I'm safely arrived in Wyoming- started work last Wednesday, and will move into my new apartment next weekend! I like my job and Laramie so far, although I was a little sick for the first couple days of work (bummer). My job involves camping ~5 days/week at an old abandoned homestead about an hour and a half north of Laramie, 45 minutes from the nearest tiny town. The homestead is awesome- beautiful location, miles from anywhere except a few ranches. It's basically just a collection of falling-down barns, rusting farm equipment, and a rotting old house with everything still in it. At night we only hear coyotes, cows (moo!), and the wind in the grass. Getting up to pee in the middle of the night is especially nice because you see stars like you've never imagined.

The local ranchers are incredibly (ok, Felicia, not eerily) nice. They go out of their way to offer you dinner, cold beer (out of a cooler full of fish they just caught), and rides in their pick-up trucks to see elk or especially pretty parts of their ranches. I knew I'd entered an entirely foreign land when I found myself bouncing along in the back of a pick-up at 10 miles an hour on no distinguishable road, drinking beer with an off-duty cop, a fellow named Cody, and my field partner, Lauren.