Two beds and a coffee machine

I'll give anyone who can tell me where the title for this post comes from a gold start-for three (3) days in a row... That being said, two beds and a coffee machine is my world right now. Currently I am sitting in the laundry room of my hotel in Gillette, WY. The first load came out of the dryer wet, second load came out of the washer dry...so while I wait for my dry clothes to get wet again in the dryer, I thought I'd spend some time blogging!

I'm in Gillette for work, and I've been here since Sunday, Sept. 12. I should get to head home on Friday the 24th at the earliest, Saturday at the latest. When the opportunity to go out of town came up I was pretty excited. Who wouldn't want to go out of town on the company's dime and see a little bit more of the world? It sounded great to me-the company will reimburse my mileage, I get paid drive time (it's a 9 hour trip from my driveway to Gillette...) the company covers the cost of my hotel, and they'll reimburse my meals up to $25/day. Like I said, it all sounded really great! And the best part-work is like 3 minutes away from the hotel, so I can sleep in! Hooray!

So far the adventure has been, well, an adventure. I wasn't prepared for how bare Wyoming is, so I was really bored as I drove through the state to get to Gillette. It was fun to see all of the open land and realize that this is the same land the pioneers traveled on, only they didn't have the nice road that I did. I was thinking about those pioneers and all that they must've endured when the song "Prayer of the Children" came on my ipod. I was listening to the lyrics and thinking about the prayers that the pioneer children and adults prayed as the were in Martin's Cove, when suddenly I realized that the two mountain-ish things I was looking at were Martin's Cove. The cove is a very sacred and sad moment in pioneer history, and here I was, driving past it. I have to admit, I thought it was pretty cool that Heavenly Father had me listening to that song, having those thoughts as I drove past Martin's Cove. I know that it was no coincidence. On my way home this weekend I plan on stopping at Martin's Cove-I've never been there before, so it will be a good stop.

I've been doing a lot of things on my own on this trip. I've been eating dinner alone, and I've learned that when dining alone it's a good idea to take a book or something to read with you. I didn't the first night, and that was such a bad idea! I was so bored, and I didn't know what to do with myself! Now that I take a book the meal goes much smoother. I've also been making new friends, which has been fun. One of my new friends invited me to play Texas Hold 'Em on Friday night, but I declined. I was especially glad when someone else invited me again, and upon hearing that I don't know how to play invited me to just come and have a few beers. I don't drink or play cards, so I stayed in that night. I think they all had fun though!

On Saturday last I took my adventurous self, got in the car, plugged in the GPS, got it to find Mount Rushmore, then pointed my car in the right direction. Mount Rushmore (which is in South Dakota for those of you who don't know, and I used to be one of them) is about 2 1/2 hours from Gillette, and since I've never seen it before it sounded like fun. Of course I chose the worst weather day to go! It was cold and windy, only in the 40s, and it was foggy. The whole time I was driving I was worried that I was going to get there and not be able to see a thing. I was wrong, and I've never been so glad for it!

As I pulled in to view of Mount Rushmore I was struck with awe at the vastness and beauty of it. Truly, God's hand was in creating this masterpiece! The closer I got the more amazed I was. God truly blesses some people with some incredible talents! He gives us all talents, some are just more visible than others. Seeing this beautiful creation in the midst of God's beautiful creations was a really neat experience.

The rest of the week in Gillette was pretty uneventful. I made some really fun friends at work, went out with them a few times, had a bit of a stressful day, but in the end made it home safe and sound. I took my time coming home and actually stopped at Martin's cove. It was pretty amazing to tour the visitor's center and museum. I didn't get a chance to hike up to the cove-it was an hour round trip, and as it was I was already going to be home around 10 that night. It really gave me something to think about though, and I'm glad that I stopped.

Going to Gillette taught me a few things. 1-just say no when the hotel asks for your personal credit card when the company is paying. It will save you a lot of trouble! 2-making friends at work is really easy and fun! 3-sight seeing and touring is a lot more fun with someone else. 4-driving is a lot more fun when you have good jamming music. 5-queen size beds are nice and roomy for sleeping in. 6-there really is no place like home.