Posts from — September 2008

After hours of driving I found myself in Alliance, Nebraska, home of the infamous Carhenge! I couldn’t pass that by! I already sent a little picture yesterday from my cell, but here are some better ones!

Air guitar at Carhenge

Air guitar number 2. (Do you realize how hard it is to jump at the right time with a 10-second timed shot? Very.)

And here is a posed, yeah-I’m-just-chilling-by-this-car shot.

Lastly, after I left Carhenge and right before my camera battery died, I captured this sunset. I can’t believe how brilliant the pinks and purples were! I sat there on the side of the road until the sun went all the way down. Then I jumped into my car before the children of the corn started peaking out. :)

All right, anything else? I guess I’m good for now. I’m getting hungry so I’m off to look for a trucker diner or something similar. See ya later.

Hey there, fellow subscriber. :) I’m hanging out at the library here in Sidney, Nebraska. Last night I car-camped at the local truck stop here and slept pretty well. There is something meditative about sleeping surrounded by a mass of Semi-trucks, all running, purring a sleepy lullaby to me.

So, yesterday I went over to the Crazy Horse National Monument and spent a few hours there. Pretty interesting stuff. I found out Crazy Horse isn’t run by any Federal or State funding. It is ran by visitor’s donations and ticket sales, and gift shop profits, etc. The main dude who started carving Crazy Horse had 10 children, and now that he has passed it is run by his family. Talk about your life goals.

Here is a statue of what Crazy Horse will look like when done, and in the background you can see where it is currently (after 50 years). They say it is so big, Mt. Rushmore would barely fit in the head-hair area.

After that, I drove forever through flat-lands, and through a rainstorm. I wanted to get out and take a picture in the flat grasslands of South Dakota and Nebraska, but the whole being-the-tallest-in-a-lightening-storm didn’t bode well with me. :)

I saw me some of those big horse-things. Oh, buffalo.

I had to pee for an hour, when everything looked like this. :(

The fields and major cloud action going on in the sky was awesome, as in awe-inspiring. But dang. I felt the opposite of claustrophobic. Like, at any moment, gravity would reverse and I’d be thrown into the sky. Is this a real phobia? Like people, who are born and raised surrounded by mountains, getting disoriented in wide open spaces? I think I’m done with heading east, for now, I’m thinking of more south now.

I’m breaking this into two posts, because the next one will have several Carhenge pics. :)

In Sidney, Nebraska.

Carhenge. Pretty sweet!

I went to Crazy Horse earlier, pretty neat. Now I’m in Hot Springs, SD. This town is cute.

The sleep fairy did not visit my tent last night, but damn, the wind fairy did. I guess I did a good job pounding the stakes in because the wind failed to rip the tent up like it was trying to! Speaking of tents, here is proof I can put one up, plus a pretty view of my camp ground.

So, yesterday I walked around the campsite taking pictures, out of boredom. A few came out to my liking. Below, is yet another reason you should buy a Canon Elph. :)

They had swings there. :)

I went for a walk to take more pictures when an awesome group invited me over to their camp. They were all friends and family from FedEx. They shared with me their beer, bratwurst with homemade sour kraut, and homemade Irish Cream. Total goodness. Best of all, they were fun to hang with and super nice. One of the guys, Bender, keeps up the site ArizonaCivilWar.com, I’m posting it here so I can remember to check it out again later. (They’re hiking Harney Peak today, which I might want to check out on another trip out here.)

I even managed to stumble home at the late hour of 10pm. :) This trip has seriously turned my clock around. I used to go to bed at 2-3am and wake up at 11am, but now I’m hitting the sack when the sun goes down and waking when it comes up. I guess that’s how it was back in the day before electricity.

Well, see ya around, I’m going to Crazy Horse and who knows where else, but who knows if I’ll have wi-fi access, or electricity since this battery only lasts like 40 minutes.

Earlier, I totally put a tent up all by myself! Ok, so it wasn’t that hard, but it was still a first. Usually, you fumble around enough and someone gives you those “such an idiot” eyes and then takes over. Not this time, I accomplished it all by myself. I liked using my rubber mallet the best. Just so you know, I’m not telling you if it falls down tonight while I’m sleeping.

Now, I’m chilling in the laundry room, using the wi-fi after taking a nice cleansing shower. This is what I call camping. Haha.

I went to Mt. Rushmore this morning and that was neat. I’d rather it be carved with Native American faces but whatever they didn’t ask me. I guess that’s what the Crazy Horse National Monument is about, and I’m hitting that tomorrow. I’ll post more another time. I’m pooped.

P.S. Yes I’m wearing the same clothes over the course of several days. This is my version of roughing it, and yes I have changed my underthings. :) And yes, I’m washing that outfit right now. And yes, I’ll probably end up in that outfit again tomorrow, maybe.

Taking a driving break. Checked into a KOA near Crazy Horse.

Man. I get cell reception everywhere. :)

I just realized I’m missing Thai food night with the Jitterbug crew! :( Oh well, Goodnight.