Time to start the journey home. Lots of places I still want to
visit, but it is time
to point Bert towards the big lake. My original plan (per conversations with
Road Hog and others) was to return via the northern route (either hwy 2 or 200)
but that would require a significant drive north before turning right and
heading home. As much as I try to avoid interstate highways, the best route was
34 out of Loveland / Greeley to 76 to 80 east.
No pictures on this post - this was a ride
through nothing. The main sensory function used was not my eyes, but my nose.
This is cattle country. Huge cattle ranches and "processing
facilities". Miles of veal-farms (small enclosures where the cute
little cattle can hardly move so that their meat remains tender). And the stink
- flashback to reading Upton Sinclair novels. Herding pens, large manure
mountains, and did I mention the stink??
Then corn country starts. I think Michigan
has lots of corn, but in the real mid-west there are hundreds of miles of either
grazing land or corn. And did I mention hotness? Flashback to the summer of
1974 when my friend Pat C. and I drove my van from A2 to Denver. When we were
in Nebraska, it was so hot that my battery exploded and the acid coated most of
the front of the van. This was MF hot, you-can-die-in-this-hot type of
environment. Then I started thinking about how our trip ended - going to see
Eric Clapton (and surprise guest George Harrison) play at some cow palace in
Denver. When the concert was over, we went back to my van. Everything stolen /
stripped from the van. I had no money except for a Standard Oil credit card. We
had to drive back to Michigan and only stop at Standard gas stations to get gas
and food (back then, there was NO "full service" gas stations, best
we could hope for was a soda and a slim jim).
Ok, back to the trip. Did I tell you about
the stink?? Sorry. When you ride with full gear on, and you are melting down in
the 95-degree heat your head gets funny.
Once I crossed the state line into Iowa,
the topography changed. Many people dis Iowa, but to me the terrain is somewhat similar to Michigan except that there is no UP, the Great Lakes, and the people have much more realistic expectations about their sports teams (RIP Johnny Orr).
Ended up somewhere between Lincoln and Omaha, almost out of gas. Out of energy, just wanting to sleep. One of my last hotel stays and certainly the worst of all. Motel 6 - "we leave the light on, the blaring TV in the next room on, and whatever critters have gathered in your room - no charge". And as a bonus, we have hired a dysfunctional (toothless) crack addict to greet you upon arrival. Welcome!
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