Next Leg... Oh, yeah, getting there.

So, here I am in Rawlings, WY.  Real cowboy country.  At a Best Western, more expensive and not as nice as the AmericInn of last eve.  Oh, well, these peeps are even more out in the sticks than Lincoln, NE.  I had a great day driving, altho it is wearing on my neck a bit.  Brought my Yoga mat in to stretch tomorrow morning before piling myself back into the car.

There is a part of Nebraska that, about 40 miles east of the border of WY extending another 15-20 miles into WY that is nothing but rolling hills, well trimmed - signs of recent mowing, no houses, no animals, just miles and miles of the well cut turf.  Weird, I thought it must be hiding the Nuclear Warheads.  It looks just like that sort of thing.  There are signs, not the regular highway signs, but ones with an interesting shape (sort of like a shield) with a number in it, then underneath it says Link.  Anyways, it seemed quite strange.

Also, I passed what I thought was a regular semi.  As I went by it, I saw it was much shorter than a semi and was all black and looked more like a Armored Car, no sign on it, nothing, but 2 men in it.  "Men in Black".  After passing them, they put there lights on, and added more gas, trying to keep up with me - or so it seemed.  They about over took me, but circumstances allowed me to get ahead. Now I don't feel paranoid, just observant.  Then I saw 3-4 RVs that were painted camouflage.  Kinda creeped me out.

When I was rolling past Pine Bluffs, almost the end of Nebraska, I saw the BIGGEST statue of what looked like a Jesus from the back, but then as I zipped by, I saw it was the Virgin herself - Mary.  It looked amazing, so I got off at the exit and tried to find it.  Something that large you would definitely think you would be able to find it quickly.  I back tracked through the town (poor, low housing, dogs in the street, etc.).  Finally when I thought I was near it, but couldn't see it, I asked a woman riding a lawn mower if she could tell me where it was.  She sure could and did and then I made a wrong turn.  Ended up in a little poor neighborhood and asked a little boy on the street.  He pointed me in the right direction.

It was amazing, out on the edge of town, next to an area of town designated "camping" which looked more permanent than what I usually think of as camping.  It was their housing.  It was an interesting site and a great place to sit and catch up to myself.

I have pictures of all of this and will post them after this.

The sky was very interesting today and what I found out was smoke from the fires in Colorado was making its way into the atmosphere over NE and WY.  It was quite windy today.

My plan tomorrow is to spend at least a couple of hours in UTAH hiking.