Alright, the next several posts are going to be on my summer in Wyoming. Because I will not have internet all of the time, I will just post whenever I get on.
5/15/09
I made it from Pleasant Plains, Arkansas to Council Bluffs, Iowa (just outside of Omaha, Nebraska) yesterday. The trip really was not bad. I made it through Kansas City without any traffic and made it to Council Bluffs right before traffic really got heavy. I thought it was funny when I crossed the MO-IA line that the town of Hamburg had no burgers, and with the abbreviation of Ia., it is spelled Hamburgia. It is like some foreign country or something. Yeah that is how bored one gets when driving nine hours by myself.
Today I made the long track from Omaha to Rapid City, South Dakota. Let me just say, I did not realize there was a difference between Sioux City and Sioux Falls. After looking for I-90 in Sioux City, I now know the difference. Talk about a change in terrain. I went from the crop land of Western Iowa to Mt. Rushmore, SD. The landscape change in South Dakota at the Missouri River is one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. The terrain change to rolling plains is amazing. Then I drove through the Badlands and that was awesome too.
I got to Rapid City at 2:30 Mountain time (I have having to go through this stupid time change) so I decided to drive to Mount Rushmore which is only 30 mile southwest of Rapid City. I have not ever been to a national monument so this was my first. It was AWESOME. I took some pictures, which I have posted on Facebook. I was able to walk right up to the base of the rock pile underneath the monument. It was a little chilly up there, but I guess I am going to have to get used to that in Wyoming. However, a cool trail goes around the place for different views of the monument. There was one of the compressors powered by the local power company, and used to power the jackhammers when making the statues. There was a story about how the compressors worked and how the men would check the pressure in the lines running up the mountain. Every Monday morning there was a decrease in pressure and the workers could not figure out what was happening. Well the story turns out that all the women in the town at the bottom of the mountain did their laundry on Monday mornings and ‘they all had electric washing machines.’ I thought it was kinda comical.
Well I am here in Rapid City, and will leave first thing in the morning for Wyoming. The state line is only 60 miles away but it is a 5-hour trip to Hyattville, through Gillette and Buffalo. I really hate that I have not had much phone service today, and it probably will not get any better tomorrow. I am kinda disappointed that I will miss the Preakness this weekend and the whole summer of Nascar, guess I will have to catch up at the end of the summer. After seeing the landscape of South Dakota, I cannot wait to see what Wyoming holds for me! Well I am off to get some sleep!
