Three Weeks In Lander

 

Time has gone so fast since we arrived here in Lander Wyoming. Since we have been here we were able to visit the Tetons. Steve and Joan and us traveled to the Tetons to have lunch with Al and Karen and Dan and Jonell, other full-timers that are working in and around Yellowstone. We had a great visit and the views of the mountains were spectacular.

We got up one morning and took a short 22 mile drive to Riverton to see their balloon fest. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse so they were not able to launch. It was still neat to see them inflate anyway.

After watching them for awhile we went into town and had a great breakfast, then headed to the casino. We both did pretty good for awhile but eventually lost what we had won.

On the 23rd Maxine and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary. We kept it simple and just had a nice dinner with Steve and Joan at a local restaurant.

This past Sunday Max and I took a drive to Sinks Canyon State Park. There is a river there called “Popo Agie”, (It is pronounced: "Puh - Po Shuh") Popo Agie is a Crow Indian word that most people believe means "gurgling river." When the first white trappers arrived in the area the Crow people were here, and that is what they called the river. The canyon gets its name from the fantastic geologic formation

The “Sinks” of Sinks Canyon is a large cavern where the rushing river flows into cracks and crevices in the cavern floor and disappears underground. The river reappears down canyon in a large pool called “The Rise.”

The Sinks

It is one quarter mile from the Sinks to the Rise aboveground. It would only take a few minutes for the water to make the journey to the Rise aboveground, but dye tests have shown that the water takes over two hours to make the journey. Geologists think that there are many winding underground passages the water has to work its way through before it bubbles back up at the Rise. It is possible the water underground mixes with water from other, smaller, sinks in the area.

The Rise

At the Rise, there is a pool that is filled with huge Trout. The water never freezes here and the Trout will stay here indefinitely and are growing to huge size. Too bad fishing is not allowed.

After visiting the state park we headed back to the rig for lunch. It was such a beautiful day and for some reason Max and I decided to play a game of Rummykub at the picnic table. Now, Max and I have never played any games outside at the picnic table since we have been on the road, not once.

We were into our second game when a fifth wheel backed into the site next to us. The couple was starting to set up their rig and we exchanged pleasantries as they passed by our table. It was about 5 minutes later we heard the lady holler her husbands name several times and I looked up to see that he had collapsed behind their fifth wheel.

I hopped up and told Max to call 911. When I got to the gentleman (Alan)he was not breathing and he had no pulse. I started CPR and after a few minutes I got a weak pulse and a few short breaths from him. But then it all stopped again so I continued with the CPR. Thank goodness the emergency response unit got here real quick and took over. They put an IV in and ended up defibrillating him three times. Eventually they got a steady pulse and he started breathing on his own. They took him to the local hospital and Maxine drove his wife (Nancy) there and waited with her until they were able to get him stable enough to fly him to Casper to the bigger hospital.

Nancy was not sure how they were going to get their fifth wheel to Casper so Max reassured her that we would be willing to take her and the fifth wheel to Casper. I took the fifth wheel while Max drove Nancy in our Jeep. We arrived in Casper a couple hours later and Alan was in ICU and in an induced coma. We did not want to leave Nancy alone so we stayed with her until her son could get there from San Antonio Texas. He arrived around midnight, then Max and I drove back to Lander. As of Tuesday night, Alan is out of his coma and is off of the ventilator. That is really good news!

We have been working hard and we are actually ahead of schedule a little. We plan on leaving Lander on Friday and head up to our next work area in Miles City Montana, where we should be there for four to six weeks.

Enjoy Your Day!