Friday, December 21, 2007
Location: Rock Springs

Finally made it to Rock Springs when the weather cleared a bit. On the way I pulled off onto a side road to walk Moses. At the entrance to the back road was a sign, banning BP (British Petroleum) from entering. Hmmm it seems not everyone in Wyoming is friendly towards oil and gas development. I drive further down the road where I coyote drinking beers at a bus stop tells me to go talk to the locals. So I pull up to a farm and knock on the door, always fearing shotguns;-) I talk to the woman inside who explains that her whole place is off the grid using solar and wind, then talk to her husband and they explain to me that locals got fed up with BP's lack of respect and the heavy industrial traffic, hence the signs.

In Rock Springs I pull into a Flying J truck stop to sleep with the big rigs. The snow is blowing like mad, and the temperature is dropping fast. Yesterday at a truck stop I found something I've been searching for, a thermos that plugs into your lighter to boil water. It only cost me twelve bucks, but it's life changing! Now I can make tea, coffee, soup, gruel, all from my cigarette lighter... No need to steal hot water from gas stations, and no need to pull out camping stoves. I'm into the realm of hot food and drink, and just in time.

I go to bed, and wake up at 2am to start Veronica just to keep her warm for the morning startup... nothing, not even dashlights, SHIT! I left the lights on when I went to bed. Everything is dead, dead, dead. I look at Moses who is curled up in a ball, one eye open on me. "Well Buddy, gotta do what I gotta do... and you're coming with me, I ain't suffering that cold alone." Moses stretches as I get dressed, and we both head outside. I climb onto the roof and start teh generator, and plug in my battery charger and block heater. In the process I pour gasoline all over the generator creating a new fear of fire on my van rooftop, so once all is up and running I wait, afraid to go back to sleep. After an hour and a half, I try turning her over... not a chance. This girl has two batteries and they're both dead, it's going to take some serious charging time. I finally decide to go back to bed risking any possible explosions above.

I wake up at 7am the generator is still humming away, so I let it do it's thing until 8am. When I do turn her over she spits out a black cloud and then starts idling nicely. Lacking sleep I head back out on the road, and despite my fatigue, or maybe because of it, I push far south. It's overcast, snowing, cold, and I'm tired, so I'm in no mood to shoot frames.

I push all the way down through Flaming Gorge and to Meeker where I settle in for another night. South of Dinosaur there is an amazing spread of gas wells and energy infrastructure, but it's dark, snowing, and all I can think about is a place to sleep.

peace,
d