Road Trip Day 3: Tooele, UT to Rawlins, WY

It looks like my Internet access is going to be hit or miss. Today is a miss.

When I went out to load the car this morning, I discovered that it was raining. Following the twists and turns of I-80 East through Salt Lake City was nerveracking in the rain. Following the twists and turns of the highway through the mountains east of Salt Lake City was even more nerveracking. (The one good thing is that I wasn't feeling drowsy at all. Too scared -;)) It's all relative because once the road straightened out a bit and the rain lightened up, I enjoyed the drive even though I wasn't using cruise control and wasn't listening to CDs. It was cool driving over the Continental Divide. I saw a wind farm and wondered how they decided where to put the wind farm. All of the parts of Wyoming that I saw were very windy.

For the first time, I made it to my goal destination, Rawlins, WY, for the drive. (I've lowered my expectations a bit.)

Now I'm in a Quality Inn motel in Rawlins. It's okay, but it doesn't have enough electrical outlets.

We'll see whether I make it to North Platte, NE tomorrow or not. We'll also see if I have Internet access.

Road Trip Day 4: Rawlins, WY to North Platte, NE

I'm drenched.

It was raining when I was driving through Wyoming. Then it stopped when I entered Nebraska. Then, when I was about a half-hour away from my designated stopping point, North Platte, Nebraska, it started pouring. I kept on slowing down because I couldn't see anything. I was wondering if I was going to miss my turnoff because I wouldn't see the sign, and wished that the rain would slow down or stop. It did stop right before my turnoff. It started again when I was eating dinner. I'm drenched (or was drenched) because I was unloading my car in the rain.

I'm in another Holiday Inn Express, but my room doesn't have a refrigerator. (Boo! Hiss! My motto is "Have Diet Pepsi, will travel.")

I've been seeing a lot of what Erik dubbed "red-state values". When I was in Nevada, I was in a McDonald's staring out the window and daydreaming. A guy was walking towards the restaurant, saw me staring, and (literally) tipped his hat to me. I'm afraid I probably gave him my best incredulous look. When I was in Wyoming, a guy told me that he was about to go to his car (which was parked next to mine) so he wouldn't startle me. Several guys have opened doors for me. I'm not sure how I feel about all this. Sometimes the attention is nice, but on the other hand, I'm driving through two-thirds of the country by myself, so presumably I can take care of myself. And sometimes I open doors for guys too -;)

I seem to be doing (roughly) a state a day, so we'll see if I get to Des Moines or Iowa City tomorrow.