Day 3 - So. Much. Corn.

Here's a word to the wise. Do no put a camp site in between a freeway, railroad, and distribution center that runs 24 hours. Between the sounds of the trucks barreling down the highway, the shift alarms blaring every 6 hours, or the train that just had to honk 15 times at 3 am, I did not get much sleep.

No matter, I had a Kickstart and cereal bar for breakfast, and once again set up on my journey East. Within an hour I was out of Wyoming (thankfully) and into what has got to be the most boring state in the country, Nebraska.

This was my view. For 600 miles

Look to your left. Now to the right. Now back to the left. If all you see is corn, chances are you're in Nebraska. This was such a huge contrast from the scenic views of Utah and Colorado, I honestly didn't know what to take for pictures. I never even stopped once for a "scenic view." I took maybe 20 pictures the whole day, and when I look back at them, they all look the same. Corn on my left, corn on my right. The highway was so straight, if it weren't for the occasional gust of wind, I could've set the cruise control, wedged my leg under the steering wheel and taken a nap! 

After hitting Omaha, which was a welcome reprieve from country freeways, I crossed over into Idaho, where to my un-surprise, I saw more corn. There's even a corn field 100 feet from my tent! Hopefully tomorrow will bring about a change of scenery, as I make my way to Ohio. Maybe this time when I drive through the state, at least one Ohioan will know how to use a turn signal. Maybe.

This is the view from my tent. Scenic, no?

Day 2 - The Search for More Oxygen

After getting roughly 4 hours of sleep, thanks to both the weather and my horribly uncomfortable sleeping pad, I set off in the wee-hours of a calm, Utah morning to complete the second leg of my journey. It was a long day, both physically and mentally exhausting, and I'm glad to finally be in my tent, writing this post before passing out.

The rest of Utah was just as beautiful as the first part, if not more so. The section of I-70 going from I-15 to Grand Junction is breath-taking. Huge, flat mesas, hundreds of feet above the wide swath of plains the interstate lain on, red stone contrasting with the light green brush. For the first part of my morning, I found myself stopping at every other scenic view rest stop just so I could take a few pictures that didn't have my windshield in the way. I haven't gotten the pics of my camera yet, so I'll update this after my drive tomorrow.

Edit: Here are the promised pictures

Colorado also has great looking country, though with less red stone, and MUCH higher peaks. The Rocky's are so much bigger than anything I'd driven by, and there were times the roads were so close to the base I couldn't see the sky out of my windshield. Just mountain. Speaking of mountains, how come nobody warned me about elevation fatigue?? I figured I'd be OK, since I wasn't exactly exerting myself driving, and the climb was relatively shallow. Then, I got above 8000 ft. Then 9000. It was about then I figured out the weird light-headedness I'd been feeling was the altitude. It was also the same time my car was also having breathing issues, barely making it up the hills, and having to constantly downshift to keep up the speed, even in relatively flat areas. When I saw the 10,800 ft peak sign, I knew my blurry vision wasn't my contacts.

After that wonderful ordeal, I had the pleasure of driving through Denver. By far, the cleanest city I've ever driven through. Even the run down areas looked clean, it was weird.

Now, I'm holed up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A quaint, little city, with some rather, ah, interesting people... I went to the pub downtown to grab a my first meal in two days that wasn't out of my cooler, and had an awesome 1/2 lb Cajun burger with roasted garlic and melted bleu cheese. Oh, and a beer. Served in a mason jar...

So classy