Big Sky Country

As I was driving through Wyoming on I-80 I could see what was meant when the term big sky is used. The sky was all around and I think you could see forever. No trees or buildings on the horizon. Just ground and sky. Sure makes one feel small.

Somehow while driving on I-70 in western Kansas the sky did not seem so big. I just can not figure out why. Seems to be similar terrain but somehow its different.

The drive to Salt Lake on I-80 took two days staying over night in Cheyenne. The road were good, the car gave no trouble and the only thing that was stressful was the strong winds. There seemed to be as many semis on the road as cars.

The return trip was a bit more stressful as I was following one snow storm and ahead of another. The roads had some ice spots and were wet but overall the roads were OK. I-80 and I-70 were both closed ahead of me for the next day's travel. But I-70 was opened on the second day around eight in the morning, so it was all good except that I got a later start than I wanted. We (wife and I) spent the night in Fort Collins.

The Internet is a great help in planning the trip, especially watching the weather reports for the return trip and checking on road conditions. Because of the weather reports I was able to be on the road between the storms. Years ago I always worried about the weather when traveling as I would not have very much information on the weather ahead. I would have not wanted to make this trip without current weather information. Back then traveling at this time of year you risked being stranded for days by snow storms. Everything about traveling on the roads is much better now than it was thirty to fifty years ago.

At the rest stops there were signs about the Eisenhower highway. They told that Ike saw the need for good roads for the military after he accompanied the Army's first transcontinental motor convoy from Washington, DC, to San Francisco when he was a Lt Colonel in 1919. The trip was long and hard with many delays due to bad roads. This put into his mind the need of a system of cross continental highways that eventually led to the concept of the National Defense Highway System. However the signs failed to note that Ike got the idea for a national road system when he traveled on the German Autobahn during WWII. Thus it failed to note that the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways were based on the Autobahn. Also the signs use the term Interstate highways leaving off the fact that the highway system has the term defense in its title. I guess its not politically correct to talk about the military use of the roads and that they are based on a German design.