October 15, 2006
THE FULL STORY OF DAY 3 on the ROAD
Day 3: Hastings, Nebraska
I wake up to the smell of coffee and fresh cinnamon buns... it might sound stupid, but I do love Holiday Inn Express. The kitties have been giving me a 5am wake up call every day. I keep on threatening them that I will turn them into slippers if they don't stop. Because of this, I have been getting about 4 to 5 hours sleep a night. As soon as we get to Seattle, and I see them sitting in a nice warm sunbeam, souuund asleeep... I am going to start loudly meowing in their face and poking their head. Meow! MEOW! poke poke poke. See how they like that! HAH!
I go outside to the car, at dawn to a beautiful mist over the landscape, feel the slight chill in the crisp morning air and smell... the pungent odor of skunk. Bletch! Ahhh the wonders of nature.
I pack up the car, cinnamon buns and hotel coffee in hand (sadly that is the "best" coffee you can get your mitts on in the mid US) and away we go! Eventually the sun begins to rise, so I turn on the vent... to yet once again have my nose aroused. This time by the lovely smell of fertilizer. Mmmmmmmm.
So far the first hour of this day has been odor-tastic.
Onward we go.
Apparently there is a museum for everything in the mid US. In Nebraska there is The Museum for Military Vehicles. I would love to know where the one for drug dealer vehicles is.
In Wyoming, I encountered The Fur Trade Museum, The Steer History Museum, The Truck Museum and let's not forget... The (SECOND) Quilting Museum. All, of course, were incredibly tempting, and if not for my sheer determination and strength of character... I would have stopped at every one ( if you have not inserted sarcasm here, please do).
One of my favroite roadside attractions was The Pony Express Museum. Now I just can’t make fun of this one, as honestly the whole thing is pretty cool. However.... come on. It’s me wer’e talking about here. The sign on the side of the "highway", telling us that this was the most important of all the Pony Express stops, had a succession of horse silhouettes across the top... in rainbow colors. Well I guess they are right. This pony express stop was obviously FFFaaabbbbuuullliouuus!
Everyone I came in contact with on my third day was on their way to somewhere else.... because they weren't on their way to "here"... cause there was NOTHING here. For as far as the eye can see. Check out the pics... tho as you know, a picture can never quite capture the experience.
As part of that experience, is my new love of truck stops. Especially the TA Truck Stops. These places have EVERYTHING you can think of... and all the people in there are road warriors of some kind; treating all who enter as if they are old friends, sharing stories, tips and trooper locations. Tho out on the plains, it is "fend for yourself". I had illegal pepper mace and a butcher knife under my seat. Reality is much more “warm and fuzzy” when you have sharp cutlery at hand.
The winning sign for today was in Wyoming: "WATCH FOR WIND ON OVERPASS". Ummmm ok. I'm looki'n... but I don't see nothi'n. T h a n k s.
The wind WAS overwhelming, having to keep 2 hands on the wheel a lot of the time, as the wind whipping over the plains was unbelievably strong; and this was on a good day! I pass a sign that warned, "IF LIGHTS ARE FLASHING, PLEASE TURN AROUND AND GO BACK TO SALT VALLY". They were not kidding! If the snow was too deep, the wind was too strong or there was a swift dust storm, they would simply lower the gates and close the highway! The reason this is so shocking, is there are NO alternative routes. This is the middle of nowhere USA. There is only one road. One would just have to go back to Salt Vally and wait.
While watching for wind, right as I was nearing the Utah border, I also saw two large yellow birds booking it across the highway. I figured they would swoop out of the way as most birds do (since swerving for me was not an option), but one of them did not. As the speed limit in the middle of nowhere is 75, we were all going on avg 85. When I slammed into this bird, don't you know it hit my windshield right in front of my face. I was horrified! I screamed out "Aggggghhhhhhhh!~ I killed big bird's baby! I killed big bird's baby!!!". It is amazing it did not crack the windshield. It was then that I was reminded I was a woman... cause boy did I need a man around to hug me after that.
One pic I did not get was a random sign letting me know I had just crossed the Continental Divide. I got drunk in a bar going by the same name once. All I remember are little rubber dinosaurs in the dirnks.
Finally, after 10 hours of driving, I gave up... in Ogden, Utah. Crashing on the bed with the kitties and my laptop, I turn on the TV to see the weather guy giving the forecast for the next day. It said, 54 degrees at breakfast time, 62 degrees for dinner and 56 for supper. Ok.. now I KNOW I am "not in kansas anymore".
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