day 27

north platte, nebraska, to billings, montana; 657 miles.
today was humbling. first by the weather, which to this point had been perfect, so long as you like hot and humid. today dawned cloudy, down-to-the-ground cloudy that didn't seem to want to let the sun in. i had decided earlier that chimney rock in western nebraska would be a key marker on the trip, that everything west of it would be the west, and everything east the rest. i had visited the rock with judy blake a few decades ago and wanted to see if it impressed me as much this time. it did. and the clouds lifted just in time for me to see it off in the distance. the second humbling was courtesy of don from tulsa. we had arrived at the chimney rock visitors center a little before it opened, so we started talking. he was on his way home to conclude a road trip on his bike. don had gone to the northeast corner of maine to start his trip, then motorcycled across the country to lapush, washington. gulp. but i figured my trip from cape flattery to key west was at least the equal of his, so i was feeling pretty good. but then he mentioned casually that a few years ago he went from key west to prudhoe bay, alaska. and before that, he and some friends had biked down to argentina. i was more than humbled by his trips; i think my jaw scraped the pavement. we were both humbled, though, by the fact that we were driving comfortably around the country while the first folks who had crossed through here to get to oregon or california or utah -- all wagon train routes to the west passed chimney rock -- had endured hardships we couldn't imagine. there's a cemetery near chimney rock where some of them are buried. after chimney rock, i decided to go due north to the agate fossil beds national monument. there i met arthur short bull, a member of the lakota nation who was painting some watercolor scenes. you can see his work at www.dawnhawk.org. had a nice talk with him, about cultures and perspectives and other things. he's planning a series of paintings related to big tourist spots like chimney rock that will view the scene from the native american perspective and what it was like for them watching the white migration to the west. after talking with him, it was time to find an interstate and pile up some miles. there also were a couple of significant things that happened today: 1) i saw mountains, real mountains, with snow, and 2) i merged onto interstate 90. i could just stay on i-90 all the way home. we'll see. good night, don; have a safe trip home. good night, arthur, and thanks for the drawing you did of me as i sat down to talk with you (the drawing is of me as a wind horse, which fits with driving the mustang and flying down the roads). good night, jean, i'll see you soon...
tomorrow: billings maybe all the way to the potholes in eastern washington to see mom on the return trip home.