This has to be the segment with the greatest landscape contrasts in the whole route. Starts in a shady little valley along a clear trout stream. Up onto the dry scrub covered plateau where you can see for miles -- so far that the Air Force practices bombing here -- and North for ever until the route drops into the deep green alfalfa fields of the Snake River valley. Suddenly civilized, the road follows the Snake East, with its freeways and byways to Glenn's Ferry. Great place for lunch. Neat how this one town accumulates the river, the freeway, the railroad and at one time, a Ferry. Sharp turn North and a long climb out of the desert into a land of pine and tamarack and Douglas fir. Once up high, the route crosses the Boise ... read more

I started early to avoid the trucks -- but they start early too. As the sun came up I was headed North out of the valley of the Great Salt Lake, turning slowly West along I-84. The high desert plateau was a clear light brown and grey, exaggerating the contrast between irrigated land and desert. As the houses fell behind and the landscape cleared, so did the highway. The ride became a joy. Idaho farmers make the desert bloom, with the kind assistance of the Snake River. We reached the Snake and I decided to see what it looked like at Twin Falls. Sorry. Wrong choice. Most of the river had been diverted into irrigation canals, or the power plant, and the famous Twin Falls ran dry. The alfalfa farms looked great. I hadn't realized Idaho ... read more

Cañon City CO has two claims to fame: it is host to the Most Maximum Security Prison in the US, current residence of the Unabomber, El Chapo Guzman, The Shoebomber, the Boston Marathon bomber, the Oklahoma City bomber, and a bunch of CIA and FBI officials who passed secret info to the Soviets, resulting in the deaths of many US operatives. While I only saw one facility, there are actually 13 prisons in and around town. Probably the safest place in the country to spend the night. The county also boasts the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas river, crossed by a sky bridge. It looked like fun, if a little touristy, but I felt like I had to cover some miles and left it for next time. The road to the Continental Divide follows the valley ... read more

Today was to have been the great leap forward -- a dash West to see how much of the Great Plains I could cross before dark. The early pioneers must have had a similar feeling -- measured in weeks rather than hours. My route (US 50) follows the Santa Fe Trail down to Dodge City and then over into New Mexico. I did want to make it to Great Bend, site of Pawnee Rock which was a fixture along the trail. But I lost my way, wandering through the low hills which border the MIssouri, an area settled by Germans who have kept their traditions and towns. Very beautiful. Reminded me of the Driftless region in southern Wisconsin. Hermann, settled in the 1830s, was clean and orderly and decorated with flags in remembrance of September 11. ... read more

Crossing the Ohio was a milestone. I felt the Midwest taking shape, defined by the river, invisible to the eye but always present. Parkersburg was large and surprisingly industrial. Barges traveled the waterway. A huge lock lined the Eastern Shore. I felt I was moving into new territory. The road gradually flattened and the forests diminished as I drove West, still in the Alleghenies. Half way to Cincinnati I came upon the town of Chillicothe, former capital of Ohio back when it first became a state in 1803. The Europeans who settled there in the late 18thcentury chose a central location that had already been favored by the local Native American tribes from 500 BCE, over 2000 years ago. The mounds of the Hopewell and other peoples who lived there all that long ago, are a ... read more