Miners Repose Bed & Breakfast Rock Springs

Der Grand Teton National Park eignet sich super zum Baden und Wandern, leider ist es dazu im Moment eher zu kalt. Wir haben die traumhafte Kulisse (Rocky Mountains) trotzdem sehr genossen...immerhin die ersten richtigen Berge seit 6 Monaten :-)

Ansonsten gibt es in Wyoming nichts ausser endlosen Ebenen mit Tausenden von Rinderherden...kein Wunder, bei den vielen Burgern, die hier in den USA gegessen werden. Die meisten kennen ja Salat nur als Teil eines Burgers :-)

Randi woke up at 4AM at the rest area and started driving. I slept. We shared driving and resting as we crossed Nebraska and Wyoming. Our only stops were rest areas. We could not take any more rest areas, so a Best Western in the middle of ...

... west boom town. The coal and oil industry's are really expanding. New buildings going up everywhere. Everyone here drives a 4 wheel drive pick up - and I mean everyone. Driving a Chevy Impala made me just a little afraid. I added some of the better photos from my days in Chicago. Tomorrow we land in Eagle, ID.

After traveling through lowering skies, heavy air, and the threat of thunder storms and even tornadoes yesterday, this morning I woke to sunshine and a cool breeze. North Platte is at about 2800 feet and is on the line between the crop land of Iowa and eastern Iowa (corn and soybeans mostly) and hay, pasture and rangeland. So, as I drove west I felt more as though I was in 'the west'. Ranches were larger, and were further and further apart, instead of ¼ to ½ mile between ...

... s a good thing that it's population is sparse, since the mining takes up a lot of space and is not particularly beautiful either. It's good to be back in the west, and I'm struck by how much more this area feels like the west than further west does. I know that I live about as far west as one can get in the continental US, but Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, and Nevada feel more like 'the west' than the west coast does. I guess it's because I live in 'ecotopia' not the 'wild west'.

Wow, this was a cold, snowy, and windy day. I stopped at the famous overpass in Kearney, but it did not open till 10 am and I was not going to wait an hour. But, I did get a good photo of it and the buffalo out front. The wind gusts were between 40 and 60 mph causing the snow in the farm and ranch fields to blow across the Interstate thus creating slippery conditions. I ...

... see it but no luck. Added moose and a distant eagle to list of wildlife we saw. Day ended up being a lot longer than we planned. We were going to stay in Jackson and go back into Teton to take some morning pictures the next day but the hotels seemed too expensive so we headed on south to Rock Springs which was about 4 hours away. When we got there at ...

... notamment dans la gorge qui s'appelle Red Canyon. Un détour à recommander...même si du coup nous avons roulé à fond ensuite pour rejoindre Salt Lake à temps pour rendre la voiture de location et rejoindre notre hôtel. Nuit, ou disons halte nocturne super courte : coucher minuit lever 4h pour vol au départ à 6h10 direction Boston (prononcer Boa-ston) ...via Dallas. Dernier épisode, plus urbain de notre voyage.

... smallest town. Old simple building with few coin machines, but they are everywhere! Some of them really historical, but still sparkling with their neons, attracting the vampire gamblers. 24-7 pulsating life inside the building, colorful neons put you in trance, 1 cent slot machines hipnotizing you with ...

... Gloria has been such a trooper, providing us with air conditioning, music and beating the semi's up the seemingly endless hills. Tomorrow is the rest of Wyoming and Nebraska. We aren't stopping anywhere for anything besides gas and food. We're actually going to stick to that plan and cover a lot of land. Updates probably won't be necessary... but expect pictures (and look at the ones from Salt Lake City in the previous entry!).