DAY 2 -- No more Nebraska...FINALLY!

RAWLINS, Wyo. -- Hello from the...Equality State? That's all you've got, Wyoming? Yeesh.

Today's drive kicked off at 8 a.m. (CT) and wrapped up at 4 p.m. (MT). That's nine hours of driving if you're bad at math (you may want to check mine) or just don't have the patience to figure out time zones. All in all, my dad and I knocked out another 645 miles today, bringing the trip's grand total to 1,339 miles. Not too shabby.

The most miserable part of today was that 3/4ths of it was spent in Nebraska. You may think you know what flat looks like, but forgedda' about it. The first 200 miles of Nebraska is, I'm not joking, 180 degrees flat, and farms as far as the eye can see...which is to the horizon. Ridiculous (When tumbleweeds are the most exciting thing you see on a regular basis in a state, you know there's something wrong. For the record, my dad and I did have a good time dodging the random tumbleweed attacks on the Escort without killing ourselves or others.).

Even though the final 200 miles of Nebraska got a little more interesting (they had a hill or two!), the real fun today didn't start until we crossed into Wyoming. Flat farmlands turned into mesas, craggy hills and so on. I'll take mountains over molehills any day.

OK, without further adieu, here is the (jist) of the day in pictures:

99 percent of the view in Nebraska looked like this.

This is the one percent that was even romotely interesting. When it appeared on the horizon, my dad and I both wondered what the heck it was. Turns out it is 'The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument.' Translation: Giant unnecessary object that tries to persuade you to pull over with the family for a few minutes. It also give you something to talk about a few hundred miles later when the scenery returns to the first picture. That conversation goes a little like this: "So remember that giant, bridge-thingie...what the hell was the that about!?"

Even though this is blurry, I had to post it. The highlight of the day-- no more Nebraska.

Power production, Wyoming style.

This is scenery I can get behind. There will be more of this tomorrow, thankfully.

A good guess of where a majority of the population of Rawlins works.