Montana 10/15

Last night was beautiful.  The moon was so bright that everything was cast in a silvery glow.  Even for a guy as night blind as I am I had no trouble seeing the length of our clearing in the woods.  Will, the eldest Fellow, told us to just wait until a full moon at an elevation over 9000 feet.  He made it sound like the lighting is similar to that of the day only it has a different tint.  That’s something I’m going to add to my bucket list.  Speaking of, I should start a bucket list.

Anyhow, Clare broke out her fiddle, Dalton his banjo, and Richard tried his hand at guitar around the campfire.  Why is it all the pretty songs are the sad ones?  They played a variety of tunes, from Titanic to Flogging Molly.  I think my favorite was a tune called Abraham’s Daughter (might have actually been Lincoln’s Daughter…).  Clare also played the Rohirrim theme for me, which was awesome and suitably fit the wide open plains and sky just a stone’s throw away from our camp.  She also suggested that I look into a musician named Lindsey Stirling.  Clare claims that Lindsey fluidly connects a number of the Lord of the Rings tunes and enjoys playing Final Fantasy music.  Sounds like my kind of artist!

After the music died down we had a number of miscellaneous conversations.  A number of them were based on the history of the “doah,” the apartments that many of the AmeriCorps members have stayed at for the past 10 or so years for cheap.  We also discussed how for Missouri it is not a matter of if a disaster happens, but when.  That’s why our headquarters is in St. Louis.  Will also told us of all the volunteer groups that we will likely work with back home.  The only name that stuck was Rubicon, but I know there is also the Red Cross, Convoy of Hope, a Methodist group and a Mormon group.

An important bit I took away from these late night fireside chats was that ticks will be a problem.  Every year ticks seek out rather sensitive areas of the body if actions are not taken.  The best solution for the pest problem is something called compression shorts.  I don’t really know what those are, but I’m adding it to my list of things to buy.  Other things on the list include a windbreaker and some Under Armor if I can ever find it on sale (the one I bought at Goodwill is just a T-shirt).  I’m sure this list will expand… I already feel like I’m missing something.

Currently we’re waiting around to depart for home.  As far as we know all we are waiting on is for Bruce to pack up his office, but it sounds like we will only be traveling as far as Sheridan, Wyoming today.  We will be staying at the YMCA there, the same town and place we stayed at on the way here.  Perhaps that’s why there’s no rush; we need to be sure that all of the classes are done.  I hope our stop in Sheridan means we will be retracing our steps.  That would mean we’d be staying at an Alumni’s house in Omaha, Nebraska on the second night.  Dave has an amazing house—the dining room has wallpaper that reminds me of the Black family tree.  We were treated to pizza and, for those of us that were old enough, a beer on our first visit.  I wouldn’t object if we were given the royal treatment again, but I really just want to explore the house a little more!

Before we left we brought out our old friends Gary and Titanium.  On the verge of rotting some 3 weeks since we first took them into our care, we decided the best course of action was to immortalize them.  We did this via Jedi funeral pyre after a bit of reminiscing.  It was a beautiful ceremony complete with a stirring performance of Amazing Grace.

Afterward we shared our thoughts on our experiences in Montana with each other.  Satisfied, happy, and bittersweet were the most popular answers.  I strongly agreed with all three.  I also found myself feeling a great deal of frustration for what was going on over in Washington DC.  Wanting to end our time in Montana on a positive note and realizing that I was at least doing everything I could to help make our country a better place, I decided to keep the negativity bottled up.  Besides, I need to work on not concerning myself with things that are beyond my control.

As I write this last portion know that we have just arrived at the YMCA in Sheridan, Wyoming.  We had a lot of fun conversations on the drive over.  One of the more in depth was about beards and whether or not I should keep one.  So far the vote is unanimous to keep it.  I personally think I look better rugged, but the idea of having a beard is growing on me.  When I told my truck mates that I got a laugh. Another interesting bit was what race from Middle Earth would we be.  I told them probably an Elf as I am rarely in a hurry, love to learn, and have a similar build.  I fear my vote was biased, however, as I’ve always been fascinated by the race.  Random fact for the day: half of the reason I picked up the flute was because I thought it was an Elvish instrument.  Truth is I think I could be any of the goodly races of Middle Earth aside from the Dwarves.  I may have their stubbornness at times, but I think that is about the only characteristic I share with them… and a love for shiny things.

Time for some sleep.  What do you think?  What race from Middle Earth do I match up with characteristically?  Also, beard?  Talk to you all soon.  Next stop, Omaha, Nebraska!

Football.  America's greatest pass time... or was that baseball?  Well, whenever we had some down time a ball of sorts appeared and a gathering and game followed shortly after.  When no balls were to be found, we had to get a little creative.  The top shot is Dalton and Whitney battling to see who can retain their balance on the beam.  Both shots were taken on my silly camera.