The biggest attraction in Cheyenne seems to be Frontier Days, a rodeo event, but that is in the summer.

Anyone remember Wrangler jeans? I remember wearing them in the 60s, long before Calvin Klein and spandex came on the jean scene.

The train depot which is now a museum and tourist information centre.

This is what we were looking for, horses and buffalo and nature on a working bison ranch.

The ranch is on the Wyoming/Colorado border. We were sitting on the ranch tour train in Wyoming watching the buffalo eat while these riders were also on the ranch but in Colorado.

Prairie dog.

What’s a camel doing in Wyoming?

One week old buffalo calf. Our guide told us bison calves can run 35 mph at birth, the same as the adults. This little guy will have a bit of difficulty since he was born with a deformed leg. He walked with a limp, poor thing. Probably destined to become a buffalo burger sooner than later.

Our resting place tonight, Ogallala, Nebraska. The Great Plains seem to be all about trains and buffalo, confirmed both in the lyrics of Ode to Ogallala and a painting in the train depot.

… A town too tough for Texans
Lord I think I’ll fit right in
Transcontinental railroad
Running by my door …

Painting in the train depot.

Vedauwoo is a Rest Area that has the strangest rock formations I have ever seen.  It’s pink granite that has been shaped by wind and rain into bizarre shapes.  There is also a tree that grows out of solid rock right between the East and West bound lanes.  The storm is clearing out.  Straight thru Cheyenne.  On the outskirts of town I was behind a truck with no mud flaps.  The rear wheels spit fine mud all over the windshield, the wiper’s only smeared it because the windshield cleaner reservoir was empty; of course.  I took the next exit into Pine Bluffs.  It was a lonely place with a couple of trailers and a Mega Sinclair station.  Clean the windshield and get the 99 cent a gallon Blue stuff for the reservoir. 

Now we have hit the prairies of Nebraska.  I swear I went thru here as a kid.  I remember Telegraph poles and Burma Shave signs.  For those too young to know of Burma Shave, they were advertising signs along the highway that rhymed like:   It’s best for / One who hits  / The Bottle / To let the other / Use the throttle / Burma Shave.

We pulled over for lunch in Kimball, another small town.  I wanted to be right to the point when I told Alex:  The rest of the State looks pretty much like this.  Lots of prairie.  As we drive on you notice the elevation decrease.  The Western dry air meets the humid Eastern air from the Gulf of Mexico near the town of Ogallala.  Violent storms are known to occur in this area.

The wind is up today and it is tossing the truck around violently.  I have a bad front end to start with so this is not helping and my shoulders are starting to hurt.  I also notice water coming up thru the ground on the side of the road as if the water table is very high or there has been a lot of rain. 

Think it might be best to stop in North Platte for the night.  Tornado Alley.  This is the first time I have seen tornado instructions in a motel.  “Go to the interior hallway.”  I’m grateful it was an uneventful night.  Times a wasting, off we go.

The exits are far and few between on the interstate but Nebraska has the best Rest Stops I have ever seen.  BBQ pits under shade trees, dog walking areas and weather monitors.  We are driving away, making good time when I see Alex pull up next to me, everything looks OK so I wave to him thinking he is fooling around, he fades back.  The cell phone rings and he explains we need to pull over, Andrew the cat is freaking out.  After a while I find an exit about 5 miles from nowhere.  Andrew was just beside himself, we could not figure out why.  We had a litter box in the car so we let him run around in there for a while, it seemed to calm him down so off we went again.

We are just bombing thru the state, I obviously don’t have a governer on the truck, I was able to get it up to 75.  Way up ahead just a few miles out of Aurora I see tail lights.  There has been next to no traffic and now masses of tail lights?  It’s going to take a while to slow this truck down and well, I had to do a lot of break pumping.  I called Alex and ask him to turn on the emergency lights; other people may have trouble stopping like me.  Just then I can see in my side mirrors a car coming up behind us fast, they stopped in the nick of time; whew!  In case this happens again I call Alex and ask him how close the guy behind him is and do me a favor, turn your wheels toward the median.  He was telling me the guy is about 2 feet behind him when I see another car oblivious to the fact we are stopped; I’m yelling thru the phone……WE’RE GOING TO GET PUNCHED.  That car hit the car behind Alex so hard the front fenders went out in points, I saw antifreeze fly out from the now pointy fenders and the air bags deploy.  Alex have you been hit?  I get out and I just could not believe it.  “To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”, not today.  The car behing Alex had the trunk caved in, the car behind that one was totaled, no one was hurt but the car behind Alex was still about 2 feet away from him.  One would have thought it would have plowed into him.  I still cannot figure this out, guess it was Highway Angels.  The police controlling the situation (another wreck up ahead) came back to take care of the situation, traffic started to move and we left.

Here we are in Omaha, would’nt you know it, massive road work.  Merge here, lane up ahead is closing in 5 feet, etc.  They must have been repairing the expansion joints on the 50 foot sections because everyone I hit was like hitting a deep pot hole and with bad shocks it was an experience.  Alex is just like a pro now and following me merge here, there and everywhere.  Finally, over the bridge into Iowa; I took the first Rest Stop.

It’s hot and humid, we got the cats out of the vehicles, set them on the picnic table, pulled the cooler to get a snack.  I told Alex that anything glass in the truck was more than likely history.  I’m exhausted, it has been a stressfull day.  I get the guide book, it’s a bit out of date but I’m looking for close by hotels/motels that take pets.  Adair was a very historic town up ahead, Jessie James robbed a train there, it’s small but they have 2 motels and a restaurant.

Here is a transcript of a conversation my husband (who has a heavy Ukrainian accent) had with the proprietor (who has an Indian accent) of Budget Inn:

• Hello, do you have rooms for tonight? 
• Yes, we have rooms.
• Are you pet friendly? 
•  What?    
• Are you pet friendly, do you accept pets?    
• Beds, yes we have beds.    
• No, pet friendly, cats and dogs, do you take pets?    
• Bed friendly, what is that?     
• We have two cats.    
• No, we don’t take pets, click.                                       

Well that was that, we had to stop laughing before we made another call.  Best Western would take pets so pack the cats it’s time to hit the road.

Iowa is a beautiful state, corn fields and rolling hills.  As we approached Adair I could see a huge wind turbine with a yellow smiley face on it.  We checked into the motel, so tired I left my credit card at the front desk, I’ve never done that before.  We went to a little diner next to the motel, ordered two chicken dinners, we were the only people in the place.  One hour passes, a hour and a half, ok dinner is ready?  What did they have to do, go kill the chicken?  I think they did, it was the freshest best chicken dinner I have ever had.  Here I am a city kid, this small town stuff ain’t too bad,  just have to slow down a bit.  I slept like a dead woman that night. 

Back on the road again.

When I first adopted her, she would throw up every time she went for a ride. Then after a while she stopped getting sick but would crawl under the car seats until the car stopped. Now she travels like a champ in her own car seat “above ground”.

I think I was more worn out by Nebraska than she was. Actually, we’re still in Nebraska, but close to the Eastern border. Nebraska seems to go on forever, but this was one trip through it without construction, giant tumbleweeds, windstorms, rainstorms, tornadoes or lack of lodging with vacancies. Nebraska was kind to us today and I am grateful.