from Cody, WY

Made it safely to Cody last night, at just about midnight. It was, in a word, a brutal 8-hour drive.

The air conditioning in the van, which Rich eagerly had recharged and was very excited to be able to give to his ailing father, stopped working before we'd even left town. Which was really unfortunate, considering it reached 106 in Denver, and we were transporting a small cat with a lot of black fur. We ended up having to wet a small towel, then wrap some popsicles in it and place it next to her in the kennel, in a desperate bid to bring down the temperature in there and stop her from panting. It worked sufficiently enough, but none of us were very pleased about the situation. Rich ended up with a two-inch sunburn on his left kneecap from the unrelenting sun, and in a small moment of logical oversight, I nearly wrecked my car by changing lanes after I'd put my reflective windscreen in my window to try to keep the sun off me. Still, we made it unscathed.

Yesterday, I learned that a cheap tarp can be worn clean through by a piece of hemp twine, if you happen to be going 85 mph and the tarp bubbles up with the wind and rubs against the twine for 8 hours. We were using the tarp to hold a spare mattress to the top of the minivan - a mattress we will need at our next stop, since the spare bed is so uncomfortable it is impossible to get a good nights' sleep on it, and we may even need it at this stop for the very same reason. But let me tell you, when you get as wound around the axle as I do, spending 8 hours waiting for a mattress to come flying at your windshield at any moment is rather nerve-wracking. Thanks to my diligence we had to stop and readjust it three times; I felt badly, but at least we stayed safe the whole way down, which more than makes up for the time we lost.

Rich's mother's house has all the comforts of family and home. I feel very comfortable here, I can putter to my heart's content. This is the perfect location for me to get over the erroneous preconceived notion I somehow developed about this trip, which is that I'll be tent camping for the next 6 months. The reality is that I'll probably be spending a large chunk of time in the comfort and luxury of people's homes, and I am certainly okay with that.

I'm getting gently teased by the Rich and his brother for "having discovered the internet" and disappearing from social activities. I suppose I should remedy that.

More updates to come, after we get out and about and I have a chance to take some photos for you. Until then, some photos from the last time we were here around Christmas. This place has a beautiful, sleepy background majesticity that I am in love with; I am excited to share more photos with you all.

And one more, from summertime last year. Apologies for it being crooked, I took this from the top of my parabola on an elementary-school playground swingset.