Why Wyoming is my favorite state

Wyoming is my favorite state, and not only because my wife and family are from there.  It’s also a place where I spent a once in a lifetime summer.  I realized I’ve referenced Wyoming, and that experience several times, but I’ve never written at length about it.  So I thought I’d put together a short series of pieces about it.  It’s a 5 part piece describing:

1) why I chose Wyoming

2) the running I did there

3) climbing Middle Teton

4) my work friends at the restaurant

5) my conclusions

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Why Wyoming is my favorite state pt. 1: Why I went to Wyoming

I was moving towards summer during my sophomore year at college.  I was talking with a biology professor about sticking around to do summer lab research.  Simultaneously, I was looking into summer jobs at resorts in Michigan, Cape Cod, Yosemite, Yellowstone, everywhere.  Sidenote – I wish I had writing from back then, so I could go back and look at my thoughts, but instead I’ll have to rely on human memory.

I remember that winter break I was in Lawrence, Kansas with some of my college homies.  We were sitting in a coffee shop, and I noticed an email pop up in my inbox from Flagg Ranch.  They were offering me a job that summer, waiting tables in Wyoming. 

The next couple hours I was calling my brain trust, some of my friends from home, about the potential decision not to come home for the summer.  Really I just needed someone’s approval.  I’m needy like that.

One of them told me,

“Damn, such a Ken thing.  Always doing weird bold things out of nowhere.”  

The next day, with the approval of the brain trust, I took the job.

Flagg Ranch was located in the awkward inbetween space between the two Wyoming national parks, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.  It was geographically isolated since it wasn’t in the parks, but on top of that, it didn’t have ready access to the internet, nor did it have cell phone service.  Basically, you were only going to interact with the sixty or so people at the ranch, which was a weird experience in and of itself. 

I hope these next few posts will explain my story in Wyoming: the relationships I formed at this isolated ranch, the miles I covered by foot, and the mountains I climbed.  If nothing else, it will be valuable practice for me as I train to write books, and stories longer than 500 words.  Sidenote - I think my story about Wyoming will be one of my first books, which will eventually get re-published after I write a hit memoir about medicine, and people will be duped into buying it because I had one successful book.  Yes, this just happened to me and I’m bitter about it.  But anyways.

Overall, I can’t tell you what I wanted to get out of Wyoming, but I can tell you what I got from it: Wyoming was where I learned the answer to this question. 

“There will come a point in the race.  When you alone will need to decide.  You will need to make a decision.  Do you really want it?  You will need to decide.”

            - Paul Tergat, 2004 Olympic Marathon Gold

See you on the other side,

from ken

 

Feel free to comment! I would love to hear your thoughts.