Our First Family Adventure in Wyoming

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day. One of the few absolutely beautiful days we've had on a weekend since our move. Yes, the wind was blowing, but not as ferociously as it does some (most) days. I had given the furry kids a bath the night before, so we loaded them into the car and off we went. Since Joe had not seen where I worked and I had not seen what it looked like to drive there during the daytime, that's where we headed to the oilfield.

The picture below is the parking lot of the Casper office where I park my car every day and carpool to the oilfield. My normal parking place is beside the light pole, but since I don't work on Fridays, someone decided to park in my spot!
This is some of the government trucks that go out to the field every day. The entire side of the parking lot is lined with the trucks.
This is the Casper Planetarium where many mornings a herd of pronghorn antelopes gather and watch us leave the parking lot. There have been times when I've been sitting in the parking lot and the herd has walked past my car.

This is the jumping on point at the interstate to head north towards Midwest, a small town with a population of 508 people, close to the oilfield.

This is looking back south towards Casper at this point on the interstate.

After driving on the interstate for about 20 miles, we drive on a two lane highway which eventually passes the famous "Teapot Dome" rock formation. It's located on a hill overlooking this family farm. Unfortunately, the "spout" has dropped off. (The wind probably did that. No more singing "I'm A Little Teapot" for the formation). I have been really surprised that there is no historical marker noting the formation and no explanation about the historic Teapot Dome Scandal.

The following pictures are some of the scenery going to the oilfield.

This is the first sign indicating where the oilfield is located.

You have to cross a cattle guard when entering the oilfield. (There are cattle guards at located at the each interstate exit also).

The "official" RMOTC and NPR #3 (Naval Petroleum Reserve) signs.

The main road leading up to the office. And, some of the wildlife I see every day.

While driving up to the office, we encountered a herd of sheep crossing the road in front of us. They belong to a neighboring rancher and there is some type of agreement that the sheep can graze here for a few weeks during this time of the year.

I turned off the car and we watched the sheep pass in front of us. The furry kids were quite fascinated be the sheep. Several times, some of the sheep would stop in the middle of the road and just stare at us. I guess they were wondering what we were doing sitting there watching them.

Eventually the herd split into two sections. One stream in front of us and one behind us. I took a couple of pictures of the furry kids as they discovered the sheep behind the car.

This is the "lower office" where the 6:30 a.m. meetings and town hall meetings are held and where several offices are located.

This is the "upper office" where my office and department members are housed.

This is one of the trucks that I drive. It sits up so high, it is really a wonderful thing to see me trying to get up into it (not)!

The front of our ritzy office...

More oilfield scenery...

We turned the furry kids loose to explore in the wide open spaces where the deer and the antelope play. However, they caught the scent of some antelope and both of them took off over hill and dale. We thought we'd lost them for a couple of minutes. After driving up the road and then coming back, we found Blaze, but still couldn't find B.J. He finally showed up waaaaaay down the road and we had to go rescue him.

After leaving the oilfield, we drove up to the little towns of Edgerton and Midwest. Edgerton had a population of 109 people, but these used to be very, very BIG towns during the 20's and the 50's when the oil business was booming. Even on the oilfield is remnants of where dormitories and barracks used to stand, as well as a swimming pool. There was even a school that had 1500 children attending. But alas, those days are gone.

Then it was home again, home again, jiggety jig.