We’ve made it out to Sterling, Colorado on this first leg of the journey. It’s been about 16 hours and 1,000 miles with a few stops along the way. Whew!

We’re in a Best Western which is decent enough for a random road stop. It has the added bonus of having a window view of the neighboring correctional facility right across the street. There’s even one of those, “stay the hell away from hitchhikers” signs just down the road.

This is our sixth state of the day. The first several were unremarkable except for the clear blue skies and Adult Superstore signs every few miles. My favorite was the Chicago strip club billboard advertising “All of the liquor, none of the clothes.” Classy!

The west side of Iowa and most of Nebraska featured a gale force wind coming from the south, jostling our Jeep all over the road. At one point, we came up behind a pickup truck on the side of the road which, only minutes before, had its trailer blown sideways, flipping onto the shoulder. It was just a storage trailer with no one in it accompanied by a guy that looked like he had it under control. We only gawked. I guess that makes us the assholes.

On the plus side, we saw a real life tumbleweed rolling across the gas station. Sitting in the car, you felt the whole thing tipping back and forth in the wind.

The wind died down near the middle of Nebraska, only to come back in full force on the western side of the state, only this time it came from the south. That crap is killer on your gas mileage.

Oh, and Jen saw a bunch of cows chasing a large cardboard box rolling in the wind. Apparently it looked like a bunch of dogs chasing after a cat. Wish I saw it!

So here we are in our cozy little hotel overlooking the correctional facility, thinking about hitting the hot tub. Tomorrow we drive into the mountains, up to Silverthorne. We just checked the weather, and I think they’re getting snow. That wasn’t in the plan. Let’s see what happens.