Company Town
Yesterday was a business trip to Rawlins, WY. After the job
was done, Banner and I stopped at the small but immaculately maintained
Sinclair Park to enjoy a “picnic” lunch. Sinclair is a few miles east of
Rawlins.
Circa 1950-1960 an uncle was the night auditor/manager of
the company hotel. The family had an entire floor in one wing for housing. Sinclair
has a population of around 400 and is 100% a company town.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair,_Wyoming
Two side notes that may be of interest. My uncle was a 32nd
Degree Mason. I know little of the Masons but understand that is rare. The
second was my aunt was killed along I-80 between Rawlins and Sinclair. One day
during a terrible blizzard/ice storm she stopped to help a stranded motorist
and was struck by another vehicle.
Nissan Sentra
I rented one yesterday. When I was selling cars, I had a
high opinion of Nissan vehicles. Not so with this “rental rocket”. Noisy, with
seats that left me stiff and sore after 450 miles.
Wildlife
Saw one lonely pronghorn.
Old School
Coming back, diverted at the North Platte River and traveled
US 30 to Laramie. Only 20 miles longer than I-80, with no RVs, 18 wheelers, and
no damned tourists. Two lanes, 70 mph speed limit, and little traffic. Along
the way, one ranch had their hay put up loose in stacks. You seldom see that
today. Sorry, no pictures. None of the stacking equipment was in sight.
Two main ways of stacking hay were/are used in our area. One
is the so called “Mormon” stacker, i.e. derrick manner.
The second is the “beaverslide” method. At age four my
parents were working on a ranch near Dillion, CO that used this method. A hitched team was used to pull the hay rick
to the top of the slide and drop the hay down into the stack corral. My job was
to lead the team back and forth. Undoubtedly, the team didn’t need to be led,
voice commands would do, but it kept me out of the way and made me feel
important.
Rest Stops
With just a one hour bladder, I’m familiar with rest stops.
Having Banner along means walking him a bit which leads to reading various
markers I usually ignore.
The Chinese flu uproar has halted most elective surgery.
Maybe soon I can schedule a “rotor rooter” of the prostrate and ease the
problem. Yeah, I know, TMI.
Chinese Flu Impact – Personal
The entry area of our apartment complex now looks less
inviting than a hospital waiting room. My immediate anti-authority conspiracy
seeking personality decided it is the manager succumbing to his desire to be “important”.
The manager is 2nd/3rd generation Hispanic (Mexican).
Yeah, racist implications.
One of my neighbors is a 2nd generation LA
Hispanic (Mexican) who, through dint and hard work, has “made it”. A retired
High School Principal, he is an ardent Democrat. Has a Biden poster in his
window.
We have discussions, from time to time, and are able to
disagree without being disagreeable. I appreciate that, and find myself
re-examining my positions and outlooks after listening to him. I seldom change
them but am forced into critical thinking.
He pointed out the building manager is in a difficult spot.
Should we have a COVID-19 outbreak among our vulnerable senior population, he
will be blamed for not taking strong preventive measures.
My neighbor is never seen without a face mask. I don’t fault
him; one of his son’s came down with COVID-19 and was gravely ill. While
recovered for now, his son still has serious health problems as a result of his
episode.
To finish, here is something I swiped off Rev. Paul’s blog.
https://mooseintheyard.blogspot.com/
11 comments:
The one Summer we went "Out West" we took I-80 from Illinois to Salt Lake City, and then up to Ogden where my sister would be attending Utah State University in the Fall. We stopped in Rawlins for the night, and I had the best steak I'd ever eaten. I begged my Dad to stop on the way back, and he obliged.
Still love Wyoming. Just something about it.
It is great place to live if you like open spaces but is a damned hard place to prosper. Current population is around 523,000. When we opened the Cheyenne Kia store in 2004 one concern was prevailing wages. Most hourly state employees were around $7 per hour.
$7/hr was high for you? What were wages "down here"?
BTW...agree about current Nissan vehicles. They've been in a "coasting" period for the last 10 years or so, and even some of their newer releases are very, very "Meh" cars.
I remember when the Sentra SE-R came out. They were little hot rods and all the car magazines praised them.
One of the reasons we skipped looking at a Frontier is that's it's a sixteen year old design. It could legally drive itself in most states!
Around $8.50 at the time. We knew to qualify for a loan on even our cheapest Kias, $8.00 was needed.
I have relatives in Casper who are "Hot Shot" freighters. They use a Ram one ton diesel for their 42' gooseneck and buy only Frontiers for their smaller loads. They don't care about the dated design as the truck does what the want at an overall operating cost they believe is better than the competition.
My truck will someday qualify for Social Security.
WSF- Company towns are 'interesting' to put it mildly. And he was a 33rd degree Scottish Rite, that is something few people attain. The only car a hate worse than Nissan is Toyota. For whatever reason both of them tear my back up, but the Nissan is 'less' bad... barely...
OldNFO
Is there a list somewhere of 33rd Degree Masons. His last name was Winter.
The Frontier (10+ years) and the Tacoma (6+ years) are both older designs, and they work quite well. They're rugged and reliable. They're also cramped in the cabin, and the Tacoma's rear seat is about useless for adults. SLW insisted whatever we get had to have a back seat big enough to accommodate a child safety seat.
They also get expensive when you start adding options and packages, and can easily cost more than out Colorado.
As basic "work trucks" they're fine, and will probably last 100's of thousands of miles.
I just didn't like them.....
For your needs and use, the Colorado makes perfect sense.
There is a list of all 33rd degree Masons on Wiki and only one Winter. Jeff Winter football referee.
WSF- I checked, there was only one Winter on the list and that's a guy from England. Maybe he was only a 32nd degree, but anybody that goes up the Scottish Rite is 32nd degree. Unless he was a state officer of the Blue Lodge (regular masons).
S'M
Old NFO
His name was Charles Winter. I clearly remember my aunt proudly saying he was a 32nd Degree Mason. As to which branch of the Masons I have no recollection. If memory serves, he was the possible the only one in Wyoming at the time.
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