03/19/08

Geoff and I had been recruited by the Park Authority as summer interns to defend the trails from inconsiderate campers. We were provided two mountain bikes with 
fat knobbly tires in order to navigate the mud trails. It was my first day on the job, late in the afternoon, and I hadn't had anything to eat all day. I 
mentioned this to Geoff and we decided to head towards town. Powering down the smooth muddy canyon formed by millions of passing cars and trucks, the teeth on my 
tires bit into the soft slope with satisfaction. There was mud everywhere.

I noticed a small hotel off to the side of the road and pointed at it. We carved into the asphalt drive and walked right up into the one occupancy. There was 
nobody there. Over the years, the power of the Park Authority had grown so much that we were expected to take what we needed from the visitors, so Geoff looked 
around in the kitchen area to find some food while I examined a poorly constructed doorway. Geoff returned with a moldy banana and shrugged. The fluorescent 
lights droned in synchrony with the horse-flies. On the way out we bumped into a maintenance man stepping out of his pickup truck. I pointed out the doorway to 
him, and he said it had been installed backwards.

The sun was low on the horizon by now, so as we descended the now paved road I had to look from side to side rather than straight ahead. I started to wonder 
whether I was fit enough to ride all the way back up this hill we had been riding down for an hour. We came to the first intersection of West Yellowstone, where 
there were two red lights and a blinking green on the right. A traffic cop waved us through as we swerved around the stopped cars. Only Park Authority kids ride 
bikes anymore.

The restaurant was more of a bar and casino, dimly lit with blue neon around the perimeter and dangling white LED's over the tables. I had heard that money was 
actually worth less than nothing in Yellowstone, and before long I had a tall stack of the gaudy gold-plated plastic coins balancing on the pool table next to 
the slot machine.