Day 3: Plains, peaks, and valleys

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town, out here on the edge of the prairie ... Where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above-average. Garrison Keillor

Today I spent my car time between Nebraska and Wyoming, leaving Grand Island this morning at around 10am cst. The owners of the Island Inn were very accommodating and friendly, hooking me up with a much needed plastic spoon for my morning oatmeal. Packed up the car, flipped on my GPS, and tuned into an episode of This American Life and I was on my way westward again.

Lots more corn. Lots more sky.

And tumbleweeds! The Tumbleweed Tally peaked at seven by the end of the afternoon. Not a very strong showing, but not bad.

Nebraska sits 2/3 in the central time zone with the rest running on mountain standard time. So a couple hours into my drive gained an hour on my day. Along the way you'll also find Buffalo Bill's Ranch and The Original Pony Express. Seemingly every exit has some attraction be it a museum, reenactment, historical monument, or other oddity of the prairie.

Edging along the Colorado border I started seeing signs of mountains on the horizon, bluish purple masses in the distance. Just after crossing the state line I pulled over to fill my tank. The sun had warmed the car and the left side of my face, so it was a huge surprise to get out and have the wind grab the car door out my hand. Biting cold that took no time at all to find its way under my shirt. I guess that's one of the drawbacks to living at higher elevations... with no trees... in December. On the up side, the fuel cost was back down in WY to around $2.31 a gallon. Less than I was paying even back home.

The flatness was quickly replaced though by slopes and outcroppings of stone. Snow started to appear on the sides of the road. My goal of getting out of Ohio before the snow came was mildly successful (I think it actually did flurry one night, but nothing that stuck). Now that I'm bordering the second longest mountain range in the world I'm okay about the snow. It's supposed to be cold in the mountains! Otherwise where would anyone ever ski?

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way. Dr. Seuss

My original plan was to stop in Cheyenne, WY but instead I continued on for a bit more and made it to Laramie - elevation 7,165ft. Approaching the city you'd never realize how quaint it is from the highway. Driving through downtown and around the campus at the University of Wyoming you see that there's really a lot going on (even in the cold). I'd like to come back some time during warmer weather when everything is green.

The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only. Joseph Wood Krutch

Tomorrow I'll be crossing Wyoming, going further into the Rocky's and making my way into Utah. Today I hit 1,000 miles!!