Tidbits:

I’m still waiting on 200+ photos to download… so here’s some interesting stories from my trip…

• We took 100 pounds of Wyoming Sugar and 100 pounds of fresh pinto beans down to Texas to donate to people impacted by Hurricane Harvey.  We gave it all to Sylvia and her crew in Seadrift, Texas.  I also followed her back on Facebook to watch her inspiring activities to lift up her town and neighbors.  I wrote about it here.  My last words were a plea for ant and flea poison, as these pests have infiltrated the houses around there.  I noticed a couple of days later later that “Seadrift’s Treasure Chest” on Facebook posted this.

Now, I’m sure I’m not the only person in the world that Sylvia talked to about the need for these supplies, but it made my heart glad that these things appeared soon after I wrote about them.  It doesn’t matter to me if I’m the reason for this gift box… but IF one of you out there DID do this… I wanted to give you my sincerest gratitude.  I believe in my READERS… and I just want to think it WAS one of you!  THANKS.

• I am a new fan of Stripes Convenience Stores and Laredo Tacos.  If anyone wants to open one in Ten Sleep… I’ll loan you $50 to help you get started!!!!  (I may be a little poor after this two week vacation!) Holy cow, you’ve got a great business and wonderful tacos!  I will always stop at a Stripes from now on.  You have great people working in your stores.
• While visiting Chip and Joanna’s Magnolia Market in Waco, I was wearing my Ten Sleep Volunteer Firefighting shirt.  A crew of friendly ladies from Chicago was getting organized for a group photo when I stepped in to help so they could all be in the picture.  Come to find out, two of the women were married to Chicago Firefighters.  We visited a bit.  And then again in the warehouse.  And then again on the trolley.  We finally ran into them the last time at Spice Village (which I HIGHLY recommend).  One looked at my shirt and said, “Ten Sleep.  Hmmm.  Have you ever heard of Twelve Sleep?  It’s from a book.”  “You mean, C.J. Box’s books?  Yeah, he stole the name from my town and changed it!”  “Oh, you know of him?”  “Well, I work in a library and I went to high school with him.”  Oh, my.  I had half of them squealing.  “You went to high school with C.J. Box???”  “Yes, but we called him Chuck!”  They wanted to know more, but since I haven’t seen Chuck in 40 years, I didn’t have too much to add, but, hey, I will play my cards when I have them… so… “Have you heard of Craig Johnson?”  “OOOH, doesn’t he write Longmire?”  Which then led into discussion on the tv show and Longmire Days and sheesh, I was telling them to come out to Wyoming for the next Longmire Days and go to Yellowstone and we were *friends*!  (BTW, Longmire’s last season will debut on 11/17/17 on Netflix).  Thanks, Chuck and Craig!
• Ten days later, we walked into a weaponry shoppe at the Texas Renaissance Festival, as my nephew was on the hunt for a wooden bow.  The man at EarthBones BladeWorks glanced at my tshirt (I was wearing that Firefighting shirt… it had been washed) and asked where Ten Sleep is located.  “North-central Wyoming.”  “Ah… I was just there not too long ago.  In a place called Ucross.”  Now, immediately… my brain starts firing some extra neurons… and I smiled.  “What were you doing in Ucross?”  “Visiting an author.”  Yup.  The circle was complete.  I laughed to myself and asked, “Oh, Craig??????”  You know… like we’re bestest buds EVAH… “You know Craig Johnson???”  “Well, yeah.”  He peered sideways at me.  “How well do you know him?”  Now there’s a simple question with a complicated answer… until I blurted out, “Well, I’ve slept in his house!!!”  I felt like such a dwebe… but how do you describe a casual friendship in one sentence????  I’m never good at quick answers!!! Anyway, we had the most wonderful conversation while my nephew chose and tried out various bows.  Thanks, Craig!

What a wonderful, small, and very nice world we live in… We should remember that.

And we should be grateful for tshirts that kick off conversations with nice people!