#41: As seen through a windshield

I know what you are all probably thinking.

"wasn't she supposed to be going on a trip, or something?"

Well, yes. That's where I was last week, and the week before. Think I may have added 4,000 miles to my car's mileage just in those two weeks.

I noticed a few things along the way, mainly:

where are the treeeeeeez?

NW Nebraska isn't flat. It's hilly and grassy and very prairie like. There are few trees anywhere and the cattle ranches cover thousands of acres out there. The soil is very sandy and there is literally nothing for miles on end.  You drive through tiny towns-don't blink, you'll miss 'em.

Periodically you pass little historical markers, with little covered wagons on them.

They've taken up the train tracks and made a hiking trail out of it.

You aren't far from a native American reservation, so you frequently see signs for casinos.

Oh, and the number of pro-life billboards is a bit disturbing. We get it. Babies good, abortion bad. ;)

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contrary to belief, these do not cause cancer.

But on the flip side, they're all about wind power. I passed whole fields of these in Ohio, Minnesota, and South Dakota. There were a few in Nebraska, but I got the general idea they weren't really welcome there.

It's like some exotic plant, some new crop.

Or as my friend refers to it, "The gift that keeps on giving".

Every now and then I would pass flatbed trucks on their way to setting up more, the individual blades took up the whole trailer, and only one would fit at a time. Suckers are huge.

HI HO SILVER! Wait.....

South Dakota means many things.

We went to Wall Drug, because Jackalope, and it's apparently a moral imperative for people to be photographed sitting on one at least once in their lives.

Or something.

Look, Kraneia the idiot on a giant fiberglass animal.

"...It's the laaaaand....of the loooosstttt..."

There are also the Badlands. Which looks like something from another planet. Miles and miles of whitish grey sandish stuff in peaks and valleys. Very cool for geology nerds (and plant nerds, as well, as I noticed few pretty spring flowers we don't have at home)

Home to bison (who were hanging out in another part of the park) and prairie dogs (who sound like doggie squeaky toys). And tourists with cameras. ;)

Hoping to go back at some point and explore a bit more. There had been a bit of rain past few weeks, so a lot of the trails were slimy-slick with greyish mud.

my car looks like a skunk.

Up in the NW part of the state is Lead. Which is apparently pronounced "leed", rather than "led".

It snowed. On the first of May, much to my friend's embarrassment.

But for someone who rarely sees snow here in the boonies, I enjoyed it. It made things Christmas all over again.







Do I want to go back? Absolutely.

Do I want to live there? It's possible....

Stay tuned......

Aye,
Kraneia