The long road back to roots and boots

Had to run up to Green River, Wyo. last week for a very sad funeral. A friend of mine had premature twins three months ago, but one of them just didn't have the strength to fight through all the infections, breathing tubes and general attacks of this world. Miss Mary Albrecht was placed in her resting place near a noisy interstate, with seemingly too many other little ones, in the southwestern Wyoming desert. Her brother Daniel is kicking strong and looks to be leaving the confines of the neonatal unit in Salt Lake City in the coming days or weeks.

Reminds you once again how precious life can be, as it always should be. My friends Heather and Hank are hanging in there as much as is possible in a time like this. Here's hoping they are blessed with nothing but happiness and joy from now on. They are probably two of the strongest and most amazing people I know. Real. Honest. Welcoming. They are people. It's very hard to find real people in the hustle and bustle of the big city. Whenever I make a trip to smaller western towns I am reminded of where I come from as well as how and who I should be despite being a converted city guy. Simple places make for simple people who know what is truly important. It's good to be reminded of all that. Just wish it hadn't been under these kind of terms. Though, maybe the situation only reinforced the need to recharge the roots and boots battery.

While on the ramble back from the small oil and gas congregation on the prairie, we stopped at a "rest area" along I-80. Old Fort Steele is just a bump in the road, but there's a pretty interesting vacant gas station across the highway that I decided to lighten up and make a couple frames. And yes, it IS windy in Wyoming. Nothing too great, but good to shake off the hard day and long 12 hours of driving. Was 15 total for the two days of accelerating, you know that hustle and bustle stuff.

More from another western state in the coming days...