PAVILLION POPULATION EXPLOSION

I stopped by the roadside and took this picture yesterday. Amazing! I am # 127. If I had spray paint in the car I just might have added myself for real but then I might have been #5 in the county jail. Now THIS is small town. COZY COUGARVILLE

I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to be #127. Since I arrived here 18 days ago I have met some genuinly kind people - ONE - one person at the Sheriff's Dept was a not so nicey person. No I wasn't arrested for sequin violations - I was having my fingerprints taken for work.

I have learned that when you are going to town you are going to Riverton. When you are going to Lander you are going to Lander. The people in Pavillion are very precise about this. Riverton reminds me of Toronto, Ohio (beloved hometown) but with a larger, more thriving downtown. Lander reminds me of "You've Got Mail" because it has the most quaint little shops around every corner.

People here say POP for well, pop and "CRICK" for creek ... I LOVE IT! I already had to change so much in Corpus ... a buggy from Stacey's IGA turned into a cart at HEB. My sweeper turned into a vacuum. In Corpus they don't put things away ... they put them up. "Put your laundry up and then you can go play." If I was that kid I would hold it above my head and say, "It's up. Now what?" My "you'ins" eventually turned to "y'all" and here in Wyoming they say YOU GUYS.

The people I have met believe I have a Texas accent! That shocked me because everyone in Texas knew for 12 years that I was an outsider with some yankee/snowbird accent.

I dream about my grandbabies some nights and I haven't slep this well in years. I worry about my kids ... I feel like they are 3, 8 and 11 and I just abandoned them on the side of the road - sometimes. Most times I feel like I am starring in Thelma and Louise.