We dug out the maps today, an attempt to make our departure plans a little more concrete. After sketching a rough travel route, circling possible stops and refering to my calender for some semblance of a time-line, I sent emails to New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and one in Oregon. Feeling quite accomplished, I turned my attention to cooking dinner, internet fishing and an attempt at a game of xeri complicated by a lack of complete instructions.
A touch more white wine, pinch of salt and I pulled the beans from the heat. Today's 97 degrees were no match for my lifetime of conditioning. I cleared the atlas, notebooks and earphones (our day's sprawl) from the living room, upstairs to the bedroom, convinced I'd need a sweater for our potluck picnic. The ceiling fan ushered reality my way. Plenty warm, even in the evening. So I skipped the sweater search and dedicated the two bonus-minutes to reviewing our freshly charted course through the southwest.
That's when it hit me. I've never been to Wyoming. Aside from Yellowstone, there appear to be rivers and the possibility of mouse-free camping. Plus, this could give Ukiah and Aslin some context for my seemingly inexplicable Yogi bear impressions. "Hey there BooBoo, what's in the pic-a-nic basket today?" Of course from there, it's really just a hop, skip and jump to the Dakotas. Next thing you know, my superb plan 'o the afternoon is facing more significant questioning than Alberto Gonzalez on his 437th day of testimony before congress.
2 comments:
My dad was a freight agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad in the 30's 40's and mid 50's, Wyoming and Montana. He said he liked shooting rattle snakes and putting the rattlers in Ball jars for his aunts. I think I have a poem about that somewhere. I hope this was of help. Tom
hmm... my consideration of W didn't account for snakes. Something to think about. Along with the idea of taking the kids train hopping!
My friend Matt is raising the possibility that Devil's Tower may be worth looking into. I believe his words were- "an 8 day drive to the middle of nowhere..." but the lure of the paranormal is attractive.
cheers!
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