Day 1

Today, I drove across Wyoming. Who decided this was a good place to put a road? Or a state for that matter? There are absolutely gorgeous parts of Wyoming, or so I'm told, but the rest of the state is sort of a barren wasteland. Crossing into the western part of the state, the landscape turns from the green mountains of the Uintahs in Utah to what I would imagine Mars looks like: colorless, lifeless, almost devoid of any human touch. All you see are shrubs, for miles in any direction. At one point I-80 winds through a sort of canyon with high red rock walls on either side. I was excited that perhaps, as in Souther Utah, there would be winding canyons for the next 300 miles. But no. I came out of the canyon to find more flat land.

After driving for about 2hours I was desperate for a rest stop and lo and behold, there arose an oasis of greenery to the north of the highway. I pulled into "Little America", the west's equivalent of South of the Border. Anyone who has been to either knows them as islands of hotel rooms, bad road trip food, and atrocious souvenirs. Vic and I stopped there a couple years ago and it wasn't any less odd then. The strangest thing is that it seems to be a destination for a good number of visitors. Sitting and eating my lunch of leftover indian food, I felt totally out of place in this space that was itself completely alien to its surroundings.

Back in the car, another several hundred miles and the scenery finally became slightly interesting, but only slightly. Driving through Medecine Bow Recreation Area was a welcome chnage. There are rocks that seem to have dropped from the sky, a bit like drippings of wet sand. Huge evergreens sprouted between the rocks and the road was finally something other than straight. The last three hours of the trip were dotted with gusting winds, rain sprinkles, and random loose objects drifting across the road. 7 hours after I set out, I pulled into Cheyenne, Wyoming, which is where I am spending tonight at the Super 8 motel. [Brief hotel review: next to a train track, isolated from any other buildings, good service, clean room...and free wireless!] Not sure I'm going to venture out again tonight. The wind is howling and there are meant to be thunderstorms. Sleep sounds amazing!