The Long Road Home

Sorry, folks, I meant for this post to appear beneath the post below ("More in Missouri") so they would be in chronological order, but Blogspot tricked me and I can't find a way to reverse them.  Sigh...

Saturday, July 21:
Nebraska

Despite Ed's determination, he finally had to stop at a truck stop somewhere in Nebraska around 4am.  We slept in the trailer for about 2 hours before waking and getting back on the road.

Dying corn along the highway in Nebraska.

Nebraska is a very wide state, so we spent quite a long time driving across it.  I would have taken more pictures, but my camera battery decided to die not long after the sun came up.  Since this was the first time I'd ever been in Nebraska, that was very disappointing.

Dead corn along the highway in Nebraska.

Our long road trip was very instructive about the United States.  I had no idea how much agriculture there was in each of the states we passed through until I saw it with my own eyes.  I'd always pictured Nebraska as kind of barren, but we drove past mile after mile of crops, especially corn.

 

Unfortunately, as Ed the farmer's son pointed out, most of the crops we passed in every state were suffering from a nation-wide drought.  It was sad to see the corn stalks yellowing and drying, and heartbreaking to see the weakened soy plants' leaves turning over in an attempt to avoid the burning sun.  We also saw few herds of cattle in places where they should have been plentiful.  Not enough water and not enough feed corn available. 

 

Somewhere in Missouri, the radio announcer told us that 57% of the U.S. was under drought conditions.  We will all pay for it with higher prices for both vegetables and meats.  

Saturday, July 21 to Wednesday, July 25:
Wyoming and Colorado

An antelope alongside the highway in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Wyoming is also a very wide state, but it was still afternoon when we reached Cheyenne.  We stopped for gas and Ed took the truck through a car wash before we drove on to Caryl's house in Carr, Colorado, about 30 minutes south of Cheyenne.

 

We unloaded our stuff and enjoyed sleeping in actual beds in actual rooms for the next 4 nights.  During the days we traveled back and forth between Carr and Cheyenne, as well as Fort Collins and Wellington, Colorado.  Ed took care of some business in town and around the house and he visited with friends, including his old high school buddy Lance, while Caryl shopped and lunched with her friends from the Carr area.  Dylan helped out with mowing Caryl's property, went along on some of our visits, and entertained himself the best he could while anxiously looking forward to getting home.  Me, I blogged at every opportunity, which were far too few!

The skyline of downtown Denver, Colorado.

On Wednesday we finally turned toward home.  After stopping for lunch at Jimmy John's (sub sandwiches) in Fort Collins, we were on our way by 1:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 26:
In Our Own Beds!

Ed drove straight through from far north Colorado to our little mountain home in eastern Arizona.  It was 1:30 a.m. Arizona time when we arrived, meaning we made the trip in about 13 hours, which is record time hauling a fifth-wheel trailer!

 

We dropped off Caryl and her bags at her apartment, and when we arrived at our house we unloaded only the most basic necessities from the truck and trailer.  We were all in bed by 2am, and we relished being in our own comfortable beds at last.  It was heavenly to be home!