The really wild west

So I've been doing this work for the Census for just under a month now. It feels MUCH longer....

The census itself takes place next April and, like in the UK, will be carried out by post, but there is a huge amount of preparation that takes place beforehand, and that is what I've been participating in. The team I've been working with is doing spot checks. We are given sections of land to go around, and we are to list any housing units we find therein. Simple enough really.

It's been interesting, as a few of the sections I've been assigned had no housing units a few years ago (if the photos on Google maps are anything to go by), but now are complete subdivisions of towns. Most people are helpful - I've been yelled at by a few too. Those are the urban areas.

Our team was so efficient and finished our area so quickly, that some of us were asked if we would like to help out in Wyoming, where they apparently had difficulty recruiting people. Last weekend then (Labor day weekend - a bank holiday) saw me driving out to Rock Springs. It's in the lower left hand corner of the state. 300 miles from home. They put three of us up in a decent hotel and gave us our assignments. What I didn't understand, and what no one told me, was that there are only three paved roads in the whole of Wyoming! The photo above is the first section of land I was assigned to canvass. It took me several hours to find, as the maps they gave us to locate our areas may have had a single identifier on them. For example, the only identifer on the map for the above area was the California Oregon trail. Where along the trail this tiny bit was located was up to me.

My advice to you all in England is to rush out and buy a good Ordnance survey map and revel in its detail. Linger over the marked paths, the roads, the indications of a school and a pub and a post office. You don't find that kind of detail here - not on a map, and sometimes not on the ground either. This is where I ended up.



For my pains and skills, I have been selected to accompany a bigwig from Washington who wants to come out and observe what we do out here in the field. So later this week I shall collect this man, and head out to Cheyenne. It will be my last assignment. We're going to be doing one urban area and one rural area. Because this is a big deal, I was asked to go out in advance and check out the location. It wouldn't do to be driving around for hours with a man from Washington wondering where the @#%&* some dirt road or other was now would it? I eventually found it. Here is a photo of what we are supposed to traverse.....

I kid you not. Wish me luck!