Room 217

When I was about 12, my sister decided to do one of those debutante balls. She had to have a talent for it so she decided to recite a poem. She chose one by Langston Hughes. It wasn't 'Dream Deferred' but I really can't remember the title now. Anyway, it talks about how hard life is and my favorite line, perhaps the one that opens the poem, is "Life ain't been no crystal stair". That was my motto for today.

JC and I hit the road from Billings, Mountain (yes, that's what I will forever call that state) at 85 mph and didn't look back. We crossed into Wyoming and it pretty much looked the same as Mountain though less mountainy. What I'll remember most about Wyoming was the short distance we had to drive through it and it's highway system. Upon entering, we were greeted with a red road. Seriously, the highway was red. What I loved about Wyoming was that it had the best highway system I'd ever driven. Truly, the ride was like butter! So smooth and for only about ten miles through the whole state did I feel any bumps. Go Wyoming, go Wyoming!

Sadly, we had to leave the quiet and well paved state and enter into South Dakota or as we like to call it- a little bit of hell on Earth. I suppose it's not fair to characterize SD (so disgusted) like that but all we saw were badly paved roads and miles and miles of NOTHING. Few radio stations didn't help. I'd already exhausted all of my "This American Life" cds as well as a few marriage helping type CDs. I gave them to JC so I was stuck with some mixed CDs I'd made as an, apparently, sad, sad twenty-something back in NYC. Oh well. I did a lot of thinking. That's really the only good thing I can ever say to anyone about driving through SD--- it gives you plenty of time to think.

We then FINALLY left the state and wound up on the border of Iowa and Nebraska and Missouri wasn't too far. We hadn't eaten since our free continental breakfast in Mountain about eleven hours earlier. To say we were beat down is putting it lightly. We found a 24-hour diner and got to business. In hindsight I can only laugh at how hungry and tired we must have been. The place was a wreck! I don't even know where to begin so I won't.

We learned we were only a blessed twenty miles from Omaha. After our questionable meal, we took off and here we are. Turns out Omaha is just barely in Nebraska. We actually are in Iowa in Council Bluffs. I'll have to tell my old co-worker I actually made it to Iowa. It's not so bad. We lucked out and found a reasonable room at Days Inn (JC prefers hotels in the TripRewards network *shrug*).

So, that's our story, we'll stick to it.