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You still here 1 7 24

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>You Still Here? Sunday, January 7, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

You Still Here? Sunday, January 7, 2024

 If this doesn't make you look forward to the next Olympics, nothing will...

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Adam Fink, the owner of Laird Sanitation LLC (“Got Poop?”) in Greybull, says trying to retrieve anything that's fallen into an outhouse, portable toilet, or vault toilet isn't worth the risk and effort. 

That includes sunglasses, which is what a man in central California was trying to recover when he fell into a vault toilet and had to be rescued from its fetid depths last week.

“Aside from a family heirloom or a wedding ring, it’s not worth digging through a pile of waste to recover something that’s fallen into a vault toilet,” Fink told Cowboy State Daily. "Even then, you should call someone, not try to get it yourself."

The incident occurred June 20 at Camp Edison on the Sierra National Forest, northeast of Fresno.

According to media reports, the unidentified man trying to recover his sunglasses was stuck inside for about 15 minutes before being rescued.

Fink typically doesn’t deal with vault toilets in Wyoming’s state and national parks, but he knows what horrors can lurk at their depths. This man was lucky he wasn’t down there deeper or longer, he said.

“A vault toilet can be anywhere from three to 10 feet deep,” he said. “If you jump in, you may not be touching bottom. It's not worth the risk."

[{"type":"text","text":"Disturbing Depths"}]

For the unfamiliar, vault toilets are non-flush toilets in which human waste is deposited into a large underground tank. Because no water is used, the waste sits until it’s pumped out and transported to a treatment facility.

Vault toilets are common in national parks and campgrounds where running water and sewer lines are unavailable. They can go several months or longer without being pumped.

You don’t know what diseases might be running around in there with all the human waste,” Fink said.

While vault toilets don’t use water, many are at least partially filled with the same biodegradable chemical solution Fink and others use to fill portable toilets. It helps break down everything that falls inside.

Nobody likes the idea of being partially submerged in a caustic chemical bath at the bottom of a vault toilet, but it’s preferable to everything else floating at the bottom.

Then there are the “lily pads” that give people a false sense of hope.

“Those vaults and tanks will develop a bit of a crust on top, or the toilet paper will act as a lily pad,” Fink said. “You might see something you dropped sitting right at the surface, but that doesn’t mean that’s the bottom.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Bowels Of Hell"}]

People lose items in portable toilets and vault toilets all the time. The lengths some will go to retrieve these lost objects can have dangerous and humiliating consequences.

In August 2022, a man was stuck in a vault toilet at Fishtrap Creek in western Montana for three hours, half-naked, after trying to recover his phone. Morgan Jacobsen, spokesperson for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, relayed the full details of the incident to VICE News.

“The man undressed, removed the toilet and climbed (into the vault) to retrieve his phone,” Jacobsen said. “He was unable to climb out and was stuck for about three hours until a few other people came along and were able to help him.”

The Good Samaritans saved the man from the bowels of Hell by lowering a camp chair into the vault, which he used as a platform to climb out.

In April 2022, a woman in Washington’s Olympic National Park was stuck in a vault toilet for more than an hour after she 

That incident was enough for the Wyoming Division of Parks and Cultural Resources to release a statement discouraging visitors from doing the same.

“While rare, we have received reports from several parks over the years,” spokesperson Gary Schoene said. “First and foremost, people should contact the respective park staff if they should drop their phone in the toilet. We advise folks not to reach down or try to retrieve the phone themselves because of the potential for dangerous, noxious gases in the vault.”

The Teton Raptor Center's Porta Potty Owl Project, or "

," developed a special screen to cover the open-pipe chimney on many vault toilets to protect owls and other birds. Getting stuck in a vault toilet might be a disturbing moment and memory for people, but it's often fatal for animals. 

"In our complicated times of complex problems, this is an issue for wildlife with a simple, affordable solution,” Teton Raptor Center CEO Amy McCarthy told Cowboy State Daily. “It's making a difference that has led to the safety of thousands of wild creatures, one toilet at a time.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and Camp Edison staff"}]

rescued the man who fell into the vault toilet within 15 minutes. CAL Fire personnel hosed him off.

“(We) were able to safely get him out, decontaminate him, and he’ll be OK,” said Sgt. Chris Tullus with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

Fink has recovered many items that have been dropped into portable toilets.

[{"type":"text","text":"Few, he believes, were worth the call."}]

“We find items of all sorts in vaults and portable toilets, but they’re usually trash,” he said.

A smartphone can cost close to $2,000 in 2026. Nobody wants to lose that much in one fell swoop, but Fink said it’s probably best to leave that phone where it dropped.

“When it comes to cellphones, there's a thing called the Cloud,” he said. “If you're not backing your information up to the Cloud, this is a good reminder that it's probably time to do that, because it’s not worth diving into a vault toilet.”

That’s assuming a phone would even work after soaking in a cocktail of human waste and chemicals. Stranger things have happened, however.

When Wyoming outdoorsman Paul Ulrich dropped his iPhone into a vault toilet, he didn’t even consider trying to recover it.

“I never wanted to see that phone again,” he told 

Nevertheless, when he had his son call the phone hours later, it was still working.

“You gotta credit Apple,” he said. “At the bottom of an outhouse, which probably hadn’t been emptied since the 1940s, and it was still working. God bless America.”

Vault toilet california man 6 24 26

<title>Wyoming Outhouse Expert Says Retrieving Sunglasses From Vault Toilets Is Bad Idea | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The owner of a Wyoming sanitation company said it's not worth it to jump in a vault toilet to retrieve sunglasses like a man in California did last week. “It's anywhere from 3 to 10 feet deep,” he said. “If you jump in, you may not be touching bottom."

Wyoming Outhouse Expert Says Retrieving Sunglasses From Vault Toilets Is Bad Idea

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

Wyoming Life

They have been dubbed by historians as the Arapaho Five, warriors who found themselves fighting against the cavalry in the Battle of the Little Bighorn 150 years ago this week. In the spring of 1876, these young bucks, as they called themselves, snuck off from the fort where their band was camping and became part of history. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Their names were Left Hand, Yellow Eagle, Yellow Fly, Water Man and Sage."}]

In 1919, Tim McCoy, actor and adopted member of the Arapaho tribe, was sitting in a powwow with several Arapaho friends on the Wind River Indian Reservation along the Little Wind River. 

He later related the story to Darryl Ponicsan in a June 1977 article for the American Heritage magazine, 

“High Eagle The Many Lives Of Colonel Tim Mccoy

“They started telling me that Old Water Man was in that fight,” McCoy said. “I sort of scoffed at it because every Indian and his brother was in that fight. Practically all of them killed Custer.”

However, when McCoy began asking Water Man questions, the old Arapaho answered them all accurately. Determined to have the old men tell the stories themselves, McCoy arranged for separate interviews with Water Man and Left Hand in nearby Riverton by 1920. 

The other three warriors had already gone to the “great mystery” according to Left Hand and 

. However,  Sage, was still living near St. Stephens under the name of Sherman Sage. Only remnants of Sage's own story were ever recorded.

The two warriors McCoy knew about agreed their stories needed told.

“I had lived 22 snows at the time of the great battle on the Little Bighorn River,” 

told McCoy. “Soon Left Hand and I must go to the long sleep, and no one will be alive to tell the story, so I will tell you, whom the Arapahoes call their Soldier-Chief, everything just as I saw it, and nothing that is not the truth.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Left Hand & Water Man"}]

Left Hand began his story by stating that he was part Blackfeet and part Cheyenne but had always lived among the Arapaho. He was born in the Powder River Country and, in 1876, was camped with the Arapaho at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, drawing rations, when he left with a war party to fight the Shoshones.

“When we were young men, it was the custom of the young Indian to go on small war parties looking for Shoshones or other unfriendly tribes,” Water Man explained. “If our medicine was good, we sometimes returned to camp with a scalp or a number of ponies.” 

The young bucks rode north into the buffalo country and, near the Little Bighorn River just south of what is now Crow Agency, Montana, met a small party of Sioux.

“They told us that the Sioux were going to have a sundance and said that we should come along with them to the Sioux village and have a good time,” Water Man said. “Afterward I learned that these Sioux thought we were scouts for the white soldiers.”

Unaware that they were being tricked, the five Arapaho rode with the Sioux. As they came near the village, a great many Sioux came out of the camp.

“They took all our guns away, and made us prisoners, saying that we were scouts of the white man, and that they were going to kill us,” Water Man said.

Young Two Moon, nephew of Cheyenne Chief Two Moon, said all the Sioux believed they were scouts from a camp of soldiers. He verified the Arapahos' claim of being held prisoner in a 1908 interview with George Bird Grinnell.

“Two men took their part — Black Wolf and Last Bull,” Young Two Moon said. “They said the people should wait and not act hastily.”

The Arapaho were taken into Two Moon’s lodge. The Sioux threatened to kill the five all night.

“In the morning, Two Moon, Chief of the Cheyenne, learned we were Arapahoes, so he went to the Sioux Chiefs and made them give us back our guns and set us free,” Water Man said.

The Arapaho were given back their guns but not allowed to leave camp. The young men saw the sun rise two times and the village grew to thousands of warriors, the most any had ever seen in one place.

It was on the third day, June 25, 1876, that the battle began.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The War Cries"}]

All the Arapaho men had readied themselves for the battle. Water Man said he was dressed in beaded leggings, breechclout, a white shirt and a large war bonnet. Left Hand was dressed in a shirt and breechclout, and his medicine was a piece of buffalo hide made into a cross with two feathers in it, which he wore in his hair.

“My face was painted yellow and red and, around my neck, tied in a deer-skin medicine bag, was a certain root, which was my medicine,” Water Man said. “I still have that same medicine,”

Left Hand said the first attack, led by Major Marcus Reno, was at the south end of the village when the sun was at the position of about 9 a.m.

“The soldiers fired a few shots, but when we rushed toward them, they became frightened and started back across the river,” Left Hand said. “Many of them lost their horses and had to swim across."

He described how the soldiers climbed on a high ridge and built a barricade.

“There were many soldiers killed there,” Left Hand said. “The Sioux were all around them.”

When the sun was straight up, about noon, Left Hand heard shooting at the lower end of the village and knew it must be more soldiers.

“I went down through the village and crossed the river with a large party of Sioux and Cheyennes,” Left Hand said. “We Arapahoes had all gotten separated during the first fight.”

 had joined a group of warriors at the lower end of the village and fought off troops who were trying to cross the river and attack the camp. During the earlier part of the fight, Waterman was in a small gulch below the hill where the soldiers were stationed. He later moved up the hill and closed in on the enemy.

“There was a great deal of noise and confusion,” Water Man said. “The air was heavy with powder smoke, and the Indians were all yelling.”

Water Man said Crazy Horse, the Sioux Chief, was the bravest man he had ever seen.

“Crazy Horse rode closest to the soldiers, yelling to his warriors,” he said. “All the soldiers were shooting at him, but he was never hit.”

Water Man said he only knew of one soldier he personally killed. It was near the end of the fight when they rushed to the top of the hill and finished all that were still alive.

“I killed him with my gun, but did not scalp him because the Arapahoes do not scalp a man with short hair, only long hair,” Water Man said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Killed A Sioux But Not White Soldier"}]

Left Hand, who counted 13 coup during the battle, saw an Indian on foot who was wounded in the leg.

“Thinking he was one of the Crow or Arikara scouts with the soldiers, I rode at him, striking at him with a long lance which I carried,” Left Hand said. “The head of the lance was sharpened like an arrow. It struck him in the chest and went clear through him.”

The Indian fell over a pile of dead soldiers. Afterward. Left Hand discovered the man he killed was actually Sioux.

“The Sioux were going to kill me because I had killed their friend,” Left Hand said. “One Sioux tried to take my horse away from me, but I would not give him up.

“Everyone was excited. The hills were swarming with Indians, all yelling and shooting.”

Left Hand said that as he came up on the ridge, one soldier, who was on the ground, handed him his gun.

“I took the gun and did not kill him, but some Sioux who were behind me killed him,” Left Hand said. “I went back and took his belt, which had many cartridges in it.”

McCoy said the soldier was wounded and handed Left Hand his gun to surrender.

“They didn’t understand. You don’t surrender to an Indian 

 you either fight or you die,” McCoy said. “Left Hand took the gun, but he couldn’t use it because the shell jammed in the chamber.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Custer’s Last Stand"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Both Water Man and Left Hand saw Custer near the end of the fight."}]

“He was dressed in buckskin and was standing up and had pistols in his hands shooting into the Indians,” Left Hand said. “I did not see him again until it was all over. I walked around and saw him lying there. He was dead.”

Water Man also reported that Custer was wearing buckskin. But by the time he saw him, Custer was on his hands and knees.

“He had been shot through the side and there was blood coming from his mouth,” Water Man said. “He seemed to be watching the Indians moving around him.”

Water Man described how four soldiers were sitting up around Custer, but they were all badly wounded. The next time he saw Custer, he was dead.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Snuck Away"}]

After the squaws, as the old men called the women of the tribe, had cleared the battlefield, the Arapahoes knew they had to escape. The Sioux were angry at Left Hand for killing one of their own and were waiting to take revenge.

The next morning, the Sioux broke camp and started for the mountains. They had heard some soldiers were coming up the river, and the Indians were scared.

“That night after they had made camp and it was dark, we four Arapahoes crawled out to the pony herd and, each mounting a pony, slipped away,” Left Hand said. “We travelled as fast as we could back to Fort Robinson where the Arapahoes were.”

At the time they shared their stories with McCoy, the old men were living on the reservation and life was much different.

“The buffalo are all gone, and the Indians who once roamed these plains and were happy are now held on reservations as wards of the government,” Water Man said. “We are old men now, and soon we too must pass over to the great mystery. That is why I have told you this story.”

Left Hand also commented on how different times were during his 1920 interview.

“The white men used to trade us guns for buffalo robes, but now it is all changed,” Left Hand said. “The buffalo are all gone, the antelope are gone, and now we old men can only sit by the fire, sing our war songs and dream of the past.”

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<title>The Arapaho Five: Unsuspecting Braves Who Fought Custer 150 Years Ago This Week | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Five young Arapaho braves snuck off from Fort Robinson 150 years ago this week and fought the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn, where General Custer met his demise. They later told their story to actor and adopted member of the Arapaho tribe, Tim McCoy.

The Arapaho Five: Unsuspecting Braves Who Fought Custer 150 Years Ago This Week

Coy Knobel

Don Day Weather

Chance of rain in much of Wyoming on Wednesday and overnight. Greater chance east of the divide and severe storms possible in the southeast. Highs from near 70 to upper 80s. Lows from near 40 to mid 50s.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

Slight chance of rain after 4 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 82 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Breezy, becoming partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain, a low near 52 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph.

Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 84 and mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a chance of rain mainly before 11 p.m., a low near 53 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.

 Slight chance of rain after 4 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 84 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain, a low near 55 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.

 Patchy smoke, slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise sunny today with a high near 85 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain before 9 p.m., patchy smoke and a low near 47.

  Slight chance of rain after 2 p.m., otherwise sunny and breezy today with a high near 89 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Breezy, gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain mainly before 9 p.m., a low near 51 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph.

Sunny and breezy today with a high near 84 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 46.

Slight chance of rain after noon, otherwise mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 79 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain and a low near 42.

 Chance of rain mainly after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 88 and partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain after 5 a.m. and a low near 45.

  Slight chance of rain after 5 p.m., otherwise sunny and breezy today with a high near 82 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph. Gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain and a low near 41.

 Slight chance of rain after noon, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 77 and partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 44.

  Slight chance of rain after 1 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 85 and partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain after 5 a.m. and a low near 45.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

:  Partly sunny today with a high near 76 and partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 38.

Slight chance of rain after 2 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 82 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain and a low near 53.

:  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 75 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 50.

  Mostly sunny today with a high near 81 and gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain mainly after midnight, a low near 53 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.

  Slight chance of rain after 11 a.m., otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 70 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 51.

  Slight chance of rain after noon, otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 73 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 48.

:  Slight chance of rain after noon, otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 69 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 49.

Chance of rain, otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 72 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain, a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.

  Chance of rain, otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 69 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 51.

:  Chance of rain, otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 72 and gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 50.

  Chance of rain (some storms could be severe), mostly cloudy today with a high near 79 and rain likely (some storms could be severe) overnight with a low near 55.

  Patchy fog before 8 a.m., chance of rain (some storms could be severe), otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 74 and rain likely (some storms could be severe) overnight with a low near 48.

  Slight chance of rain after 2 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 78 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain, a low near 50 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

  Patchy fog before 9 a.m., chance of rain (some storms could be severe), gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 75 and rain likely (some storms could be severe) overnight with a low near 52.

  Chance of rain after noon (some storms could be severe), increasing clouds today with a high near 81 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain (some storms could be severe) and a low near 49.

  Chance of rain mainly after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 83 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 48.

  Chance of rain after 3 p.m., increasing clouds today with a high near 84 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 50.

  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., increasing clouds today with a high near 87 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 49.

  Patchy fog before 7 a.m., chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 82 and mostly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain and a low near 49.

Daycap no play 6 24 26

<title>Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Wednesday, June 24, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Kerry Drake

My assignment was to write a story about a non-earth-shaking but still demographically relevant event, especially for Baby Boomers like myself: the reintroduction of McDonald’s iconic dessert, the fried apple pie, which hasn’t been available under the golden arches since 1992.

If you’re a fan, no doubt you're saying, “I’ve got to get me one of those.” Well, you’re in luck; it’s back for a limited time but if you haven’t gone through the drive-thru lately you’ve already missed a week’s worth of tasting opportunities. 

The pie went on sale a week early in Wyoming, not Tuesday as was nationally advertised for a product that’s back to honor the nation's 250th anniversary. Shortly after the July 4th birthday bash, though, it’s back to baked goods.

Before anyone thinks I’m a shill for the biggest fast-food restaurant in the world (more than 

600 million annually in the U.S., plus they have franchises in 100 foreign countries).

I’ve spent the day climbing the corporate ladder to find anyone who will officially tell me how these pies are selling in the Cowboy State. It’s an important factoid.

The last rung I reached  was the McDonald’s press office at corporate headquarters in Chicago, which the Wyoming corporate office assured me would help. 

So I penned a friendly email, because they don’t list a phone number, and I just got an automatic reply: “Thank you for your message. A member of our media relations department will respond to media inquiries as soon as possible, within business hours.”

An auto-response? I happen to know that the media relations team is unveiling a 35-foot-long fried apple pie monument about 40 miles from the Mickey D’s corporate office in Chicago, which for some reason is going to serve as a mile marker on Route 66. 

They’re not calling back some rube from Wyoming. I’d have better luck trying to reach Ronald McDonald.

But luckily, I thought, I don’t have to. I cruised to one of the Cheyenne franchises on East Lincolnway during the lunch hour Tuesday, looking for customers holding those pie treats — young, old, anyone really — but there was nary a one in sight. 

I talked to a young assistant manager, who assured me “they’re really popular,” but he couldn’t produce any evidence and told me I’d have to call corporate. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Thanks."}]

I had much better luck at the Dell Range franchise, where the woman who brought me my own fried apple pie and double cheeseburger said — without even a question being asked, or knowing I’m one of those liberal media elites — “Those pies are delicious. I have no idea why they stopped making them.”

I’ll interrupt this story long enough to tell you why they disappeared for 34 years.

“This drastic change was due to (the 1990s) major shift toward diet culture, with many claiming dietary fat was 

, a source about all things nutritious. “McDonald's followed the trend and, for the most part, still bakes its apple pies today.”

But there’s not much difference between the two versions. The fried kind has 220 calories, 3 grams of saturated fat and 10 grams of sugar. The baked version is 230 calories, 6 grams of saturated fat and 14 grams of sugar. Nutritionwise, I’d say fried wins the prize.

McDonald’s customers have been debating the merits of fried vs. baked apple pies for years, but the former’s blend of bubbly, crispy crust and piping-hot filling also seems to be the favorite on social media. As one Instagram user said, “Sure it may be liquid radiation, but it was DELICIOUS liquid radiation.”

Cowboy State Daily, I’m sorry to say, was beaten on this story by the Washington Post, which rarely happens. This is what the Post’s reporter, Tim Carman, wrote in his review after he waxed nostalgic about how his father used to love McDonald’s coffee:

“The fried apple pie had a familiar crackle that was a pleasure all its own. But the dessert was no match for my memory, no matter how false that memory may be.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Georgia To The Rescue"}]

The lunch crowd had vanished, but I thought surely someone would be eating one of these things. 

But everyone I saw holding them were McDonald’s employees, who probably get them for free instead of paying $2.49, the price schlubs like me have to fork over (I’ll spare youngsters from having to look up the definition: a schlub is a talentless, unattractive, or boorish person. You’re welcome).

But my ears perked up when I heard someone actually step up to the counter and, with a definite eagerness, order one. It was a delightful woman named Georgia Costello, who I talked into joining me at my table.

Costello is 74, and she has fond memories of growing up in California and regularly eating fried apple pies at the very first McDonald’s in the world, which was in Downey in the Golden State.

“I don’t know why they got rid of them, they’re so much better,” she said. “They’re not doughy. These are crispy, with more apple.”

She was obviously dejected when I delivered the bad news that they would soon be shuffling off this mortal coil. 

“Why don’t they make them permanent? Even the manager here thinks they’re better,” she said.

If I could get someone in Chicago to call me back, I thought, maybe I could tell her. Instead, I pressed onward, as reporters on the competitive pie beat must.

Costello recalled taking rides to the first McDonald’s, where they served 10 hamburgers for $1. “There were five of us kids, and it was like a treat because in those days there wasn’t any fast food. That was the beginning.”

I remember those days too, so I was eager to try the fried pie. I agreed with my new friend: the bubbly crust was indeed very good. It was a welcome blast from the past.

But the innards weren’t as impressive. True, there seemed to be enough pie to justify the old recipe’s hype. But it wasn’t piping hot when I got it, which was kind of disappointing until I remembered they used to burn, baby, burn on the roof of your mouth and down your throat, so perhaps this was OK after all.

Kerry Drake can be reached at: Kerry@CowboyStateDaily.com

Kerry apple pie 6 23 26

<title>Boomers Rejoice: McDonald's Iconic Fried Apple Pie Returns To Wyoming For 250th | Cowboy State Daily</title>

My assignment was to write a story about the reintroduction of McDonald’s iconic dessert, the fried apple pie, which hasn’t been available under the golden arches since 1992. The pie went on sale a week early in Wyoming, not Tuesday as was nationally advertised.

You Still Here? Sunday, January 7, 2024

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