Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana Travel Blog: The Rest Of The Week

Well I was doing a semi-good job of keeping up with the blog while I was in Nebraska but time continued to tick faster and faster while we were away... Wednesday, Laura went to Lincoln to see some friends and deliver wedding packages for weddings we won't be able to attend this summer. She bought me a book while she was in Lincoln which I am super excited about. It's called Ghost Towns of the West. It has ghost towns from Montana & Wyoming so we will be able to stop and see them when we are traveling now!

Thursday we helped work around the house and then went swimming/geocaching with Andy & Amber (also known as Splat) and found ourselves in the middle of a mighty wind storm. Winds were easily around 60-70 mph and we found shelter from the winds behind a windbreak at a farm. For those who don't know, a windbreak is usually several rows of trees planted along a property line to block the wind - which it did quite nicely for us that evening. I also took some pictures of the lightning from my parents back deck.I forgot what we did Friday so I guess I won't sum up the day - other than my cousin stopped through on his way to North Platte. It was good to see him since we hadn't talked face to face since Grandpa's birthday party last August. I guess the majority of the day was spent doing chores we had to do.

Saturday we went geocaching with Andy & Amber again and then went to a friends wedding before heading to Cheyenne for the night to stay with Laura's parents. We had a great time at the wedding and didn't want to leave all the fun and friends that I was catching up with. One thing about my friends is we can always pick up where we left off, just like we never skipped a beat. Sure, a few minutes of chit chat to catch up with current events, but then we are back to our usual laughing, story telling, jokes and pranks! I guess that is really what true friends are all about - no matter how far away you may be and whatever the amount of time without communicating you never feel awkward when you bump into each other or gather for a party.... I wish we would have gotten a picture with everyone there - nearly all the friends are now married and it would have been neat to get a picture of everyone with their wives. That came as an after-thought while making our way to Cheyenne, perhaps something can be arranged at Christmas... We arrived in Cheyenne around 1:00 am and went to bed to prepare for Sunday!

7:00 a.m. Sunday and it was rise and shine! The morning in Cheyenne was terrific. No wind (rare for Cheyenne) and sunny. Laura made a fathers day breakfast for everyone and I somehow managed to leave the camera in Cheyenne! Ok, yes I was SUPPOSED to leave the camera in Cheyenne for Laura's mom, but I really didn't want to! I showed her how to use the camera and all the great things she can do with digitial pictures and I think she was excited to see all the options available to her now. All I know is I want me one of them picture taker machines! We hit the Interstate North out of Cheyenne at 11:30 a.m. and arrived in Missoula at 11:15 p.m. last night with only three stops totally no more than 45 minutes. We listened to The DaVinci Code on CD while we drove so that took up 6 hours of the trip and helped pass the time.

The highlight of the Sunday drive was in Casper though. After eatting some dinner at Wendy's we drove down the block to the Flying J to fill up the gas tank. At $2.64 a gallon we were filling it to the top! Anyway, while I was filling the tank, a rather strong smell wafted its way into my nose and nearly made me pass out... "Whoa! What is that?" I thought as I scrubbed bug guts off the windshield. I could see through the windshield to where Laura was sitting and the look on her face indicated she had caught a wiff of the pungent air as well. She began rolling up her window as I walked around to the driver side of the car and started cleaning the window. After finishing the window cleaning I walked around the back of the car to check on the gas pump and see how things were going. As I approached the back of the car I noticed the smell was nealry unbearable. I stood leaning against the car with my arms folded and watched the digits on the pump. The number of gallons pumped was slowly climbing as the digits on the price screen were ticking away faster than could be seen - not to mention the smell was STILL terrible. Just then I looked over my shoulder towards the back of the car and also upwind of me. I noticed an older style RV parked next to the car and there was a man washing off the back of the vehicle and spraying down the area he was parked at. Then I looked below the RV where he was spraying and suddenly I realized what that terrible smell was... The RV had dumped the 'waste' right there on the ground and left a rather large pile of nightsoil on the ground. I was nearly sick when I saw that and occasionally throughout the day I would catch a passing smell that would bring that haunting image back into my mind.

Today I went to work then watered the garden which is in need of some TLC. I also potted some plants and unpacked a few more things from the trip. Things are starting to get back to normal around here... At least for awhile. Until again

-=Nolan=-