Wide Open Spaces

We drove from Southwest Wyoming to Eastern South Dakota today.  Stopped at Mount Rushmore.  Had a nice spring snowstorm at 7000 feet in Wyoming on a two-lane highway which was fun.  Two states, 13 hours in the car…..We drive a diesel, so it is easier on the pocketbook when it comes to fuel.  We pay around $3.40/gallon in Nevada.  In South Dakota, I could get fuel for .17 a gallon cheaper so not a huge difference.

I keep reading about inflation, and while I see higher prices on lots of raw materials, goods, and services, there is a part of me that thinks the shock to supply chains was so hard, they haven’t caught up yet.  If the government would just stop spending money we’d be better off.

Here was the line for the Monday check-in at Caesar’s.

Monday afternoon check-in at Caesars Palace pic.twitter.com/9r1EA7GBhR

— Las Vegas Locally (@LasVegasLocally) May 10, 2021

Of course, all the businesses in Vegas are having trouble getting workers to come back to work. I wonder why?  Maybe if we stopped paying people not to work, allowed property owners to enforce rents we’d see a better jobs report.

When I drive across the country I am always amazed at the wide-open spaces in America.  Literally, in Wyoming, you’d go miles without seeing a house.  You’d see a lot of cattle.  Because it is spring, it’s cute to see all the calves that have been born and are lounging around.  In Wyoming, you’d see some natural gas and oil wells.  You wouldn’t see people.  In South Dakota this evening after getting on the road in Rapid City, there was nothing until Pierre.  There really isn’t anything until you hit Sioux City.  Just absolutely gorgeous grassland.

I think Wyoming and South Dakota are beautiful states.  They are a lot better to drive through than Illinois and Indiana, that’s for sure.

There is something about looking at those wide-open spaces I like.  It’s striking.  Literally, you look out for miles and see nothing.  No structures.  Just miles and miles and miles of grass and hills.  Or sagebrush and hills.  I can’t imagine what the pioneers thought.

In Wyoming, you are up at altitude, and there aren’t any mountains unlike Utah or Colorado.

One more short drive to Rochester, MN tomorrow. Then on to Chicago.

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