From Winter to Summer in One Day

Yesterday's snowstorm left plenty of reminders of winter along I-80 this morning, alongside the clear road surfaces we traveled under a sunny, blue sky.  We left early at 8:30 am, wearing winter coats in 39-degree weather.  

 

Along the way, we saw a herd of pronghorn.  Often called antelope, they are common in Wyoming, which holds their largest population in North America, about 320,000 animals.  I was amazed I was able to capture a quick photo of them while we traveled at 75 miles per hour!

Another quick photo early today was of a buffalo.  Not a real one, but a metal sculpture of one.

Before leaving Wyoming, we spotted more evidence of natural gas production, electric transfer stations for wind generators, and oil pumping machinery near Cheyenne.  Energy production is well underway from Laramie to Cheyenne and beyond.

 

In Fort Collins, Colorado, we passed a large Anheuser-Busch Budweiser plant, and then in Loveland, Colorado, we spotted a huge Amazon facility while traveling on I-87.

Taking a bypass route to avoid going into Denver, we passed by the Denver International Airport with its white-roof terminal.  Also, nearby is the Colorado Air and Space Port, one of the FAA-licensed commercial spaceports in the U.S.  It supports horizontal launch concepts for future suborbital travel with two long runways about 8,000 feet in length.

We subsequently connected to I-70, and after lunch at McDonald's, I drove on the straight and level interstate highway, continuing easterly into Kansas.  The views all around us converted to flat farmland as far as the eye could see beneath a blue sky and white cumulus clouds, as the temperature rose to 79 degrees by the time we stopped in Hays, Kansas.  Today, we passed the halfway point of our journey.

From a Lost Kitty to a Snow Storm Pause

We began our day in Evanston, Wyoming, at the Best Western with a moment of heart-pounding stress.  Returning to our room after breakfast, Snoopy was nowhere to be found!  After searching high and low, we couldn't find him anywhere.  I envisioned him escaping while Jim put things in the car.  Jim worried that perhaps the housekeeper had inadvertently given him a chance to escape.  Finally, we decided neither of those events had occurred, and he must have made his way under the bed.  After removing all the bedding, the king mattress, and moving apart two box springs, his head popped up from beneath them.  Somehow, he had fit in between the wall and the enclosure they put under hotel beds these days.  Unfortunately, Snoopy has a good memory, so now we will have to block that space carefully each time we check into a room.

Heading east from Evanston, we continued along I-80 today.  The first thing that we noticed was a striking range of snow-covered mountains running east to west, parallel to the highway beyond some wind generators.  They are the Uinta Mountains in northeast Utah, the only east-to-west trending mountain range in the contiguous Rocky Mountains.  It looked as though they had a very generous snow accumulation over the winter.

This area of Wyoming has many interesting geological formations visible from the highway.  Buttes with very steep sides and flat or narrow tops appear regularly.  Created from a plateau or mesa, the surrounding softer rock wears away over time, leaving the harder core standing alone.

Another beautiful feature here is stratified rock made up of distinct, visible layers called strata.  Formed by sediment or volcanic material deposited sequentially over long periods of time that vary in color, composition, or grain size, these combine to create the visible layers.

We observed that there is a lot of natural gas being collected in this area, with sites bringing it out of the ground as well as what appears to be processing equipment and buildings, too.

This area deals with wind and substantial snow in the winter, and you can see snow drift fences constructed along the road to control drifting snow.  Once, we thought we saw a live elk standing by a snow fence, but after passing by, we realized it was a metal sculpture!

 

 

The straight roads here extend for miles into the distance, and after a while, it becomes mesmerizing, and you have to work hard to stay alert.

A serpentine-shaped ridge stood out to us along our drive, and a snow-draped hill foretold what was soon to become a challenging drive in the snow!

Approaching Laramie, Wyoming, we drove into a snowstorm that made visibility of vehicles in front of us almost dangerously impossible.  Prudently, we decided to stop for the day at our age.  Finding a Best Western motel, we waited out the storm and then headed into town for dinner.  The hills around town were covered in snow.   

 

Driving into Laramie, we passed by the University of Wyoming, one of the many universities in the western United States that Jim acquired for yearbook production when he worked as a professional photographer.

Upon the recommendation of the front desk at our hotel, we had dinner at Wyoming Rib & Chop House. It was delicious and the best baby back ribs we've had in a long time.  A perfect way to end the day!

 

Boise Idaho to Evanston Wyoming

After a quick cheese omelet at the La Quinta motel in Boise, Idaho, we started earlier today in heavy rain.  We are now 582 miles into our trip and were looking for fair weather after a long, rainy drive yesterday.  Finally, we could literally see light at the end of what seemed like a rain tunnel on the horizon before us amid a wind generator farm. 

The edge of the weather front tormenting us formed a straight line framing the blue sky beyond.  It was a welcome sight.

While helping us empty our home for the trip, our grandkids, Matthew and Andrea, had introduced us to Clementine oranges, and we were thrilled to find them at a Love's Truck Stop already peeled to eat.

The blue skies and clouds only delivered rain in brief intervals as we continued.  In this photo, we are passing what appear to be three grain silos Declo, Idaho, shortly after our first crossing of the Snake River.

Near Tremonton, Utah, the snow-covered mountains, including Mendon Peak, glowed white beneath dark, threatening clouds.

Escaping the rain, we encountered Willard Bay Reservoir.  Though we could only photograph a small portion of it, in the distance beyond it broadened into a large body of water.

In Morgan County, Utah, we grabbed a quick photo of "Devil's Slide" just off the edge of the highway.  This is an unusual geological formation located near the border of Wyoming in northern Utah's Weber Canyon, near the community of Croydon.  Two parallel limestone strata that have tilted to lie vertically protrude 40 feet from the mountainside, descending for hundreds of feet down the mountain, with a 25-foot erosion channel situated between them 

Near Henefer, Utah, close to Salt Lake City, an American flag flies proudly before the backdrop of white clouds and blue sky.

Cows are abundant along this stretch of Interstate-84 in Henefer with their recently born calves.

Turning easterly along Interstate-80, we start to see the red rock bluffs near Coalville, Utah, as we pass through Echo Canyon, part of Utah's famous red-rock country.  The color is caused by iron oxidation-essentially a natural rusting process.

 

In Tremonton, Utah, a small barn with a crooked roof and a white home caught our attention.

We arrived in Wyoming at 2:32 pm, crossing parts of three states today.  It feels like progress at 951 miles from Sedro Woolley, and not quite one-third of the trip.

We checked into a Best Western motel in Evanston, Wyoming, tonight, ate a spaghetti dinner in their on-site restaurant, and saw taxidermied animals in their lobby of local wildlife that were so expertly created it seemed like the live animals were present.  Outside, a fountain was decorated with an elk statue.

     

 

From Hops to Happy

Starting out this morning from Yakima, WA, along the highway we saw a field where hops are grown.  It is recognizable from the poles used to support the plants vertically from 15 to 25 feet to expose them to more sunlight.  Hops prefer to grow in well drained soil in a temperate climate following a winter dormancy period, and are used by brewers of beer to achieve a desired bitterness, aroma, and the preservation qualities of beer.

The terrain for much of the morning consisted of flat high desert amid rolling hills and cultivated fields.  Occasionaly we spotted a sparsely situated home, farm. or business sprinkled amid vast stretches of land reaching out to the distant horizon.

We crossed the Columbia River into Oregon and the rain began in earnest.  Near Pendleton we saw a sign that read "Beware of Solar Glare" which seemed like a strange warning until we spotted solar panels spread across a hill.  Less explained was the name "Deadman Pass" that we traveled through which I researched to learn had acquired its name because of violent incidents that occured during the 1870s as travelers along the Oregon Trail were killed by Bannock or Paiute warriors. 

We stopped in Boise, Idaho, tonight as we felt weary from the rainy driving.  Plus today we crossed a time zone.  Perhaps it's psychological, but it seems the new later time made stopping a good idea, too!  The motel had TV dinners AND ice cream available in the lobby, so we didn't have to hunt down a supermarket nor a restaurant with our room having both a refrigerator and microwave.  Snoopy has settled into traveling quite nicely and he gave this latest room a decided vote of approval.  Jimmy's asleep and I am going to say good night to all.  We'll see what adventures tomorrow brings and hopefully we'll slip far enough south to escape the rainy weather.