Nea and I found this driftwood "fort" along the river we were hiking. Both of our childhood wonder at fun places to make and "hide-out" were ignited.
Next stop Boise, ID. Invited to a lovely dinner with a high school classmate, Holly Manning. Got to meet her beautiful family and see her lovely home. Then off to downtown Boise to meet up with Colin's boss for a couple beers, music superb conversation and Capitol viewing. I let myself in late to the Hostel Boise, a very clean and charming hostel just outside Boise in Nampa. I was the only one there, but the next morning Elsa, the proprietress, came thru and we talked at length about hostels and reinstated my drive (should it have flagged).
The drive up to Driggs, Idaho was gorgeous if a little snowy.
A common site around about these parts are grain silos and grain elevators. Farming is big business here.
Much of this country is flat and where this is the case, the horizon feels like the ocean horizon where the sky stretches on forever and the land is dwarfed.
I stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument... but too much snow meant the driving loop was closed and as were all of the hiking trails. I braved a little hike regardless and ended up in snow up to my thigh. But playing the cat game is fun, stepping lightly and trying to figure out how to spread your weight so you don't crunch thru the snow crust. The lava rock formations are very cool. 2,000 years have passed since the last eruption... about time for another one.
Stayed with Erika Hansen in Driggs, Idaho. She's was formerly an acquaintance from Portland and now she's a friend. I love this game! She's a brilliant musician and played me some songs old and new.
Crossing the Rockies was a little hair raising. I took the Grand Teton Pass in a snowstorm. Climbed one side ever so slowly and then navigated the 10% grades down on the other side. Amazingly after descending the first couple hundred feet the roads were dry and the snow storm cleared up. Ahhh weather, you are such a fierce and unusual phenomenon.
and then the Front Street (name?) bar with a totally hipster vibe, dispelled the last of my shivers about the town of Laramie. After all, hate is all around us and inside each and every one of us... as awful as that is, it's true. It's all a matter of facing the evils and doing something different with it.
I often hold the wheel like this and find my fingers aching and switch my grip.
I know I don't look that happy as I'm driving, but assure you, I've been having a pretty good time. Currently listening to the audiobook, DUNE by Frank Herbert, an old classic, but one I've never read. 
The Lincoln, Nebraska capitol building is VERY impressive. Dubbed the "Penis of the Prairies" by locals, complete with a statue at top of a man sowing seeds. The interior of the pillared edifice is in the running for the grandest I've seen (and I've seen quite a few by now).
bad picture, I know, I have more with my good camera.From Lincoln, NE the plan was to jet to St. Louis, MO and then on to Chicago to meet a couple friends coming out to explore Chicago with me. I got a couple pointers from people to check out Lawrence, Kansas and when you get the same bit of advice often in a short period of time it makes you think "maybe there's something to that." The feeling of Lawrence, KS being a prophecied destination was cemented when my father told me that one of his childhood friends, Bobby Lominska, has an organic farm in Lawrence. "Okay," I said, "give me his info." I called up the Lominska farm out of the blue and asked if I could come stay the night. They welcomed me and more than that invited me to stay for Easter.
I got the pleasure of a wonderful Easter complete with burning a brush pile before noon,
getting in some dirt therapy, planting a row of green onions; honing my skills, trying to find the most effective way to plant, still being shown up by Bob doubling my productivity (he's been at it a bit longer than I have); 
- Posted from the road
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