Today was a day of driving. A lot of driving. Across Wyoming and Nebraska. There’s not a lot to see. The mind does wander.
We drove from Rock Springs, Wyoming to North Platte, Nebraska today. Much of the I-80 and US 30 are one road in Wyoming, but as soon as we crossed into Nebraska, we decided to take the older road. The landscape is the same but the drive is broken up by the occasional town. That’s a welcomed change of pace.
Earl and I watched the Eagles vs Giants game at a sports bar here in North Platte. The natives were friendly. We had a great time.
Today we drove from Elko, Nevada to Rock Springs, Wyoming. We are ahead of schedule for this trip and we’ll probably be home to Chicago on Saturday at the latest. We are still having a wonderful time.
We spent a few hours in Salt Lake City visiting Temple Square, home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was moved by the experience. While I don’t agree with many religious practices, I believe there is a great value of having a belief of some sort. Personally my belief is in the Universe. I find my spiritual center with nature. Visiting Temple Square today reminded me to be humble, to listen, and to learn.
Naturally I took a lot of photos of flowers, because the Earth is very important in my spiritual beliefs.
We drove from La Grande, Oregon to Elko, Nevada. The trip from Boise to Elko was along back roads. It was nice to get off the interstate for a couple hundred miles.
We settled for the night at the Ramada Inn at the Stockman’s Casino. It wasn’t very busy and the natives were chatty. Elko has three legal brothels. We didn’t search them out. I’m pretty sure the cocktail waitress that brought me a beer was drunk out of her mind. Another woman hit on Earl and I giggled.
At the end of the evening one of the one-armed bandits gave me $500 so we decided to call it a night.
We drove from Laurel, Montana to Butte, Montana, with seven hours at Yellowstone National Park in between.
I told Earl I’d like to come back to Yellowstone, rent an RV, and spend some time camping at the park, doing some hiking (more than we did today) and just enjoying downtime in the middle of nature. It can be winter, it can be summer, it doesn’t matter. Yellowstone is that fantastic and I could enjoy it during any season.
Earl and I drove from Tomah, Wis. to Jamestown, N.D. It’s been a misty drive, with the temperature never getting above 50ºF, but it’s been enjoyable. We’ve been singing, talking, and laughing in the Jeep.
We stopped at the Mall of America for a bit. Earl had never been there. I visited back on a solo vacation in 2013 and liked the experience. It hasn’t changed much in nearly five years, but it’s still enjoyable for a mall.
Tomorrow we continue west. We’ll finally cross into the Mountain Time Zone as we make our way across the prairie into the Badlands. We are off to a great start.
Earl and I were on the road promptly at 5:00 PM Central. We are headed west on a 10-day road trip. We have things to see, states to conquer, and relaxation to be had. I’m looking forward spending every waking moment with Earl discovering what we find.
I spend a few hours a week “getting away” via Google Maps. While I’m not a big fan of Google (due to privacy concerns), I have to admit their data collection on places around the world is top notch. Being able to drag an icon onto a street and have a 360º view of that spot is awesome. I’ve traveled all over the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia by this means. It helps me escape.
A bunch of our friends like to take cruises; they want to go someplace warm and tropical on a big ship, lounge around, get waited on, and see crystal blue waters and a selection of aquatic life do their thing in the ocean. This type of vacation is enjoyable for me as well, at least until we get to the point where I have to baste myself in sunblock so that my primarily Irish skin doesn’t burn within ten minutes of the first whale jump. It’s probably because I grew up in the Lake Ontario Snowbelt in Upstate New York, but I don’t enjoy hot temperatures as much as I enjoy reasonable temperatures, and by reasonable I’m talking low humidity, a decent breeze, and something around 21ºC (70ºF). One of the reasons we didn’t move to the South when we decided to leave the Empire State was because we don’t like hot and sultry at all. I like the snow, albeit, when enjoyed in temperatures that don’t require mandatory frostbite.
One of the places I’ve visited via Google Maps in Iqaluit, Nunavut. This city in northern Canada is very intriguing to me. You can’t drive there, you can’t even take a ship there year ’round, and the winter nights can be very long. It’s beyond the “tree line”, so there’s little foliage. But I find the city to be very inviting. I really want to visit there. Convincing my husband that we should go there on vacation is another story.
I found this video two folks made during their visit to Iqaluit several years ago. I hope you find it as enjoyable as I did.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.