We woke up this morning in Lincoln, Nebraska. Which is a good thing because that is where we went to sleep last night, or rather earlier this morning. We would be much further along the road, after two days of travel, if it were not for this:
No, not the appallingly filthy windshield, but the long delays for road work. It took us three hours to get out of Utah: a distance of about 70 miles. And while Wyoming and most of Nebraska have been faster, they have also had their share of ridiculously long stretches of construction and lower speeds.
We've been taking a different approach on this trip, cooking our meals rather than eating at restaurants, and so far it's pretty good. We brought along my little backpacking stove, which it turns out I last used about eight or nine years ago, so there have been some moderately hilarious incidents of not quite remembering how to use the thing. We also purchased a little refrigerator that plugs into the cigarette lighter. This makes a huge difference, because we can carrying stuff like eggs and butter and also have chilled drinks. It's definitely been one of our better food trips.
We stop every now and then to let the dogs out for some exercise and sniffing. These stops can be quite educational, as at the Wyoming welcome center:
We even stopped in the notorious Little America, Wyoming, and had soft-serve ice cream. They advertise all over the place with huge, terrifying billboards, not unlike the late Wall Drug, in many ways. Only more corporate. And perhaps Mormon.
Wyoming is very restrictive of the activities of dogs. Always on leash, never allowed in the trash bins. Also, it is a state entirely without recycling bins, so we've now got a small recycling center running in the back of the car.
One of the neat things to see is all the new wind farms springing up around the midwest. We've seen several under construction (it took us a while to work out what they were building). And of course in operation.
And now to get back on the road, with any luck to go slightly faster today than we were able to go yesterday.
