Last evening was the last game for the WWC team in the community softball league season so I figured I’d go watch. I took my camera and took about 150 photos. The best pictures were done early when there was more sunlight. But I took a couple of flash pictures that had an odd effect.
Still incoming - I think.
Too bad he's a southpaw
It’s 5:30 PM and the bank still shows that it’s 100 outside.
The county fair website is really taking shape. Check it out at http://www.niobraracountyfair.com
The fair activities start this weekend so I’ll be busy next week.
Last week was a really rough week at WWC. On Sunday Rodney Ross, the Assistant Unit Manager, passed away after suffering a stroke the previous weekend. Then on Wednesday the husband of one of the nurses was killed in an oilfield accident. That was two funerals in one week, and three for the year. I’ve worn a tie more times this year than the previous five years combined. Yuck!!!!
Other than that, there’s not a whole lot going on.
Walking around town you can’t miss all of the election campaign signs. I’ve noticed something interesting…those Republicans running for office indicate their party on their sign. The Democrats running for office don’t. They show no party affiliation. I’m curious if this is a local thing or is it that way across the country.
I had begun too lose hope that you could actually find somewhere that severed a good steak in Wyoming…the heart of cattle country. Lots of places serve steak. But I had yet to find a place that severed a good steak. I found such a place last evening – the Stampede Steakhouse in Chugwater. Ma, Pa and I went there for dinner after touring the Fort Laramie National Historic Site. Chugwater is 114 miles from Lusk. I had heard that the steakhouse in Chugwater was very good so I thought we’d give it a try. We were not disappointed.
All three of us got the Prime Rib special. The meat was cooked perfectly. It had a great flavor that lasted through the entire meal. And the meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender. We had ample sides of baked potatoes, baked beans, sweet-potato french fries and fried okra.
The had live country music and dancing too.
It was a great meal worthy of the long drive.
For more information: Stampede Steakhouse
The parental units are in town for the holiday weekend. Having exhausted all of the highlights of the town of Lusk, we traveled a little bit further out yesterday. On their last visit they were amazed by the number of coal trains that pass through Lusk each day (about 3 eastbound – full and 3 westbound – empty, every hour, 24 x 7). They had asked if there was a tour available of the coal mine. We were all curious as to how they could fill 150-car trains fast enough to have them come through Lusk every 20 minutes.
The coal mine is up around Gillette, WY. And, as it turns out, it is not one mine but 14 mines all in that area. The Powder River Basin is an especially rich deposit of coal. The coal seam is 100 feet thick and it is located close to the surface. This is a photo of the seam:
100-foot thick coal seam
There is more than 1.4 trillon tons of coal within the state. That’s enough coal for several hundred years. And this coal is very low is sulfur so it is clean burning.
The loading of the trains was not what we had envisioned they do it one car at a time. It takes about a minute to load each car and about 2.5 hours to load an entire train. All 14 mines doing it at the same time is how they are able to ship so many trains each day.
Some additional photos from our tour:
32 cubic foot loader
190 ton dump truck
I have received several emails from another Brian Williams interested in purchasing the brianwilliams.com domain name. I keep telling him that I have no interest in selling any of the domains. His last email offered $500 for the domain. I responded that “it’s going to take a REALLY big…I’m talking retirement sized…offer for me to consider parting with them.”
So if there is anybody out there that really really wants them, I will trade the whole lot (.com, .net, .info, .org, .biz, .us) for this property:
http://www.clarklandbrokers.com/brochures/RawhideRanch.pdf
Otherwise, the domains are not for sale.
My companion on my road trip had lots of interesting stories to tell. She had worked at WSP for a couple of years before coming to WWC.
A number of years ago when they decided to build WSP, somebody screwed up. Within a year of opening it was discovered that the prison was sinking. And shortly thereafter it was ruled uninhabitable. After several lawsuits, a new new prison was built a short distance away. They salvaged as much as they could from the old new prison. It’s now used mostly for storage and is being slowly dismantled.
She had also been involved in my hiring process. She told me that they had intended to interview me view via telephone and were shocked when I said that I would be in Cheyenne for the interview. They figured that I must have really wanted the job.
After unloading the truck, I drove it back to WMCI in Torrington. My boss had planned on doing it but I asked if I could. I’d not had an opportunity to visit the new prison. My counterpart at WMCI was a classmate at the academy and he gave me a VERY through tour of the prison. It is huge!!! But it’s not really pretty right now. They are just starting to put in the landscaping. All of the exercise yards and most of the grounds are just dirt and rocks.
WMCI is the medium security facility for the system. It is also the intake facility for the system. All new male inmates come into WMCI where they undergo evaluations to determine which type of housing is appropriate. Within the medium unit, there are various levels of restriction. The segregation unit is the most restrictive. The next step from there is WSP, the maximum security prison in the system. When I was at WSP yesterday I did not have an opportunity to tour the housing unit (we were on the grounds less than an hour and only went to the “old” prison). But based on how restrictive the seg-unit was I can’t imagine how more restrictive the max prison unit would be. “Outside” consists of a walled area perhaps 10×10 feet. The top is open, but covered with steel mesh. Then above that is a roof to keep the rain out. So you’re “outside” but still “inside”.
I did have something a little weird happen while at WMCI. While in the dining hall having lunch a inmate came up to me and said that I should remove my hat. It surprised me and the people I was eating with. We don’t know it it was a rule or something. But I don’t think any of the inmates at WWC would do something like that. I’ve only has one inmate at WWC ever “tell” me to do something. That was the day I was covering Commissary (yes, add substitute Commissary Manger to my list of job functions). Security had sent a medium-restricted inmate to the commissary while we were processing minimum inmates. One of the commissary worker/inmates pulled me aside and said that we can’t mix security classifications and that I should send the restricted inmate back. She was right. But that was a serious security matter rather than some something as mundane as removing a hat.
OK…I was wearing a hat because during my outside work on Wednesday I got a good sunburn on the top of my head. And truck drivers wear ball caps. At least I was wearing my official WDOC/WWC ball cap.
Yesterday was a long day. But I had fun. Turns out I’m pretty good at driving a 30 foot truck. I can back up to loading docks quite well with little direction. So now people know that I’m not your average computer geek. I shoot well and can handle a large truck.
The only place that I had any difficulty driving the truck was in Casper. I swear we hit every stoplight in town. A 30 foot truck loaded with mattresses is really hard to get moving on an uphill grade. First gear gets you barely rolling. Second gets you to about 4 MPH. And you loose a lot of momentum between shifts.
For the record, you can get 170 prison mattresses into a 30 foot truck.
Wyoming right now is very green. We had a lot of rain this Spring. So the reservoirs are full and the rivers are really high. All of this really changed the scenery during our drive. I’d never traveled the route between Rawlins and Casper before. It’s very pretty with some amazing rock formations. There one spot where the rocks look like really old dam that has collapsed and been abandoned thousands of years ago. Another spot has huge cliffs where the rock was burgundy red in color.
I was back to work at 6:00 this morning (that’s 1.5 hours early). We had to get the truck unloaded ASAP and get the truck returned to WMCI in Torrington as early as possible. The male inmates at WSP loaded the truck in about 40 minutes. The women inmates at WWC unloaded the truck in about 40 minutes. Way to go girls!!!
My copilot, Ms. Tammi Caley, did a very good job in preparing our itinerary. We hit our arrival/departure times at every destination almost exactly (within 5 minutes). Considering that included 3 stops in Cheyenne to unload various stuff, a stop at Wal-mart for a little shopping, and lunch. Plus the loading time at WSP. And she just guessed at the loading/unloading times.