Some friends have asked how I spent my time out here in this isolated wilderness place, and when I explain it to them they always burst out laughing as if I have the most foreign schedule of events in my life they have ever imagined. Personally, I don't find it that strange, but I can understand how it might seem more like a retired person's schedule than that of a mid-20's female. But when you consider that the nearest accessible Walmart is 3 hours away, as well as any grocery store, restaurant, or other store a girl might want to spent her money at, and half of those 3 hours you are stuck driving at 45 mph through icy/snowy mountain roads, that mid-20's woman is left to make the most of this isolated wilderness place! So how do I spend my time?
On Monday's I spend most of the day working on the new Bible study for the upcoming Wednesday evening. Since we are covering large sections of Scripture at a time (trying to plow our way through the Old Testament), most of my prep time is spent reading the text! It is an all-day task to say the least! Then at night I spend several hours playing Euchre with a 72 year old, a near 60 year old, two people in their mid to late 40's, and a woman in her mid-30's. It is an evening filled with competition, sarcasm, and fun!
Then Tuesday is my quietest day, which I spend at home working on the Sermon for the following Sunday. I haven't quite found my groove for sermon prep yet, and it seems to be taking me a LONG time. But maybe that's normal.
Wednesdays are filled with a continuation of Sermon preparation/outlining, with the much anticipated Potluck and Bible Study at night! It is my best meal of the week usually and most exciting "work" time!
Thursdays are FULL days as I get up early to keep working on the sermon, but also to prepare for the Bible study in Crandall that night. For that Bible Study I am walking them through the Old Testament as well, which means I don't need to prepare a second study for the week, but since they are on a much different schedule, I don't re-read everything, but I do try to spend time in the texts so that it is a bit fresh that night! Then at 1:00 is our weekly Cooke City ski club! Talk about a riot! We meet at the coffee shop in town (which is a huge deal since it is the only one for 60 miles and is one of three places to get a sandwich) and there are usually six or seven of us, from really beginner to really advanced that head out on our skis for a couple hours. But then I need to take off by 3:00 in order to get home, shower, and take off on snowmobile for a 20 mile ride or so to a parking lot where a vehicle sits, which I get in and drive another 20 miles or so to a small group of homes on a very secluded road, where we do the second Bible study! We've only had this for two weeks now, but it will continue weekly throughout my time here. After that I head back in the car to the parking lot where I put on my helmet and snowmobile back to Cooke City. Once there, I pull into the fire hall (also the center for Search and Rescue operations, community events, town potlucks, and the physical education gym for the school aged children in town, who number 5 total!) where there is a game night taking place! They do corn hole and other games and there are about twenty people or so each night - of course, all about mid-30 and older, and each with a beer in hand! It is a lot of fun. So, at about 11:00 or so, I finally get back on the snowmobile, continue the ride back to my car, then drive my car back home 4 miles or so. It is a GREAT day!
Fridays and Saturdays then are a bit more casual. Eventually I will spend some Thursday nights with the people at the Crandall Bible study and join the women at their SCAT club on Friday's! It is a time of eating, talking, and knitting! Needless to say, they are all about 65 or over, although there are two women in their mid-30's who can sometimes be there!
And then there are Sundays of course - but that day probably seems evident to people.
And there are some things I do every day! Each day I make a trip to Cooke City to get the mail (it is available M-F at 2:00pm, but it used to only come twice a week!) and spend a few moments at either the coffee shop or a small cafe called Buns and Beds. I am on skis for an hour at least and sometimes shoveling for that long also! And I spend time gawking at the moose I see out my window almost every day.
So that is my life here! It is a strange one, but filled with adventures! This week I might even get a chance to snowmobile into the mountains and go ice fishing!!! Yahoo!!
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