LANDER — Sophal Thompson put her Fourth of July flags out early this year. By early May, she had one on each of her handmade tables, because she was that excited to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.
She hasn’t taken them down yet, and she’s thinking she might just leave them there. They tell a quiet story, one she loves to tell.
“I just love America,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “I appreciate everything here.”
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not taken lightly by Thompson.
She grew up in Cambodia and remembers hiding underground when bombs came. This was during the years of conflict after the Khmer Rouge era, when fighting between factions made daily life dangerous.
Villages across western and northern Cambodia were caught in the crossfire. Families routinely dug subterranean dirt bunkers beneath or next to their thatched homes so they could dive underground at a moment’s notice. They might have to stay there for mere hours or days to survive the shrapnel.
Thompson is not sure her exact age. She might have been 5, 6 or 7. But she does remember how terrified she was that she or someone she loved might die.
She’d already lost her mother when she was 2.
“My mom didn’t make it,” she said in a soft voice. “My real, real mom who gave me a birthday. She passed away because we had no medication. There was no medication, no doctors, because they killed all of them. The Khmer Rouge killed all the smart doctors. Killed all the teachers.”
With no money, no medicine, no doctors or nurses, there was no one left to help her mother survive.
“My uncle, my dad’s brother, was killed. They killed him because he was a famous boxer,” she said. “He was smart, very successful. They killed all the famous, the smartest, all the rich people.”
Growing Up In The Crossfire
Thompson said she first heard about America she was 7 or 8 years old.
Her grandfather had managed to escape the nightmare sometime in the 1970s, before she was born. He finally managed to find her dad.
“Somehow, he escaped to a camp where Americans try to save us,” she said. “They could put many people in the plane so my grandpa, he just escaped with his family and came to America. Otherwise, they would have all been killed.”
It took him 25 years to find his surviving relatives in Cambodia.
“When we finally connected, that’s when I heard about America,” Thompson said. “I wanted to go to America. I wanted to be with my grandpa. He is my second grandpa.”
Thompson saved every penny she could from raising livestock on her family’s rice farm. English lessons were $1 an hour. That was a lot of money for a child, especially in a country where $10 could buy a month of food for her whole family.
“My dad told me, like, if you don’t learn English, you can’t speak to people,” she said. “You can’t work. So you have to learn English.”
Arriving With Just $10
When Thompson finally boarded a plane to the United States, she had just $10.
“Just to make sure, just in case you might be hungry on the way,” he told her. “So you can buy a snack at the airport.”
In Cambodia, that was still a lot of money.
But in America, as she soon discovered, it didn’t go far.
“I applied for work right away,” she said. “I’m not going to waste my breath sitting around. I have to work.”
That’s been her attitude ever since.
When she was a young mother, she opened a day care so she could watch others’ children alongside her own.
Childcare, she quickly saw, was so expensive it took half her paycheck. A day care seemed only logical.
It didn’t take long for word to spread. She was licensed for up to 10 children — and quickly filled all those spots. Before long, she was juggling two daycares at once.
Thai basil, sunflowers, and more grow at Sophal Thompson's On-Site Laundry in Lander. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
There's an American flag on every table at On-Site Laundry in Lander. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Sophal Thompson made this artwork for her new business, a laundromat that's set up like a living room, rather than a laundry. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
On-Site Laundry owner Sophal Thompson made these stools and the rest of the furniture in her business. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Dreaming Of A Laundromat
After her children grew older, Thompson decided to try a new kind of business altogether. For years, she ran the Antler Steak House — a restaurant in a gas station.
“I was cooking seven days a week and training people every other day,” she said. “That was tiring, and I never got to see people.”
So she sold the restaurant and started dreaming up a new business idea, something she’d felt the town always needed when she was a young mother.
That something was a laundromat. But not the boring place she remembered going to with her children.
“I had a baby and my apartment didn’t have laundry,” she said. “So I would pack my baby back and forth in the car. And I always wished that the laundry had a welcome sitting area — like a place to hang out and play with my baby, watch television or listen to music, and get an ice cream or a smoothie for the kids.”
Coffee And Conversation
That’s how On-Site Laundry was born, and that’s why it doesn’t look like a traditional laundromat.
The first thing you notice is a set of barstools and a menu listing several flavors of boba tea, as well as other drinks ranging from beer or cocktails to Thompson’s own favorite, Cambodian coffee.
That menu item is a creamy and sweet conversation starter.
“I had a gentleman come in who didn’t know where I’m from and look at my menu,” Thompson said with a chuckle. “He was like, ‘Cambodia … why are you serving Cambodian coffee?’”
The man had such a look of perplexity, Thompson wasn’t sure what to think. Was this the start of a compliment, or a complaint?
“Then I found out his wife came from Cambodia,” Thompson said. “So I told him I’m from Cambodia and I want to introduce Americans to Cambodian coffee. It’s really dark and strong and a little sweet.”
Before too long, her new friend had brought his wife to the laundromat for Cambodian coffee and conversation.
“That’s what I really like about being here,” Thompson said, beaming. “I get to meet a lot of different travelers. Different states, different countries. I like to visit with them.”
An Oasis For Divide Hikers, Bikers
On-Site Laundry has been in business for a year, but it’s already become a popular gathering place for hikers and bikers doing the Continental Divide Trail or the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
“Oasis is a good word for it,” Haleigh Swabowicz said, munching on a plate of chicken fingers and French fries. “Like you never see anything like this. It’s such a cool concept.”
“It’s an oasis,” walking trail friend Willie Hammond agreed. “We’re going to be here for a while.”
The duo found the business listed on an app for Divide Trail hikers that highlights useful and interesting places, complete with ratings and recommendations.
The rating for Lander’s laundromat is high — and well-deserved, Swabowicz said.
“To have a shower laundry place is spectacular,” she said. “And food? Like, I don’t even need to leave here.”
Air conditioning doesn’t hurt at all either, Hammond said.
Nor do toilets and chairs, Swabowicz added, laughing.
“Hiking the Great Divide makes you appreciate so many things so much more,” she said. “Like having a toilet, what an amazing thing that is! And chairs. Oh my gosh, sitting in a chair is such a luxury for us now.”
Handcrafted Grit And Giving Back
The cool decor was also not lost on the hiking duo, who said it gives the place a nice “vibe.”
That decor, Thompson said, was built by hand. Her own hand.
“This building was old,” she said. “We had to put everything brand new. The floor, I was just learning. I did that. But I had never done flooring before.”
She also built the tables and stools by hand, as well as a Ramen bar and the lunch counter where people gather to order food and drinks while waiting on their laundry. All of the wood is burned to give it a cozy, kitschy feel, and that’s something else Thompson did herself.
The tables and stools have also been popular. Customers beg to buy them, she said.
She finally let four of them go, and already has orders for a few more — though she doesn’t take many orders. She’s not in the furniture business after all.
She also assembled the art on the walls, having no money to buy expensive artwork.
“When we opened this up, we were kind of like broke,” she said. “We put every penny to this place. So I told my husband, I’m just gonna do everything handmade. You can’t go spend a thousand bucks on pictures. But I didn’t want it to be boring.”
When Grit Meets Freedom
On the front counter, there’s a tiny white piggy bank, but it’s not for tips. It’s for Cambodia.
“I’ve been collecting for a couple of years now,” she said. “And I’ve been sending the money to the hospital. Cambodia is still a very poor country.”
She might have left to find a better future in America, but she refuses to forget where she started.
The pocket change she collects might be chump change in America, but it will buy life-saving medicines that are still very expensive in the country of her birth. Medicines that might save someone else’s mother.
In Cambodia, Sophal Thompson learned a thing or two about grit. That grit took her to a small mountain town in Wind River Country.
Washers spin, dryers thump, and flags fly above tables built by her own hand.
They are a reminder of how far she’s come, and an example of how grit becomes something beautiful when life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are allowed.
“I really, really love America,” she said. “This is my American dream.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
