Driving Through the Grasslands

June 28

Morning came all too early.  We ate a light breakfast down in the lobby, grabbed our bags and headed out.  The climb from Orem to Park City was filled with lovely vistas of green rocky mountains, Bridal Veil Falls, and a lazy river winding its way next to the road.  At one point near Deer Creek Resevoir, we saw at least four sheriffs’ cars with lights flashing pass us on the opposite side.  Then, another few passed us, and as we drove into town, a few more.  We have no idea what happened, but it must not be good. 

Crossing the Rockies in Eastern Utah was fairly easy, although after Park City we realized we may have made a grave mistake not getting gas because Gas Buddy was not showing diesel for another 60+ miles.  While my car said I had plenty of miles left, I knew if we started to climb, that would quickly drop.  Luckily, I thought we were probably on the descent but I was still nervous.  Our cell phones don’t work really well out with T-Mobile (though we are finding that they allow us to use other providers, so we’ve had some form of service most of the way).  I was imaging how many hours behind running out of gas would put us.  We came upon the Carbon County seat, and found gas much sooner than expected.  The town almost looked like a ghost town with so few people out and about, but then we saw rows and rows of cars parked around the local Mormon church…so that’s where man of the townspeople were. 

We headed into drier territory, with more red rock creating mounds and walls around us.  Just before we crossed into Wyoming, strips of yellow and pink flowers lined the road, otherwise the scenery didn’t change too much.  We stopped at a rest stop (which I generally try to avoid), but this may be the nicest rest stop I’ve ever been too.  The bathrooms inside a little brick building were automated, with clean toilets, stalls decorated with rock facades, and hands free water faucets to wash hands.  I like Wyoming’s rest stops. 

The landscape eventually turned from fairly dry with sage brush to green grasses stretching across large swaths of land reaching up to rocky hills dotted with trees.  Every so often a pool of water would appear.  Many areas were blanketed in yellow – I don’t know if it’s flowering grasses or weeds, or just what but it sure is pretty.  The blue sky stretched over the whole scene and eventually white puffy clouds gathered.  We saw a lot of wooden fence like structured pieced together.  The may run perpendicular, diagonal, or parallel to the road.  We can’t quit figure out what they are used for.  They may be in short rows or long rows stretching out over a long distance.  They are angled with other beams that hold them up ( I have since found out they are for directing snow drifts).

We crossed the North Platte river several times, and stopped at a “Loaf n Jug” gas station convenience store in Caspar.  The town is in such a pretty area with green hills.  We passed on area that was, I think, a junk yard of farm equipment, but so colorful spread out among the green and yellow hillside.  We have driven through a few sleepy towns that almost look deserted, but I think they are just quiet towns that are particularly quiet on a Sunday. 

We have seen several windmills and so many scenes that we wish we could stop and take pictures of, but there is just not the time for it.  Maybe on our way back.  We need to make it to the reservation before too late and before night fall.  We’ve been warned it’s tough to find your way in the dark.  I love the old buildings and all these towns look like we’ve walked into a western movie.  We stopped in the little town of Lusk and filled up with gas across from the “Rawhide Drug Co” in an all brick building on the one main street in this tiny town.

We turned off a main highway and onto a small highway that felt more like some back country road (albeit paved), passing farmland and green grassy prairie.  Eventually we crossed into Nebraska, and what I remembered from last time was brown and barren.  That was in late July about eight years ago.  This time there was green and yellow connecting to the blue sky.  We drove into Fort Robertson – an old military post that was tree filled.  White rocky cliffs reached up out of the ground and trees dotted the flat tops.  Even farther into the rolling hills patches of purple sprung up as we passed by.  The sun was nearing the horizon, but being farther north this time of the year means that the sunset takes much longer, so it slowly made it’s way, casting a golden glow over the land. 

We stopped in our last major town, Chadron, and enjoyed an Arby sandwich.  We turned down the road and passed into South Dakota, unbeknownst to me.  I was waiting for a sign, but there was none.  We took the finally highway that would lead us to the reservation and were just in awe of the beauty as the road dipped and rose again, curled slowly around curve of the hills.  Ponds were scattered and the air was filled with the perfume of wet grasses.  The sky began to turn shades of pink and purple. We had to stop a few times to take some pictures.  This was not the brown barren, scorching hot land I visited eight years ago.  This was a land reborn of spring hanging on into the summer. 

We crossed into the reservation and first came upon the casino.  From what I understand it’s not a very popular one because it’s too far out for many people to drive.  We began to see the trailer homes that dot the reservation.  This is often the permanent houses for families and extended families.  We watched for the bike path, lit brightly with lights, and then turned onto our final road. A large reservoir was to our left, and then we saw a plant filled gully.    Then, I spotted the large building, a basketball court, and most telling, the yellow school bus Oyate Concern uses to pick up their youth.

We drove onto the grounds and parked, got out of the car to find the others and were instantly greeting by mosquitos and grasshoppers.  Poor Chris, who is a favorite snack of the mosquitos, was barraged by the blood thirsty creatures.  I, apparently, taste sour to them, and so they avoided me. 

We were then greeting by some of our teammates.  Vic showed us around and took us upstairs to our “rooms”.   The first time I came, the girls slept on mats in the big common room of the downstairs.  This time, the common room now serves as a cafeteria, and two new additions were being finished for meeting rooms.  The upstairs was originally the house of the missionaries, but now serves as a small school.  The school has been packed up for the summer to make way for the mission teams coming in.  We returned to the car for our belongings.

I unrolled my thin, self inflating mat down, hoping it would make for enough cushion in the girls room.  Chris put his matching one in a room with Vic.  Eight years ago we did not sleep in air conditioning, this time it blew cold air into our rooms. 

We were quickly caught up to speed about the following day and eventually made our way to bed.