State Memoris Project: Wyoming

The summer after I graduated from Kenyon, my girlfriend flew out to Denver to hang out with me before I set off for Teach For America training. During that time, we took a road trip up to Montana to visit my sister. Since my girlfriend was handicapped—a spinal cord injury from when she was a kid—I had to drive the whole way. Incredibly, my dad let us use his Acura for the trip to make the driving easier on me. I was flabbergasted—it was a sure sign that he really liked my girlfriend.

We made it as far as Rock Springs, Wyoming on our first night. While I was there, I remembered that a high school acquaintance of mine (we did play-by-play for the local cable broadcasts of Columbine football and basketball) was a DJ at a radio station in Rock Springs. I found him in the phone book, called him, and we chatted for a while. He said he was the morning guy for KSIT (pronounced “kiss-it”…I know, ick) and asked if there was anything we’d like to hear the next morning. “Well, Lynn likes Madonna,” I said. He asked what time we’d be getting up. I told him.

Sure enough, the next morning, Amy and I got up and waited around in bed for a few minutes, and my old friend said “This is for my high school friends TRP and Lynn. [I guess, to expedite the dedication, he declared Lynn a high school friend by proxy.] Have fun in Yellowstone, guys.” Lynn and I bounced in the bed in a little seated dance as we got a Double Shot of Madonna...”Cherish” and “Respect Yourself,” if I recall correctly.

Haven’t heard from the guy since. Worth a Google...

Holy shit. I wish I hadn’t done that. Literally, in seeing what he was up to, I learned that my high school friend was convicted of a sex offense against a minor in Utah in 2004. I saw his mug shot for his required registration. Sad.

I’ll try not to let that impact the memory of him being so nice to us as we passed through, though, which is still my best Wyoming memory.