A "Let's Just Get There" Day

Sorry for the craziness and mistakes.  Between getting used to typing on a laptop and the iffy wifi service in this Holiday Inn, it's taken me hours just to get this far.

So yesterday:

Twelve hours of driving, from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.  Completely across the state of Nebraska and Wyoming.

It wasn't an unpleasant day.  It was a beautiful day, and we liked looking at the neat prosperous-looking farms we could see from the interstate.  It just got a little long.  We decided not to stop for lunch since we had such a nice breakfast at the hotel and just snacked on some things we had in the car.

But Wyoming.  I tried to like it and be interested for awhile.  How the flatness changed into little rolling hills, and there were lots of little ponds filled with geese.  Or was that Nebraska?  It finally got boring in the afternoon, just mile after mile of pastureland or just desert with the occasional herd of cows grazing.  We even saw some antelopes (antelope?) drinking from one of the little lakes.  The sky was interesting all day, just the absolute huge-ness of the sky and the cloud formations.  I guess I'm reaching.  There really wasn't much to recommend Wyoming, although I'm sure the people are nice (I know two of them!) and like living here. It's just not a fun state to drive through.   I did a lot of knitting - a lot - and even one nap while Mike drove on and on and on.

We stopped for gas in some little town.  I can't even remember now.  Mike says Green River.   We were going to get a hamburger and just drive on, but we saw this eating place next to the gas station.  It had the same look of a Waffle House but was called The Renegade.  We said we wanted some local flavor and if it was terrible, we'd just get some coffee and leave - or just leave.

But it was actually very nice.  Think Chinese Waffle House.  It was seemingly run by an Asian family, three of them, very nice.  It looked clean, and the menu was okay.  We skipped the Chinese page, and Mike got yet another breakfast, and I got a ham and cheese sandwich.  Pretty good. 

We enjoyed the people-watching as much as anything.  Very interesting.  A couple of guys with huge cowboy hats.  One family -mother, father, and daughter, I would guess - who were there when we got there and stayed the whole time, the two ladies getting into a shouting match at one point and the guy just blandly watching them. 

The only picture Mike was able to take without seeming obvious - not that that usually bothers him.

Things started to go downhill when this older guy with a gray beard and ponytail came in totally intoxicated, not wanting to eat but just to talk, and sat down at the counter. If it hadn't been so sad it would have been funny the way he started coughing - and coughing - and coughing - almost cartoon-like gagging and wheezing and whooping. People started to look at him and then at each other. Kind of made you lose your appetite. Or burst out laughing. Or something.

Finally the manger, I guess, came out and very quietly asked him if he wanted a glass of water and engaged him in conversation.  That seemed to make the coughing stop, but then he wanted to talk and talk and talk.  I love how they didn't just kick him out but allowed him to stay in a warm place and pass the time.  I guess if they had started to lose business over him, they would have asked him to leave.   So sad.

So now we're here at the Holiday Inn Express in Evanston, WY.  No Marriott properties in the area, it seems.  There was snow on the ground outside.  Better get out the warm clothes tomorrow.

Emily is calling about happy things like Thanksgiving dinner and runners and napkins and things, so I'm going to only add some random pictures.

This is unrelated, but Mike took these pictures at home which I thought were really good.  He said no one but Elise appreciated them, but I think they're excellent.

''Haven't I told you to stay off hoses until you're older?"

My Batman building in Nashville that I had such a hard time getting a picture of.

 

 

 

 

Just pictures----

A "Shining"' moment at the Marriott.

This hotel is about a block from University of Nebraska campus and has been open for only a few weeks.  The staff is young and friendly and eager to help.  We'd love to stay there again if we ever
pass that way in our lives. 

Free breakfast.

I like this little area off the dining room.

This outdoor area is not very inviting in these chilly temperatures, but it would be very nice other times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to get on the road today.  Destination:  Maybe Boise.  Maybe farther.  We'll enjoy seeing Utah again, I think, and a different section of Idaho than we went through before.