First of all, I want to thank everyone who took the time to read yesterday’s post. All your comments and messages of support have meant more to me than I can express. I will continue that story in the coming days, but in the meantime, I will interupt that more serious and meaningful plot line to write about…Wyoming!
That’s right, our stately neighbor to the north, Wyoming. If you like strong winds, open space, weird landscapes that look like sets from the classic Star Trek show, and strong winds, you’ll love Wyoming! And on Wednesday, I had to make a trip to Casper for the first in-person conference I’ve attended since March. I was a little leery at first, but they decided to try a hybrid in person and Zoom model, in part because they were able to move it to an enormous fairgrounds building. Considering they were expecting maybe 100 people in a cavernous building, I agreed to go forward with my presentation.
So I packed my bag, loaded up the car and got ready to begin the four hour drive north. It was pretty clear that I was way out of practice for work travel. It used to be something I did a couple times a month, but I was plenty rusty and even packing for one night felt way more complicated than it should be.
Further proving my rustiness, I got about 5 minutes from home before remembering that I had left that suitcase in the garage. I am thankful I remembered it then.
Anyway, I drove up and got to the venue in time to set up. Indeed, there was PLENTY of room for distancing.
And giving credit to organizers, they required masks and also came up with this clever idea to keep people comfortable. You got to choose a color coded wristband to indicate whether you wanted total isolation, modest distancing, or “to heck with it, COVID is a Bill Gates perpetrated hoax and I’m good with hugging and licking doorknobs.”
I selected yellow.
Anyway, I got up and did my presentation.
It was pretty surreal, becasue it was one of the biggest rooms I’ve ever spoken to, but there were about 10 or 15 people there in person, with another bunch on Zoom. But the presentation went pretty well. After that, I got my booth set up for a brief exhibit the next day, then headed off to grab lunch.
I had never been to Casper before, but found out the day before that one of Henry’s therapists actually went to college there, so he suggested a little hole in the wall diner type place for lunch. I checked it out, grabbed a nice rueben and white bean chicken soup to carry out, and ate in a park across the street.
Then I checked into my hotel, and took advantage of a little quiet time to get caught up on some work and get some writing done. I had intentions of checking out a nearby place with outdoor seating for dinner, but when I arrived I found it jam packed with non-mask-wearers, so I opted for some carry out and dinner at my hotel. Better safe than sorry.
So that was my exciting day. Why? Oming.
