A DICHOTOMY

The morning started with me taking pictures of Buffalo Bill as we left our hotel - who knew? - Buffalo Bill Cody hung out in Nebraska and had a fort that was fenced in next to the hotel! What a world!!!!!

Does anyone out there know how long Nebraska is - it goes on and on and on, and we drove and drove and drove - nothing eventful until low and behold guess what we saw on the high plains of Nebraska ? -The local Wal-Mart - wow, something new and different. ha ha!!! Seriously, it was a really special area - and I was so excited to see people - we got off and found out this was Sidney,and this little mound of businesses was brand new. The whole area was so clean - just like at Disney World - there were about 20 buildings here and there, and we thought everyone of them had just had their grand opening but no, most of them opened 3 or 4 years ago - how do they keep it so clean? Back on the road again the road side art was phenominal!!! I am serious - about every 50 miles there was this art on a mound or in a valley near I-80 and it was very quaint. It is very refreshing to know that in our wonderful U.S.A. there are miles and miles of country left without the typical suburban chain store sprawl - which frankly even though I was glad to see WalMart - I am sick of. When did this happen that in our country every state was so different, but now they all look the same ? Don't get me started. So, coming out of Nebraska heading west and seeing all of this desolate land with small mounds and quaint art was such a blessing.

Enter Wyoming - WOW - I- LOVE IT!!! ------------- More Tomorrow God willing.

A WINTER'S DRIVE

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound's the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep.But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost



Iowa: Home of rolling hills, many cattle, John Wayne’s birthplace at Winterset (http://www.johnwaynebirthplace.org/). We also went through Madison County ,but alas, Meryl Streep was nowhere to be found, and we didn’t see any covered bridges. These are a few things we saw cruising down I-80 with the temperature between 1 and 6 degrees at 12:48 CST.

Tuesday afternoon we left home and made it to Coralville, Iowa, during which time the temperature plummeted from 50 degrees at home to 0 at bedtime. Through the night the wind chill index was minus 35. We had a cozy little room at a Hampton Inn. By the time we hit the bed, I was totally exhausted – because before we left, we cleaned the whole house. Packing with a headache – migraine is no fun.

Family; Sorry we didn’t get to see everyone before we left. During the last several days we were really in a time crunch. We will be blogging with pictures and calling to keep in touch. As Willie Nelson says, we’re “on the road again”. What makes me drive further and further away from my family which I adore? As Tim McGraw and Faith Hill sing “It’s your love” that keeps me on the road with your dad.
That’s about it for now. So far, it’s been a very eventful trip as we came through 60 mile/hour winds, rain, sleet, and snow. And yes Greg, we’re trying to "Keep it between the navigational beacons." - love that song!!

On Wednesday, because we missed an exit, we ended up driving over 560 miles (a lot for us). That put us ahead of our goal. We went across Iowa and into Nebraska.. Nebraska… a more boring version of Iowa. We ended up in North Platte. A couple of interesting things in Nebraska. We’re driving along and all of a sudden near Grand Island, there’s this big archway across the interstate. It is a memorial. The Great North Platte River Road Archway (http://www.archway.org/) Then although it was getting dark (at 6:15 on the western side of the central time zone) we saw that we passed an original pony express post at Gothenburg, Nebraska. Speaking of Gothenburg, that is where my mom Beatrice taught in a one room schoolhouse. So we drug into another Hampton Inn to crash after driving further than we had planned. There is a whole world out here that God created and it is such a blessing to be able to see it!!! God is good!!!!!!!