Transmissions from Wyoming

I’m currently writing from Story, Wyoming, and I’m reminded of a 2022 post at this blog entitled “Rapid Modulation in the Hinterlands,” which touched on an agreement entered into by Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power Co. for interruptible service under a Wyoming blockchain tariff. I suggested then that the agreement — with an un-named Bitcoin mining outfit — might be another indicator that Wyoming, which in 2021 was the first state to legally recognize DAOs, is becoming one of the more adventurous economies in the U.S.

After being here for a couple of days (and doing cold plunges in an icy creek), I can confirm that the pioneering spirit is alive and well. I spotted copies of Walter Kirn’s old-school Americana newspaper, County Highway. And I’ve been having discussions at a fascinating locus of innovation and talent called the Wagon Box Inn with a group of friends and writers.

For reference, fyi, Paul Kingsnorth writes about the Wagon Box Inn here, detailing the unique mix of individuals who converge at this rustic gathering spot.

…the Wyoming crew…offered a wide range of flavours and culinary styles, from well done to properly raw. Homesteaders, rebel truckers, hobo poets, train-jumpers, urban organisers, Washington intellectuals, former policymakers, military officers, anarchists, ecologists, recovering journalists, Christian farmers; all of them - us - in search of the key to remaining human. Everyone there could see what was coming as the Machine bore down: the only real question was what form it would take, and how to respond. These are the questions I have been writing about, and my readers have been debating…for the past two years.

Wyoming provides a welcome respite from the West Coast. I’m hoping to make a return visit soon.