On The Road Again

Well, I didn't post yesterday.  Sorry, I have several valid excuses.
1.  When I wasn't driving my Internet card had no signal.
2.  When we got to the hotel, I was dead dog tired.
3.  Nothing really exciting happened:(

Yesterday morning started as usual:  meeting for breakfast and hitting the road.  We were in Bozeman, MT.  We drove through several different types of landscapes as we crossed many states.  We saw mountains, foothills, and flatlands.  Of course, you know which I liked best.  It broke my heart to see the snow-capped mountains in my rear view mirror.   I always find that soooo depressing.  We did see quite a few antelopes and mulies.  We also saw one Trumpeter Swan swimming alone on a roadside pond.  We also saw a few pheasants driving through SD. You would also be surprised at the number of ducks and geese we saw. We drove in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota.  We do stop about every 200 or so miles to switch drivers.  You would not believe the mosquitoes we have smashed with our windshield and front of the car.  The windshield is so bad that we really must clean it every time we stop.  The grill is totally covered and the front of our car smells of death.  I hope the people of MT, WY, and SD appreciate what we have done for them.  We have rid their states of millions and I mean millions of annoying bugs.  I doubt there are any left for them to swat.  Now some of these were huge...June bug size if you go by the splats they made.  We drove all the way to Sioux Falls, SD last night.  That was along way.  We hit the hotel at 10:00.  We drove for over 12 hours.

Today should be shorter.  As I post, the GPS says we only have around 8 hours to go.  We had to detour because of the flooding.  Instead of a straight shot from Sioux Falls to Kansas City, we had to go to Des Moines then down.  I-29 has a bunch of closings.  They do have detours, but several of the states' Department of Transportation websites request that unless it is absolutely necessary, stay off those.  It went to explain that the detours are minor highways, several are only two lanes, have constructions, and aren't designed for that kind of traffic flow.  Sooo we detoured.  We figured it only added about an hour or so. What's an hour after you have been in the car over 67 hours?

We have already been in three states this morning:  SD, IA, and MN.  Weeeeeee.  You would not believe the number of wind turbines we have seen today.  We saw some on the trip out but not in the clusters we have seen today.  One field stretched for over 5 miles of highway front and had over 100 turbines.  It is quite a sight.

Steve is doing great today.  Yellowstone and yesterday were hard on him.  I know that he loved Yellowstone, so he says it was worth it.  Now, the drive is another story.  We have been rotating zones.  In fact, I enjoyed zone 3 for about 2 hours.  Usually I ride shotgun because I can't sleep in the car.  I have not slept in the car this trip at all.  Steve gets several naps a day.  We shoved him in zone 3 yesterday for several, I mean, several hours.  He slept hard and when we had to wake him, he fought it.

I think he feels like I feel:  part of me wants to go home, but a bigger part wants to stay away.  It has been difficult arriving at hotels late and then leaving early the next day.  We have not had much good sleep since we left the ship.  Personally, I wish we could have rented a cabin on the St. Regis or Yellowstone River and stayed gone until the end of summer.  The girls could have gone on to get to their jobs and boyfriends.  I would have sent for Samurai because I know he would love it up there too.  I could have bought a new hybrid to ride the trails and Steve could have purchased all the fishing equipment he needs. Sounds like a good plan, but not workable.  We have to face the reality that vacation is over and real-life begins tomorrow morning.  One thing I must say is this vacation stuff is really hard work!!!

I will post tonight when I get home if it is a decent hour.  If it is late, I will post on Thursday.