Wyoming: Now Featuring Hold Music

Well, this is not exactly the Wyoming adventure I had planned.

For the last three days, I've been living in a Walmart parking lot in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming, waiting for insurance, adjusters, repair estimates, phone calls, return phone calls, and then a few more phone calls just for good measure.

The biggest challenge hasn't really been the accident itself—it's the location. Riverton is a nice little town, but it's also very much in the middle of nowhere. There are a handful of auto body shops, one rental car agency, and not a whole lot else when it comes to services. The nearest city with more options is two to three hours away, which has turned every simple problem into a complicated one.

Most of my days have been spent on the phone with Progressive, body shops, rental agencies, motels, transportation services, and pretty much anyone else who might help me figure out a path forward. Unfortunately, things got a little more interesting yesterday when I discovered my van had developed a significant oil leak. The fresh oil change I got just a few days ago is now decorating the Walmart parking lot, which means I can't safely start the van to charge devices or run my cooler.

The good news is that while I've been stranded in a parking lot, I haven't been completely alone.

The first night I pulled in, I noticed another van parked nearby. I picked a spot several spaces away but close enough to the lights and cameras to feel comfortable. The next morning I saw the owner sitting outside.

I'll be honest—snap judgments were made.

He looked a little rough around the edges, and my first instinct was that my valuables were not safe. So I'm true Eric DeArmon fashion, I walked over, introduced myself, handed him a protein shake, and struck up a conversation.

His name is Mike.

In my head, he'll always be Mountain Mike.

Mike is 75 years old and lives out in the Wyoming backcountry in his van. Over the last few days we've spent quite a bit of time talking. I've listened to stories from his life, shared a little of my own, and enjoyed the kind of conversations that only seem to happen when neither person has anywhere else they need to be.

It was a good reminder that people are often much more interesting than our first impressions of them. Sometimes the stranger you're slightly worried about turns out to be the friendliest person in the parking lot.

Unfortunately, I think Mountain Mike headed back to the mountains this morning. He's not much of a town guy and was eager to get back to his camp. I haven't seen him since early today, so I suspect he's back where he'd rather be.

As for the van, there has finally been some progress.

The adjuster came out today, completed the estimate, and the body shop is preparing to order parts. Once they know when everything will arrive, they'll schedule a tow and get the repairs started. After talking through the options, everyone agreed that the best place for the van to stay for now is right here in the Walmart parking lot. As glamorous as that sounds, it does at least give me a place to sleep while we wait without incurring large motel costs.

The rental car situation has been its own adventure. The only rental agency within a two hour radius is booked solid until mid-July, which wasn't exactly helpful. After a lot of digging, I finally found a possible solution. The local transportation authority has a shuttle service that's normally reserved for seniors and veterans, but they were kind enough to make an exception for my situation. Tomorrow, they're taking me to Casper, where I've confirmed a rental vehicle is available.

It's going to cost a pretty penny, but hopefully my trip interruption coverage will soften the blow. At the very least, having wheels again means I won't be limited to staring at the Walmart parking lot all day.

And honestly, that's exciting.

Riverton sits within the Wind River Reservation, and there seems to be a lot of local history and interesting places nearby that I simply haven't been able to reach without transportation. Once I have the rental, I'll finally have some freedom to explore while I wait for news about the repairs.

The timeline is still the big unknown.

I need to be at my pet sit in Oregon in less than two weeks, and that date isn't flexible. If the repairs can be completed within that window, I'll stay in the area, explore a bit, and hopefully still make it to Grand Teton National Park and maybe even Yellowstone.

Glacier National Park, however, is looking increasingly unlikely.

From everything I've been told, getting parts delivered anywhere in Wyoming takes time, and there's a very real possibility that I'll need to continue on to Oregon and come back later to retrieve the van once repairs are complete.

For now, though, after three days of uncertainty, I finally have something I didn't have before:

The beginnings of a plan.

It's not the plan I started this trip with, but it's a plan nonetheless.

I'm doing my best not to let this derail the adventure. Honestly, the hardest part hasn't been being stranded. It's been the endless phone calls and trying to untangle logistics in one of the most remote corners of the country.

So that's the latest update from my temporary home in a Walmart parking lot.

Not many photos to share this time around, unless you'd like several exciting angles of cracked plastic and oil stains.

Hopefully the next update will involve mountains, national parks, and considerably less time on hold.Read more