A few weeks after graduating college, in the summer of 2003,
I was chosen to travel around the Midwest with two complete strangers to teach
peace, justice, and environmental issues to youth campers. We were called the Youth Peace Travel Team,
and those two strangers became two of my dearest friends. Mandy, Laura, and I shared and created so
many fond memories together, that I could probably write a book on that summer. I’ve been wanting to blog about my adventures
as a Peace Team member for a while now, but I’ve always struggled with how to
do it. Each week was a new adventure in
itself, and some of the funniest moments were just that: moments. Not enough to be stretched out into a blog
entry.
The experience is too great not to write about, so I’m going
to start with a few days we spent in Wyoming.
I know, I know. I said we traveled the Midwest, and that’s mostly true, but there was a 2-week stretch
where we set out from Elgin, Illinois to spend a week in Boise, Idaho, and then
drove back to Milford, Indiana. So
anyway, back to Wyoming.
Driving from Illinois to Idaho, we made a few stops with
families who volunteered to host us with dinners and a place to sleep. This was before the days of GPS or smart
phones, so our only guidance between addresses was a print out of MapQuest
directions and an atlas of the states.
We were unable to find our Wyoming destination due to major road
construction and detours, and we weren’t able to get in touch with the host family
for help. We decided to follow the highway
towards Boise and just find a motel, but the road was lacking in human
settlement and dusk was quickly approaching.
We finally came across what looked to be an abandoned inn, so we decided
to check it out in the hopes that someone was there.
We were in luck. Down
the hill behind the closed up inn was the home of Dirk and Tammy, along with
their kid Stephen and their two dogs. Dirk
explained to us that he owned the building and was fixing it up to use as a
business someday. He invited us to use
his vast amount of land behind the inn to rest for the night, and seeing as he
had a whole family, it felt safe, and we decided to stay. A stream ran through the back of his
property, and near the stream, was a campfire pit, a picnic table, and our very
own port-a-potty. We thanked him, and
drove our little Toyota Echo down to the area where we would sleep under the
stars.
Stephen stayed down by our campsite with his dogs milking
as much attention as we would give him while his dad helped arrange our area. I imagine the boy yearned for companionship
since he was living on a piece of land in the middle of nowhere. The poor kid looked like a mangy mountain
boy, but he was sweet, if not weird, and we accepted his company.
Before it got dark, Dirk wanted to get us a fire going to
keep us warm through the night. Instead
of kindling, he doused the wood with practically a whole bottle of lighter
fluid. As we spent the next 20 minutes
watching the ten foot tall fireball burn down, all us girls could think about
was how the environmentally aware Peace Team just contributed a massive amount
of pollution to our air.
Regardless of how the fire got started, it did keep us warm
as we stayed up talking through the night.
Or maybe our warmth was mostly contributed to the alcoholic lemonade we
consumed. All I know is that we fell
fast asleep warm and cozy in our sleeping bags surrounding the fire, and woke
up at the butt crack of dawn freezing our asses off! When my attempts of holding in warmth by
remaining in the fetal position began to fail me, and I couldn’t force myself
to sleep through the cold any longer, I peeked my head outside of my sleeping
bag to discover a fine layer of frost covering our sleeping bags and
pillows.
With numb fingers, we scribbled a thank you note, haphazardly
threw our damp, frozen belongings into the car and drove off with the heater on
full force. Miles down the road, and
still shivering, we saw this posh looking hotel ahead of us. We decided we would pull in and beg them to
let us have a cup of coffee to warm up.
The receptionist heard our story, and let us in to the dining area free
of charge and without hesitation.
We filled our cups with steaming hot coffee, thanked the
receptionist, and continued on our drive.
As we rounded the mountain away from the hotel, we could see the Grand
Tetons ahead of us, with the first rays of sun shining just right upon
them. It was one of the most beautiful
sights I’ve ever seen, and one I will never forget. If not for getting lost and sleeping on some
random piece of land in the mountains of Wyoming, we never would have been able to
experience that exact moment.
Gotta love how life works out sometimes.
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| From the back of Dirk's property looking up at his inn that sits off the highway. |
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| Mandy and me playing with Stephen and the dogs. |
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| Laura-warm and naive to the cold that will attack her later. |
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| This picture (taken by a disposable camera) will never do the sight justice, but it gives you an idea of what we saw |
