Gunga Din Was I - Sort of

Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2005. PM. MDT. Cody, Wyoming.

Before leaving Lake Yellowstone this morning, the group put in two hours of volunteer work for the National Forest Services. The Ranger assigned us to paint the fire hydrants near and about the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. When we received our assignment at 0730 hours, the temperture was already in the 70s (25+°C).

I started off as a scrape and brush man for our assigned hydrants behind the hotel. There were other scraper/painter in our Gang of Five as well. Soon it became evident we needed more painters than scrapers. I went back to the ranger's truck to look for for paint brushes. The Boss ranger came back from somewhere and said there weren't any more paint brushes left. But he thought it would be a good idea for me to distribute bottled waters to the painting crew scattered about.

Off I went hauling a dozen or so 20-ounce bottled water in a plastic bag over my shoulder in search of thirsty hydrant painters far and near. At the end of the two-hour stint, I was perspiring a lot more than the painting crew. I muttered under my breath, "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"

The ranger took a picture of the motley crew and bid us farewell. We cleaned up and headed east toward Cody, Wyoming, into the cowboy and indian country.