Road warrior report

By Carol Gee

Travel in the USA is an interesting challenge in these days of storms and high gasoline prices. Here's the latest from one who's just been there.

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Good day to everyone at The Reaction. We are in "the wilds" of Wyoming on our annual trek to visit my family of origin.

We started in Texas, arriving here in Cheyenne via New Mexico and Colorado. Many motorcycles are on the road. A bunch of them, "non-Harleys," were headed for a big rally in Taos, New Mexico. There are also a surprisingly high number of RVs of all sorts on the roadn to as many as last year, but more than I expected. . The trip has been marked by huge road construction projects all along the way. Summer is for dirt work in the West. Winters shut down most construction due to blizzards and frozen ground. Happily for Democrats the freeways that have been under construction for years in Denver are all finished. Gas prices have ranged form a high of $4.04 in Colorado Springs, to a low of $3.81 in west Texas. Tomatoes are safe in Colorado and Wyoming. My traveling companion is living proof; he is alive and kcikin' this morning. We had a hamburger and a salad last night here at Cheyene's Hitching Post Inn. The quantity was generous -- 1/3 pound of juicy Angus at $5.65 each, plus tip. Motel prices ranged from $100 a night to $80.

It was 42 degrees in Big Piney, Wyoming last night. Storms are predicted along our route today. The weather ranged from a sand storm in the high desert of New Mexico to a magnificent thunderstorrm a few miles later. The clouds and lightning filled the sky with darks and lights and flashes. There is still a great deal of snow on the peaks of the Rocky Mountains, and the streams and rivers run high and fast for rain and snow melt. Agribusiness and abandoned (and a few working) family farms and ranches stretched all along the countryside. Grains and cotton grows with the aid of irrigation water pumped from below ground. We saw herds of cattle with lots of baby calves. Because of plenty of rain the plains and hills are green and lush in places. The antelope herds transplanted to New Mexico a few years ago have thrived, and often feed near cattle and share the watering holes or tanks beneath windmills. We saw a big herd of buffalo at the Colorado/Wyoming line, also boasting lots of adorable little ones.

Politics along the route has been a little hard to deduce without talking to everyone along the way. But I did pick up a few tidbits, for what they are worth. A School Principal in Greeley was fired because he was caught having an affair. We passed a great big sign announcing the "Focus on the Family" world headquarters in Colorado, within the same period as when Barack Obama was being chastized by them for his incorrect interpretation of the Bible. Denver is observing "Bike to Work Day" today. The city expects 1,000 to participate. The Denver TV station announced that there would be "streamed live video online in Spanish from the Democratic Convention" in August.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)