20090316101003

20090315133402.kml

20090314115151.kml

From the myriad of people we met on the road, to our friends, fans and family back home, thank you all.

We’ll be posting more very interesting stuff we just didn’t have time to pull of while on the road in the next week or so, so keep checking. Plus, a super-secret special opportunity of a lifetime.

Get out and register!!!

After having morning coffee and blog time, I made my way over to The Wrangler. I was itchin’ for some cowboy boots. Having never owner a pair, or even gonne into a western wear store, I was floored. Lookit all them boots!

More pics and stories after the break:
I found just the right pair and a super-friendly Cheyenne-ite (whose sister live 7 miles from me in New York), rang me up and gave me some greta advice on driving to Denver.

See, it’s Saturday and by Wyoming standards, there are lots of Saturday road-ragers on the highway, so she gave me a tip. We took a lesser-known highway.

It was like deja-vu. 65 mph, slow down to 50, then to 45, then 35, then a small town less than a mile long with a railroad and grain towers on the left, some seedy bar ond general store on the right, done and repeat.

There was this interesting creature, though. Methinks it’s Zoo’s id.

Today was a very short drive (by our standards), only 2 1/2 hours. So, we’rte back in Colorado and Denver again. Wow… Now to tear up this town for 2 or so days before flying to our homes. I’m certain we’ll make some more indelible marks on this city, and perhaps visit Croc’s again…

Straight ahead lies the end of our long and stimulating loop o’ fun. Road miles, road smiles.

Zoo says: According to National Geographic, the land area of Great Britain is 80823 square miles. Our loop enclosed a area roughly 3 times the size: 253000 square miles. But that’s still less than 10 percent of the continental United States.

Here is where we had our steak dinner:

Lots of shots after the break:
Here is Shadows – our bar.

Wish I had visited while they were open to get a cowboy hat and boots :(

These people are smart. Love it.

…and funny.

The capitol building is in the distance.

Here is the bar we decided NOT to go to…

Here is our hotel – The Plains

Mosaic in the sidewalk outside

Lobby

A real player piano…

Many thanks to the folks behind the counter for allowing me to snap some shots.

Zoo Says:  Driving Cross Country Without having to touch New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and any of the south is cool.

Zoo Broker lives in San Francisco, I live in Dobbs Ferry, NY.

The distance between our homes is 2,926 miles.

And guess what? You can’t make this shit up. It happened on this road:

Later on when the Vimeo movie time-lapse is up, you can see where we get out of the car and do a little victory dance. We just drove the equivalent of going from California to New York. Awe-some.

I think I remember Zoo shouting something like, “Top of the world!”

Zoo Says: Um, the quote is “I’m the King of The World”, but I didn’t even say that.  I said, “Do I look fat up here?”

But seriously, you can’t do this kind of thing with just anyone. Why would you? Good friends with an open mind and a lust for the open road and the new experiences that come along with that are paramount on a journey like this.

We had no side trips today, except for a little celebration we’ll post separately. So, this is a small collection of photos that can be taken from Route 80. I gotta say, I had no idea that Wyoming had such diverse terrain, and a humongous canyon (that we did not visit – we would have missed our steaks tonight!)

So, without further ado… photos after the break:

OK, we really have no sponsor, but we like them anyway. As much as you can like a gas company.

Don’t worry, it will be artistic (snicker) and not destructive.

Mates of State … the husband and wife duo that got us started this morning.

Great friggin’ band.

Verdict: Good coffee, and the cinnamon bun is out of this world, and an apple turnover is yet uneaten, but here are some photos (after the break):

And for those Harley-lovin friends of mine, this is the side wall outside of the Silver Dollar Club:

It’s a wonderful feeling, especially when you have no plan as to destination, except for where you might want to be when you go to sleep.

Today we rolled out of Montana into Wyoming, back into Montana and down most of Idaho. On our left were mountains of many varieties – including razortooth, barren to tall, gravelly evergreen covered and massive, piled groupings off in the distance. The landscape went from cool and green to yellowing to farmland. All of it was beautiful in it’s own way.

One thing that amazes me is that when ask people if they like where they are living, it’s mostly “no” and a rolling of the eyes. Omaha was the exception. Why? Wishing for escape? I see a lot of people loading themselves with wishes to not be someplace and not doing anything about it. Or, perhaps, not trusting themselves to make good decisions and act on them. Another possibility is that they are so focused on what they don’t like that they are not thinking about what they do like. An absence of being grateful, if you will.

I’ve learned that knowledge and experience is best reinforced by comparison. Zoo and I have talked about this at length as the miles rolled by… An ideal example is me writing about being grateful to know so much more of America. Out of all the states we have visited, I have only been to Colorado. Now I have firsthand experience in so much more of America, and having a social lubricant in the form of Zoo Broker along only makes the experience richer.

America is large and diverse in many respects. If you live here, do yourself a favor and take the time to explore it.

Here are four photos as a sampler of how incredibly mind-blowingly beautiful the Badlands Park is…

And I did not hurl last night, plus I exceeded the poll variables.

20080927105609.kml

So excited! And it’s a gorgeous day.

This morning I was mildly shocked to see the shower has two heads. Symbolism? Or was Speed Racer being the in flight movie and then me getting pulled over 1 block shy of the hotel? ( no ticket )?

Morning wakeup is to Beck’s “Modern Guilt” looking forward to seeing him and MGMT in October.

Or even better yet, “why are you taking pictures?”

I am a photographer.

Puzzled states, sudden disinterest, LOL. One nice guy actually struck up a conversation and informed me that Denver is where all the single people want to be. Swell! I fit right in :)

Anyhoo, don’t want to splurge for hotel Internet, so I will post night shots from the Nikon soon.

– SpamZalot

EDIT: After a dinner discussion tonight, Zoo reminded me that my life was in no danger whatsoever that evening. I now concur, and agree I was too drunk to remember clearly. Consider it revisionist history.