The Journey

Oh what an eventful three-days we had driving across the country. Ok, maybe not eventful. We had no blow-outs, or close calls. All in all it was a smooth journey across the states. Admittedly, parts of it were stressful.

We were a little sad and a little nervous leaving Indiana. We know we did our best to make a home and a life there. We left feeling excited and sad at the same time. We were pretty tense making adjustments to the camper brake control system as well as getting the dog to settle down.

We hit our stride in Illinois although the wind worked against us that entire first day. I know that Jamie was very stressed out. Illinois was an interesting drive, though. It's quite pretty away from the city. We loved all the catchy little pro-gun signs proclaiming the right to carry a gun through bad poetry. We followed a truck full of bumble bee butts (a carnival ride) through most of the state. Saw the first of many many windmills. By far, Illinois had the best rest areas. Oh, and the world's largest totem pole. We didn't stop since we wanted to put as much time on the road in as possible.

Do you know that Iowa was so boring that I forgot until right this minute that we even drove through it. I just looked at my travel journal and saw the only two things I wrote on there were "Bridges of Madison County" and "World's Largest Truck Stop." Guess that about says it all.

Nebraska. I could go on and on about Nebraska. Loved everything about it. Jamie and I said we could plunk a flag into some land there and build us a homestead. We talked about wagon trains and how we would probably have been some of the first ones to load our stuff and head across the country. (I tend to believe we would have seen the Mississippi river and plunked ourselves down right there but Jamie is more inclined to believe we would have pressed on.) The little homesteads and farm houses were so pretty. Western Nebraska was stunning. We thought if we ever go back we'd love to go into the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument and the Pioneer Museums. The biggest thing for us was the two hour time difference. We were starving for lunch by 9:30. We came upon a KFC that started serving at 10:00 so we pulled in and scarfed some chicken in the truck.

Wyoming. Oh what can I say about Wyoming. Nothing good. I'm SURE the parts up near Yellowstone are just beautiful. However, the parts we went through on I-80. Yuck. Nothing. Nothing but rocks. No houses, no people, no nothing. Big chemical plants in the middle of rocks. Just don't ever stop at the rest area in Wyoming and you'll be OK. I guess since there are NO PEOPLE in Wyoming there is no one to clean the bathroom. Also, there is nothing green in Wyoming. Just rocks. Desolate rocks. On the upside we saw prairie dogs. They look like squirrels. Cheyenne was just a dump. I'll give it a pass since we only saw the parts close to the Interstate. I have no burning desire to return, though.

The first things we saw in Utah were cowboys gathering a herd. It was pretty cool. We hit canyon lands pretty quickly. It was nice to see everything turn green again. The canyons are a little scary to go through, though. Sheer rocks on either side of the winding Interstate.

The entire trip was dotted with interesting sights. We saw antelope, Elk, Prairie Dogs, and about a million RVs. We followed one RV with WV plates through two days, one hotel stay and two states. They love their trains out here. They are big and long and are all over the western landscape.

We spent both nights in Motel 6. I have to say, they were so clean! I was downright shocked. I would easily stay there again. Much cleaner than the last Holiday Inn we stayed in. Boots did very well in the car. (If you didn't already know, we had to put Sneakers down. She got very sick before we left and stopped eating or drinking. It had been going on for a few weeks and when we took her to the vet before the trip he confirmed she probably wouldn't make it much longer.) Anyway, Boots was great in the truck. She had pretty much reached her limit that last day. We were all glad to make our destination and be able to get out of the truck for a while. Motel 6 is pet friendly and she did really well staying in the hotel. She paced most of the night on guard duty and then slept most of the day in the truck. It worked for us!

We did have one melt down that first night. We were tired and stressed. The wind had blown us around all day and not being able to stop and relax for a bit was tough. We learned the second day to let Boots walk around the rest areas and to all stretch our legs.

That sign says "Caution Rattlesnakes are native to this area." We didn't linger long, and considered our legs suffeciently stetched by running back to the truck.

Up Next: Utah.