Nebraska, Highway 80

November 14, 2006

Highlight: tumbleweed attack

It’s unfortunate that we only have a few weeks to make our way across the country. Each driving day we pass at least a dozen places I want to investigate further. Even here on this dull interstate cutting through a flat, brown, overcast state, I want to stop in a small town and see what’s going on. Instead, I have to be satisfied with our pitstops and motel overnights, both of which often turn into mini adventures of their own.

Today we’re driving through Nebraska after a long weekend in Denver with three of P.’s four sisters and their families. Ila was in heaven with ten of our cousins (nine of them girls), and their endless supplies of princess finery, chocolate cereal and movies. P. and I relaxed, caught up with the sisters and brothers in-law, marveled at the genius of each niece and the nephew, and just generally enjoyed having Ila occupied by someone else. We were hoping to hit Lincoln tonight but we’ll probably cut the drive short due to some high winds and spend a night in the thriving metropolis of Kearney. Highlight in Denver? Other than Ila’s extreme pleasure and the comfort of family, my favorite experience was my niece Lucy’s piano recital during which two pre-teen girls sang, in falsetto voices, a dirge called the Outcast. I arrived too late to watch Lucy perform, but she managed to give me an encore in the practice room while the next round of performers warmed up. Lucy ROCKS the piano.

The first part of our drive today took us through north-eastern Colorado and south-western Nebraska. Not much to look at, especially at mid-day with very overcast dull grey skies. We were however kept entertained by tumbleweeds flying across the interstate at high speed. The first one was a treat. I pointed it out with a wild-west enthusiasm to Ila. A few minutes later, another one caught her eye and within the hour we were shrieking as they descended upon us in droves. Stopping for a toilet break, we noticed part of our grill had been left behind and I pulled handfuls of dried sticks from a hole under our headlight. At the rest stop Ila commented loudly about the bathroom conditions (stinky!) and Peter was forced to negotiate with a grouchy woman (?) behind the café counter who must have noticed our California plates and weren’t too pleased to serve him. We’re not much welcome around these parts…

Sorry for the delayed posting, it’s been busier than I thought it would be. In fact, while I’d pictured myself writing copiously while listening to Spanish tapes and eating granola, I am in fact usually twisted backward entertaining miss Ila moo with magnet games and make-believe (Mom, pretend I am a princess, and you are a doctor…) while Charlotte’s Web or Raffi play on the radio. P. of course is always the driver because we both know he’s better at it and would go insane if he had to sit in the co-pilot seat doling out cheese sticks and sippy cups all day. When we’re stopped, we are usually busy visiting with our hosts and repacking in a futile effort to make it look like we have less crap, leaving little time for writing down the details. At motels we sometimes fall asleep all together, in our driving clothes, unopened bags all around, at 9pm. At least we’re perky for the continental breakfasts (Froot Loops, non-dairy creamer and mini muffins).

I'll catch you up on the early part of our trip in the next few posts.