high so quickly got bored and anxious to get back on the road. We continued down I-80 and she took pictures of the scenery the whole time while driving. It made me nervous and cracked me up at the same time. Over the pass came the sight of Salt Lake City. A huge mass of civilized structures in the middle of mountains.



She dropped me off right downtown. I walked around searching for the Boing! Collective. I was told there were a bunch of good people around there, and it was a safe zone to start exploring the city...