Crossing the Plains

It was hot and muggy as we started the day in Omaha, but there were these happy make-your-own waffles in the breakfast room. The plants almost died the second day out, but they are feeling a little better. And now we are in Fort Morgan, just northeast of Denver, ready to complete our trip tomorrow.

Today we saw the residue of the worst accident yet, two tractor-trailer trucks and a car-plus-camper twisted into a blackened pile together. We did not learn who died and who survived, but it was sobering to pass by the wreckage. For a few minutes after, everyone drove a little slower. We drove a little slower the whole rest of the day. When accidents happen at speeds of 75 mph plus, it seems there's always something that bursts into flame. The distances are vast, the scenery is hypnotic, and people just drive faster than their minds can go.

Our scenic stop today was the Union Pacific freight yard at North Platte (a town origianlly known as "Hell on Wheels"). We skipped Buffalo Bill's ranch, which is the main tourist attraction in town, wending our way to the new, impressive visitors' tower overlooking the yard. Two humps sort cars for making up new trains going to different destinations. Techniques borrowed from Nascar speed up the servicing of engines as the trains come in and go out. It takes about 10 minutes to fuel a train these days.

But it was what we saw while driving that made our day. The plains are magnificent. After a day in Iowa yesterday and today in Nebraska, their vastness and majesty started to speak to us. Everywhere you look, you look to a far horizon. As we came through Eastern Colorado, a thunderstorm loomed in front of us, then passed mostly to the South, and we could watch its path, lightning bolts shooting out and all. It's not the aesthetic of the East, this vastness and greenness. In the East, we turn to the ocean for vastness. Here is is on land. A wonder.

Tomorrow, I pick up the keys to my apartment, assuming all goes as planned, and move the things from the car into my new home. It will be sparse fo r a few days until the truck arrives... how will it be? I'll see.