Wyoming is unlike other states. Distances are exaggerated, heights are too. And the people are both friendly, and insular, in an odd combination of welcoming exclusiveness. Parts of it are very old west, other parts are contemporary, blending together in an unexpected contrast. Cell phones on horseback, wrangling cattle on 4-wheelers, laptops at camping grounds.
Wyoming has been described as "America's biggest small town", and "A small town with very long streets". That is because if you know someone in Wyoming, everywhere you go in Wyoming, you meet someone who knows someone you know, no matter which side of the state you happen to find yourself passing through.
Towns do not have suburbs. Not really. The edges stop abruptly and ranchland begins. No in-between.
It is between 1 and 2 hours between large towns, and that distance means something different in Wyoming also. One hour of travel means you covered 65 to 75 miles (or more if your car thinks it is heading to the barn). There is no traffic congestion - well, sometimes two drivers stop in the middle of a town street to talk to one another out their windows, but traffic does not pile up at rush hour.
In very small towns, everything is an hour away. People compensate and cope. Neighbors ask if you need anything before they go to town. If you go to town in the middle of winter and the roads close, you learn to be prepared. It is just a different life.
Wyoming makes strong people. And it attracts people who want a simpler life. Sometimes they are unprepared for the complexities that replace the complexities they left behind, and they cannot wait to leave. Other people come, and settle in, adapt, become someone new and stronger. It does that to you if you let it.
The alpine prairie, winds, cold, short and intense summers, and rapid changes get into you and pull something out of your heart that you didn't know was there.
Wyoming has represented the old west to people for over a century - and still does.
