Home on the Range

There's a herd of antelope that live on base. They seem pretty used to the cars and don't jump out in front of them like the deer at home do. Thank goodness. Usually they hang out in the fields behind the main buildings.But sometimes they get lonely and graze in people's yards. This guy was ready for his close up.

Or perhaps he's just frozen with fear.

But since that photo shoot went so well surely they'll let me walk right up and pet them. Hey! I worked in an animal behavior lab in college - that makes me Dr Doolittle. Needless to say, this was about as close as I got before they bolted.

But at least they still came by the apartment. They're Scarlet's favorite form of entertainment.

Temp Housing

Our first apartment on base was filthy. Filthy and cold. Because the heat didn't work. And it was 23 degrees. And windy. So Kevin got us moved.

The new place was much cleaner and was pretty nice. You walked into the living area from the front door. To the left is the master bedroom and straight ahead, Kevin and Scarlett are coming from the kitchen.

The kitchen was huge. It had a full size washer and dryer in it, which was awesome because we were still living out of suitcases.

We also had a back door, and a table for four. Through the door to the right is the second bedroom.

This is the second bedroom with twin beds. We kept the door here closed because the room smelt like stale, wet dog. I prefer my wet dogs fresh, thank you!

Here's the bathroom. It connected the second bedroom and the master bedroom.

And here's the master with the queen size bed. Scarlet loved sitting up in that window, when she was bogarting the bed.

Sadly, the new place also did not have heat. But it did have space heaters. Lots of them. And besides - did you see the groovy carpeting?

Wyoming or Bust

Today we decided to take a late check out so that I could put in a couple of hours of work before hitting the road. Kevin packed us back up again while I worked and soon we were back on the road for the short jog into Wyoming.

Here we are raising a train on the tracks that run parallel to the highway. Isn't the paint job neat?

Crossing the Wyoming state line. That same symbol is all over the state, on signs, on the license plates - everywhere.

The sign for Laramie county which is the first county over the boarder and also the county Cheyenne is in.


I was a little worried when we crossed the state line. I thought I might start seeing some evidence of mountains soon.

Wait, I think I see something hill like in the distance.

And oh, there it is! A butte. I think thats what those are called anyway.

About half an hour later we were on base. And finally done driving!

Day 3 - Up, Up, and Away

We were only in Iowa for an hour or so before crossing into Nebraska this morning. This sign is on the bridge crossing the Missouri River.

Omaha is right over the state line

Scarlet found a new comfy spot today. She spent the entire ride down there and would jump right back to her spot after we stopped. If only we had figured this out 2 days ago.

The clouds were just amazing.

We were making good time so we took a short side trip to Buffalo Bill's ranch. This is his house. It cost $3900 to construct in 1886 or so. The back part was added on in 1909.

Here's the stables.

We didn't stay long because it started to rain, but caught a rainbow on our way out of town. Its actually a double rainbow, but its a bit hard to see here.

The plains.

Look very carefully at the asphalt between the Arby's sign and the green post - its a tumbleweed! The first one I'd ever seen - it was in the parking lot of our hotel.

The Cabela's in Sidney, NE. We've passed 4 along Rt 80, but Sidney is headquarters and this is the original.

The bobcat says "What'd you do with my deer, Fred?"

So we're now at an elevation of just under 6000 feet. At home on top of our little mountain we're only at 950 feet. I can feel my red blood cells increasing as we speak.

Day 2 - The I's Have It

Today's title refers to the fact that we spent today in states that begin with the letter "I". We started in Indiana, drove through Illinois, and stopped in Iowa.

Scarlet decided the hour or so it took us to get from Warsaw, IN to the highway this morning would be best spent under my seat. We ended up having to stop to rescue her.

This is one of the speed limit signs in Indiana. It just amused me that trucks had to go slower than cars and there was a minimum speed. Brilliant!

Entering Illinois. We mainly saw concrete and construction, so this is the only picture.

Crossing the mighty Mississippi. I expected it to be wider. It didn't look any bigger than the Potomac here.

And on the other side we entered Iowa. And we're still here. Its a wide state.

The World's Largest Truck Stop. We didn't stop. Kevin was afraid they would also have the world largest trucker.

And this is what happens after two days in the car - random self portraits!

We are fairly certain these are what one would call "amber waves of grain".
Our hotel room for Night Two in Stuart, Iowa. We pulled into town at 3pm Central time. Which felt like 5 pm to out very confused bodies.

The town of Stuart happens to be where Bonnie and Clyde committed their last robbery. This is the bank building where it happened. It happens to be the police station now.

These signs on the window cracked us up though. You would have thought the whole Bonnie and Clyde thing would have taught them a lesson. If we had been in the South, I would have looked for Deputy Fife.

We also stopped in a bar where the bartender didn't know what bourbon was. But that was too sad for pictures. These midwesterners have thing or two to learn!

Day 1 - Go West, Young Man, Go West

We pointed our motorized covered wagon west and headed out for the open road ... after we ran errands.













Scarlet says "I hate your stupid errands."











One last shot of Braddock Mountain before heading out of town.








Soon we were in Pennsylvania












We were in Pennsylvania for a looooong time. But look at these cool windmills we saw!








Finally, Ohio!

I never thought I would say that.











Ohio is flat, green, and today it was also rather gray.











Entering Indiana (apologies for the blurriness, there was a rather large truck right behind us)










This picture is also blurry, this time because I couldn't stop laughing at it. It says "Animal present when flashing - next mile". We saw 3 of these signs, and one was flashing, but no animals. But we were a bit worried - what kind of animal? Squirrel? Water buffalo? Penguin?





Scarlet, she was not worried in the least. She's cool, man, she's cool.













Our room for the night. There was a home game at Notre Dame, so we ended up a bit off the beaten path. But the room was nice and within our per diem. I also enjoy being able to sleep horizontally across a king size bed.









Plus the bathroom is Scarlet approved!