Monday 6/30: Nebraska and Wyoming

We finally got smart and left North Platte at 7 AM instead of sleeping in till 8. The temperature stayed in the low 70s the whole morning- what bliss! We didn't have to use the air conditioner till we hit Cheyenne, Wyoming.

There was lovely morning light and lots of dramatic clouds when we left Nebraska.

You know me and flowers - got this photo of a black-eyed susan at a rest stop in Ogallala, NE:

We crossed into Wyoming at Pine Bluffs. The rest stop there boasted an archeological site and lovely vistas.

Wyoming seems to favor these hilltop sculptures - we saw many like this.

Cheyenne, Wyoming is a great town. We visited the State Museum of Wyoming (highly recommended) and the State Capitol Building, which sports a golden dome.

This building is beautiful. Photos don't do it justice. The lady at the information desk handed us a self-tour brochure and said the entire place was accessible to anyone - no restrictions, we could go anywhere and take any photos we wanted. Here is my favorite - a wonderful sculpture of Lincoln, outside the Attorney General's offfice. His face looks so sad and kind.

Room 302 sports a beautiful, ornate chandelier and mural of Wyoming history.

My telephoto lens was too long to get a good photo of the inside of the Capitol dome.

I really like Wyoming. I love the vast, open feeling. Yes, it's true there are mile and miles of "nothing." But it's a grand, noble, rugged place. The sky is so wide. You get the feeling you could start over, achieve anything. People are strong and hardy and friendly. Sanguine in the face of nature's challenges, they inspire you to reach for that level of grit in your own life. My photos don't capture the feeling at all. Here's one of many windmills we saw along the highway. They were almost always in singles, looking brave and lonely in the big brown landscape.

Another hill sculpture in Douglas, Wyoming -- home of the "jackalope" -- for those that don't know, a jackalope is a hybrid of jackrabbit and antelope, reputedly created first in Douglas by local taxidermists.

Listening to the news, hearing Wyoming farmers' concerns about the energy bills being proposed in Washington, D.C. I couldn't help but wonder if any of the D.C. crowd had ever visited the farmlands of America. I think maybe they should come and see this area for themselves and get a sense of what it's like to live out here and grow the foods that feed the whole nation. It's easy to sit in a far-away city and pontificate about laws that affect places you've never been. Oh well, off the soapbox...

And finally, landing at another fine Holiday Inn Express in Buffalo, Wyoming. It's the quaintest little town, situated very pleasantly near the Big Horn mountain range, just southeast of Yellowstone.

Tomorrow we head for Helena, Montana. Good night, everyone!

Monday: West to Nebraska

Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary. We celebrated by driving up from Kansas to Nebraska and westward to the town of North Platte. The Platte River figures largely in James Michener's novel Centennial (if I remember correctly). We're worried about our air conditioner croaking, so we alternated 10 minutes of cool air with 30 minutes of 90-degree breezes through the open car windows. We also made several wrong turns which added about 90 minutes to the drive. Our GPS betrayed us and landed us on Turnpike 35 going south to Wichita. On the turnpike, exits are few; it was 35 miles before we could get off (by paying $1.60) and head north. This took us through many historic towns. The midwest is stuffed with history and interesting stories. We read about them in the guidebook as we zoomed past them. Some day we'll come back and explore them all. Here is the ornate courthouse and frontier-style main street of Cottonwood Falls, KS:

Kansas is full of beautiful farms, their peaceful look belying the hard labor that's required to run them. There are also vast cattle ranches and oil fields. Here's just one Kansas oil rig we passed at 75mph (love those midwest highways).

It clouded over for a brief, wonderfully shady moment when we crossed into Nebraska. Alas, the sun soon banished those sheltering clouds.

There were so many picturesque dilapidated buildings - we just didn't have time to stop (waaaa). Here is one standing like a sentinel in the middle of a knee-high corn field.

I love all the "alien heads" that proclaim the name of each town. You see them in most rural areas (in Washington, too). This one was unusual because of the colorful stripes and the fact that it looks more like a hot air balloon than an alien head.

About 50 miles from our night's destination, we tried to find the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles. It was supposed to contain 60+ military vehicles of all types, including a rare Downed Airman Retriever, two Bradley Fighting Vehicles and an M-60 Main Battle Tank. We couldn't find it. The GPS led us to a dirt crossroad with corn fields in every direction but no building. We called them and they tried to give us directions, but we could not find the place. Very frustrated and very hot and sweaty, we grabbed a soda and burger at McDonalds (air conditioned! clean!) and toughed out the last 50 miles to our lovely Holiday Inn Express room (air conditioned! clean!). A nice glass of wine at the manager's reception, a cool shower, and we're good as new.

Tomorrow we head for Buffalo, Wyoming via Cheyenne and Casper. But for tonight - happy anniversary to us!

Sunday: Emporia, KS

Ahhhhh. Last night's rain chased away the haze and lowered the temperature. We awoke to a cool breeze and 80 degrees. So of course, we spent this beautiful morning at the laundromat, washing our clothes for the trip home. Here's John enjoying our tailgate breakfast of lattes and a muffin. It was actually very nice, sitting in a cool spot with nowhere to be and nothing to do except talk to each other.

While the clothes were drying we visited the Emporia Veteran's Memorial. Emporia is the town where Veteran's Day originated. They're very proud of that. Among the exhibits was a Sherman tank from WW II and a "Huey" Army helicopter, the workhorse of the Vietnam War.

Right next to the memorial is a bridge over the Cottonwood River, where folks like to fish. The muddy water smelled like manure, but it didn't seem to bother the fishermen.

Neosha Rapids is a tiny town about 12 miles from Emporia. The Albin family gathered at the community center for an early dinner - this is the official "reunion" so there were more people than attended the preliminary events. There were piles of home-made salads, meatloaf, and meatballs. Everyone brought family photos. After food, we raised money to support the family newsletter with an auction of new and "white elephant" items. John's wine caddy with a Washington wine brought a whopping $26! I scored a new "rain" showerhead for our 2nd bathroom ($1) and a vintage sporting clays thrower ($1) among other things we wouldn't have bought were we not driving a truck across country! It was a fun auction with much hilarity, and raised about $200. John and I left with many invitations to come back and stay with family members. Dinner was over at 4, so we took the opportunity to visit the Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge Center just a few miles away from Neosha Rapids. As we approached the marsh, all the white cranes flew away - they are definitely shy of humans.

The park is much larger than the marsh, so next time we visit we'll plan to go back. We had the whole place to ourselves.

After a decent steak dinner at Coaches (our first dinner out since we left Seattle), we are packing and planning our trip back home.

Tomorrow .... where?

Saturday: Emporia, KS

I'll try to be brief in case our internet connection is lost (again). I'll post photos when I can. Yet another day with heat pressing upon the landscape and flattening everyone in it.

The Albin family reunion began with a cemetery tour, which we missed because we couldn't find the cemetery. Actually, we did find TWO cemeteries but neither was the right one. Here is a Virgin Mary looking a bit wistful at the Strong Township Cemetery 15 miles from Emporia.

At 9 AM we met about 15 Albin relatives at the Emporia library for a lecture by cousin Dorothea, shown below looking at a Bible belonging to an Albin ancestor, while cousin Lori looks on. (This is my mother's mother's family, by the way.)

We found a great little coffee shop in the recently restored Granada Theater- Emporia is attempting a downtown renaissance but some blocks need more help than others. Most people seem to prefer malls though I don't know why. Well, on a 100-degree day I DO know why.

We chatted with family during the ice cream social at a local Albin home. Some of the group are well traveled; others just hang around the Midwest. They all seemed pleased that a member of the Vora Albin line showed up. My Uncle Jack used to attend these reunions and some of the "regulars" remember him.

OK, the smoke alarm just chirped again. It does that at least once a night just to give my heart practice stopping and starting again. I don't like roughing it. I like a nice comfy hotel with reliable amenities and a smoke alarm that was not manufactured by the Marquis de Sade.

Tonight the sky turned red after dinner - John captured it with his camera above our hotel. I, on the other hand, ran inside squealing like a girl when I saw lightning.

Time for sleep. Early day tomorrow, gotta find a laundromat and attend the reunion dinner at noon. Nighty night!

P.S. - I've been too tired to practice my Serbian. Izvinite, Ivanka!

Friday: Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas

Latte stands are scarce in these parts. We're having withdrawal symptoms! After passing on the sorry excuse for breakfast at the Rotten Ramada, we scarfed a yummy steak burrito at good ol' McDonalds and drove south under cloudy skies. The air was thick and muggy and we even got a bit of rain, which did a great job of washing bugs off the windshield. I'm skeered of lightning but we haven't run into that (yet). Here you see John's picture of South Dakota at 75 mph.

We phoned Starbucks and got their location in Sioux City, Iowa, an hour into our trip. Oh yum! All was right with the world after a decaf sugar-free vanilla soy latte.

We mostly drove today, and drove and drove. Here's Iowa at 75 mph:

Almost nothing but country radio stations in these states, but even so we heard quite a few Michael Jackson songs on the radio. I remember when the Thriller album came out. It was so exciting and everyone I knew was dancing to it.

There are also many religious billboards and especially ones encouraging women not to have abortions. A giant purple billboard advertising an "adult" store was like the crazy aunt in that family.

We stopped at Target in Omaha, Nebraska to grab a sandwich and buy John a new pair of shorts. It was almost unnaturally clean, and chock full of friendly, helpful employees. We also changed drivers in tiny Sabetha, Kansas. We pulled into the local grocery store and bought some bottled water and snacks. The whole place was almost white with dust and heat. But everybody knew each other. I felt a pang of longing for something maybe a little bit like that. Here's a photo of Nebraska corn.

I think Kansas should be called Big Sky Country. Even more than in Montana, the sky seems so huge and so close to the ground. John took this photo of the clouds. Maybe it was heat-induced hallucination, but I thought I could touch those clouds easily.

The temperature hit 101 today, and with 50 miles to go to Emporia, our air conditioner started making funny noises. The compressor was a solid block of ice because we'd had the air on all day. We drove most of the the remaining distance in a sweat with hot air blowing on us. I was never so glad to walk into an air-conditioned hotel lobby!

So here we are in Emporia. The hotel is modest but the manager is so helpful and won't let us tip him. Too bad there are no laundry facilities. Tomorrow we go in search of a (air-conditioned) laundromat. The Albin family reunion starts tomorrow with a tour of the cemetery. At 9:30 AM, it shouldn't be unbearably hot.

Until then . . . stay cool.

Thursday: South Dakota

Yesterday's travail was worth it: today I saw Mt Rushmore for the first time. Here is my very first view of George Washington, just before we rounded the corner to the visitor's center. Awesome. I was giddy as a teenager on her first date. Washington: what a babe.

And here is our "tourist photo" taken by a kindly passing soul:

We arrived at Rushmore about 8:30 AM and had a blissful hour or so wandering around. By the time we left it was 90 degrees and engorged with tourists, lots of tour buses, families with children.

Headed east across South Dakota, sign after sign heralded the (apparently) world-famous Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD. There must have been at least 50 signs in 50 miles.

Wall Drug Store turns out to be a ticky-tacky-tourist-trap. We grabbed a surprisingly decent lunch at the crowded cafe and left Wall, SD in the dust.

Parts of SD are quite beautiful, lush farmland dotted with cows and fields of green corn. At Oacoma/Chamberlin I got my first look at the Missouri River. What a thrill! And of course, there were many scenes like this one:

But we're getting used to that. I'm still not used to the feeling of rushing across the country, though. There were so many things I would have liked to see. We passed within 55 miles of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead. I loved those books, must have read them all 20 times. But we didn't have time to stop. Our next road trip will benefit from the lessons we're learning on this one.

So now I'm sitting in a horrible smoking room at a horrible Ramada Inn in Sioux Falls, SD. I don't think we'll use Priceline again if this is what you get. I'm really looking forward to spending 3 nights in one place -- that's starting tomorrow night in our destination - Emporia, Kansas!

Wednesday: Montana

We are tired and cranky after driving across Montana today. Again, it took longer than we anticipated. I am feeling rushed. No "dinkin' around" time, photo opps don't have the time to develop organically. We did stop at Little Bighorn and I am posting one of the photos we took. Then both our cell phones ran out of juice, we had trouble getting cell service and by the time we were able to use the phones, most hotels around Mt. Rushmore were booked. We are in a poky little motel sweating it out while the air conditioning thinks about working. At least the place has internet access. And tomorrow we'll see Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood etc. before heading off east for Sioux Falls. I'm too cranky to wax philosophical about travel at the mo - it will all look fresh in the morning. 'Night all!

Tuesday: Idaho and Montana

Today we said goodbye to Beth and drove into Idaho from Lewiston along Hwy 12 through the Nez Perce Reservation, then along the Lochsa River toward the Montana border. We fell in love with Idaho; there's no way our photos will do it justice.

The Lochsa is part of the "Wild Scenic River Corridor" and we saw rafters bumping along the rapids. There were also several pedestrian bridges spanning the river. We pulled over a few times just to enjoy the river sounds minus people and car noise.

We expected to make better time to Bozeman, MT; here's the main reason it took us 10 hours to reach Bozeman:

The weather was great - 70s the whole way. It made the waiting periods a bit less frustrating.

It was Burger Day on the road, in spite of good intentions to eat healthy. In tiny Drummond, MT we succumbed to a little old shack sporting this sign:

Approaching Butte, MT we were so excited to see the Continental Divide! John has crossed it many times but I'd never seen it before so it was a big thrill. Even better, we spotted Our Lady of the Rockies, a 90' tall statue of the Virgin Mary placed atop the Divide. Apparently it is meant to be a non-denominational tribute to motherhood. It took 6 years to build and was airlifted into place in 1985. The road to the statue is not open to the public, but a tour bus will take you up there and you can go inside the statue.

You may notice some technical glitches on the blog - bear with us, we're still trying to get it all figured out. Some of you who already blog know what we're just finding out -- it's more time-consuming than you think it will be!

Time to snore - tomorrow we head for South Dakota.

Monday: Eastern Washington

How exhilarating to be on the open road! Once we got over Snoqualmie Pass and out of the rain, there were very few other cars on the highway. At Vantage, we stopped at the Gingko Petrified Forest park site. I love the tiny ranger stations with their earnest displays of what matters locally, geologically. Didn't know there were so many types of agates. We passed on the film but visited the small area of uncovered petroglyphs. Sadly, several of them have been vandalized by people who surely could benefit from a bonk on the head with a large petrified tree branch.

We also visited this fellow right outside the park, warning travelers away. But we had places to go!

On to Clarkston, WA on the Idaho border, to visit with my dear friend Beth, THE best hostess in the state if not the entire Pacific NW. On the way to Beth's, a sign that we were not in Husky Country any more.

Next stop, Bozeman, Montana!

Stay Tuned...

Our adventures begin on June 22, 2009!!!

Getting ready for said adventures has to be the least fun thing, especially if you're terminally anal like me (Caryl). List and checklists dance in my head. I have to keep reminding myself this is FUN, I'm on VACATION, for Frog's sake. My mother says years from now, none of this will matter, so relax already and enjoy the ride. That actually makes sense - scary.