Day Fifteen: Bitter Cold to Bittersweet

It is so cold in Cheyenne that I have the over sized sweatshirt on over the layers of all the other clothes I brought in order to walk Louie in the snow. He is not entirely sure where to frolic and I am way behind slipping around.

There is the train that kept us up all night.

And the serene heartland to enjoy.

We have have lofty goals of getting to Kansas City today. I fuel up and am looking for coffee and find it free if I buy this,

So what is a girl to do. 

We enjoy the snow for miles and miles, then into Nebraska we can see for miles again and there is no more edge of the world. 

We stop off at different sights along the route; Buffalo Bills Ranch and the original Pony Express station; Louie likes that he can run around and I like the history. At the station a gentleman rides in on his Harley and I hope my lipstick is still on. He is wearing a ski mask and never takes it off; is this what Mary Chapin Carpenter means by a stranger's coat? He chats with me about the beauty of the park then we board our steeds and turns out he is going West and I am going East. Story of my life. 

Eventually I have to give in to the fact that Kansas City was just too lofty of a goal. So we pull off at the first hotel I see to borrow the WiFi and start to look for something a little more manageable. It ends up being Salina, KS; this will put me at three more hours of miles in the dark.

Driving in the dark unknown has my thoughts wander and overlap. I think about that women on CNN and wonder why no one tells her she shouldn't where her hair so big. I think about each leg of this journey and how I have grown to not immediately jump to melancholy but instead be at peace in the dark moments of life. They happen to everyone, and in that the highway becomes a common place. 

When I check into my hotel I realize it will probably the last of the journey as I am trying to get to Louisville to see my friend Anne for the last leg of the trip. Louie and I repeat the steps of check-in, run around, unload, kick-back. I write and read he washes and stretches out. What ever will we do when we get home. 

Eventually we will have to go there, and that is bittersweet. 

Recipes: Throw a banana in with that Cinabon and free coffee just to balance things out.

Roadtrips: Lonely highways in the dark is where we are most alike.

Renovations: I have to take what I am learning and apply it.