Back from the road.

Miz K and I took a kickass driving tour of Nebraska over a three-day weekend. We took Highway 2, to see all the little towns (how can there be so many "towns" with fewer than 5o residents?) and so we could stop frequently to pee and refuel (Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper and pie).

Carhenge is totally worth the six-hour drive. The near-dusk light was perfectly eerie. The view from my dashboard:


Krista showed me how to frame this shot:


From Alliance, we drove up to Chadron State Park to camp for the night, setting up in the dark. The piney scent was lullabying. In the middle of the night the pine mixed with the smell of what we thought was leftover campfire smoke; in the morning we learned there'd been grass fires up on the Pine Ridge reservation.

From Chadron, we drove to Smith Falls State Park and set up camp there for the second night. It's "Nebraska's newest state park" and doesn't have much in the way of amenities. But it's on the Niobrara River, which I had never seen. Sunday was freaking hot, so we didn't do much but sit with our asses in the river water, drinking High Life.

Krista at Smith Falls:


On Monday morning we set up an impromptu, short Niobrara tubing expedition, just a couple of hours before we had to head back to Lincoln. The river is so beautiful, and so utterly quiet. Stark bluffs topped by forest. It's like a whole 'nother Nebraska from the one I know. I was afraid to take my camera along on the river; then we got off and I complained that it would have been fine, nothing we brought got wet; then I dumped the cooler (which would've held the camera) into the river.

So no tubing photos. But here's a view from our campsite:


Mostly we spent our weekend just driving, snacking and talking ... perfect. K & I made good camping partners ... we don't mind getting dirty and smelly, we overpack for any situation, we can talk the virtues of roughing it even while listening to a "This American Life" podcast, scratching our mosquito bites and wishing we'd brought a pad to sleep on ...

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Road trip by the numbers:

Road trip iPod mixes: 2
Signs involving animals: ??? (Krista will have to fill this in, she was the official keeper of the animal signs list)
Tubing outfitters in well-worn Wranglers: 2
Tanks of gas: 3
Stops by state troopers: 1
Warnings instead of tickets: 1 (!!!!!)

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Here's a good road trip mix list:

Hit the Road and Go, Johnny Cash
The Truck Song, Lyle Lovett
Interstate Cannonball, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash
Another Traveling Song, Bright Eyes
Passenger Side, Wilco
Dirt Road Blues, Bob Dylan
Lonely Road, Sarah Benck and the Robbers
Dashboard, Modest Mouse
Floorboard Blues, Cowboy Junkies
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams
Ghost on the Highway, Exene Cervenka
Speeding, the Go-Go's
Devil in My Car, B-52s
King of the Road, REM
Let's Get Lost, Lloyd Cole
My Way Home, Citizen Cope

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