Prairie Schooner

We've traveled through some vast, wide-open spaces in the past few days. The heat and wind have made it hard to appreciate them, but some of the pictures we took are spectacular. Every now and them I look up and think, "Damn, this is one of the best horizons I've ever seen!"



Pheasants flush out of the roadside brush every couple miles. I almost hit the first one I saw- it peeled off and smacked into a wire fence after flying inches in front of my wheel. Andrea has taken to making a gun with her hand, pointing at them and saying "I just got dinner!" Other wildlife include dead rattlesnakes, flies, jackrabbits, little gophers, and this morning, the first mule deer I've ever seen.

The map we have makes it look like someone took the paint bucket tool and clicked west of the Missouri River with a "hills" texture. The change from is very abrupt, and we've been riding rolling hills for the past two days without a change in pace.

This is a Missourri River sunset, the night we camped in Chamberlain.





Definitly worth the ride.

We keep riding past beehives. I wasn't expecting the first one and was hit with a maelstrom of bug bodies. No stings yet, but I keep my mouth shut as we pass and try to keep them out of my sleeves.

Everyone who has been sending us encouragement in the form of comments, emails, myspace messages, keep it up! It means a lot to hear from friends and family while on the road, even though we don't have time online to reply to every one.

Here's the last two days' route, from Chaimberlain to Cactus Flat.