Drove 2111 miles with my son from Salt Lake City to SEPA from Thursday morning to last night. Some interesting tidbits:
1) Drove into Laramie Wyoming and looked around campus/ stadium/ bought a ball cap. Incredible setting for a game- very similar to BYU in terms of location- BUT 180 degrees polar opposite in terms of bars/ cowboy town! We had a local kid go to school there with the intention of playing football- but never did follow through. Someday I'd like to see a game there...
2) Driving over The Continental Divide with high winds and snow isn't fun. Saw at least 6 jackknifed tractor trailers and sat through some of the infamous closures near Rawlins for a bit. As soon as I finally decided to "check under the hood" to take a long overdue leak....of course the traffic started!
3) There was a whole lot of nothing along Wyoming Rt. 80 and it was oddly beautiful. Most find it "boring", which it is, but it is also wonderful too.
4) Cheyenne is a fun Cowboy town. Went out for beers/shots with the former student from above. Neat local scene. Wyoming Pork and Chop house was wonderful.
5) Windmills are everywhere- from Wyoming to Somerset PA
6) Stopped in downtown Lincoln for lunch and wore my PSU ski cap in just for fun. Got some looks but no comments. A woman at an adjacent table walked up to me on her way our and whispered something...kind of caught me off guard and I didn't really hear her. Then it dawned on me that she said "We Are." As she walked by the front window I smiled and waved and she pulled out her white PSU knit cap on a cold and blustery day. We Are indeed everywhere!
7) Took the obligatory shot of me on the steps of Memorial Stadium with said PSU ski cap and a #1 sign...
8) Was going to sleep in iowa City but they had a game and hotels were too expensive. In general the presence of Iowa and/or ISU gear in roadside rest stops and C-stores is not nearly on the level of Nebraska- where it felt like you could get NU gear anywhere along 80 in the state. Favorite stop was Fat Dogs in Neb whose slogan is "You Are In The Middle of Nowhere." And we were...
9) Driving a Honda CRV with tinted back windows, and wrinkled rear quarter panel, backseats down and packed to the roof and California plates is a cop magnet. I got pulled over in Joliet, Ill for "speeding" in a 55 MPH zone where I was being passed all over the place. Unmarked white Excursion- had apparently been trailing me for awhile. Officer told me that I was going 79....which was unlikely but possible....but others would have been going 85+....I was in the middle of the pack.
She also said that even though I used my turn signal- that I moved "too quickly" across two lanes after going through a toll scanner. Turns out she was a NARC, fishing for a reason to let her drug dog walk around our vehicle. She talked with us to get our story...then "invited me" to go into her truck to "have a conversation since it was too loud by the side of the road." Part of me thought that I had scene this in some low budget XX flicks- but she really just was interrogating me- rehashing the same info three different ways as she was printing out a "warning" for the 2 moving violations.
I was just happy to get off without a ticket- but she definitely targeted and profiled us. In doing some research on the officer she is a decorated state trooper. She and her dog "Trigger" have been in numerous articles etc and were Officers of the Year in 2020. I wonder how it would have gone had it been my son and another young person? What if we were people of color? In hindsight I appreciate her doing her work, but also felt violated....it was a speed trap without the intention of catching "speeders." In any case it was a 20 minute delay...that is all
10) Rural Indiana, Illnois and Ohio are interchangeable. Thought of Ohio Lion when I passed the Archbold exit...and Obli near Cleveland
11) The snow and rain that impacted the games yesterday sucked to drive through- especially the Western part of the PA turnpike- which was a marvel in 1940 but should be blown up now...all of the polish in the world won't fix that turd
12) PSU Football Radio Network coverage was awful...two weak stations around Pittsburgh and then nothing for awhile until we picked up 1210 WCAU from Philly in the Laurel Highlands.
13) Listening to Steve and Jack felt like "home" for the end of a long 3 days of driving! Saw some neat things. Got my son and his stuff home. Glad to live where I do.
"We Are!" was a highlight!
1) Drove into Laramie Wyoming and looked around campus/ stadium/ bought a ball cap. Incredible setting for a game- very similar to BYU in terms of location- BUT 180 degrees polar opposite in terms of bars/ cowboy town! We had a local kid go to school there with the intention of playing football- but never did follow through. Someday I'd like to see a game there...
2) Driving over The Continental Divide with high winds and snow isn't fun. Saw at least 6 jackknifed tractor trailers and sat through some of the infamous closures near Rawlins for a bit. As soon as I finally decided to "check under the hood" to take a long overdue leak....of course the traffic started!
3) There was a whole lot of nothing along Wyoming Rt. 80 and it was oddly beautiful. Most find it "boring", which it is, but it is also wonderful too.
4) Cheyenne is a fun Cowboy town. Went out for beers/shots with the former student from above. Neat local scene. Wyoming Pork and Chop house was wonderful.
5) Windmills are everywhere- from Wyoming to Somerset PA
6) Stopped in downtown Lincoln for lunch and wore my PSU ski cap in just for fun. Got some looks but no comments. A woman at an adjacent table walked up to me on her way our and whispered something...kind of caught me off guard and I didn't really hear her. Then it dawned on me that she said "We Are." As she walked by the front window I smiled and waved and she pulled out her white PSU knit cap on a cold and blustery day. We Are indeed everywhere!
7) Took the obligatory shot of me on the steps of Memorial Stadium with said PSU ski cap and a #1 sign...
8) Was going to sleep in iowa City but they had a game and hotels were too expensive. In general the presence of Iowa and/or ISU gear in roadside rest stops and C-stores is not nearly on the level of Nebraska- where it felt like you could get NU gear anywhere along 80 in the state. Favorite stop was Fat Dogs in Neb whose slogan is "You Are In The Middle of Nowhere." And we were...
9) Driving a Honda CRV with tinted back windows, and wrinkled rear quarter panel, backseats down and packed to the roof and California plates is a cop magnet. I got pulled over in Joliet, Ill for "speeding" in a 55 MPH zone where I was being passed all over the place. Unmarked white Excursion- had apparently been trailing me for awhile. Officer told me that I was going 79....which was unlikely but possible....but others would have been going 85+....I was in the middle of the pack.
She also said that even though I used my turn signal- that I moved "too quickly" across two lanes after going through a toll scanner. Turns out she was a NARC, fishing for a reason to let her drug dog walk around our vehicle. She talked with us to get our story...then "invited me" to go into her truck to "have a conversation since it was too loud by the side of the road." Part of me thought that I had scene this in some low budget XX flicks- but she really just was interrogating me- rehashing the same info three different ways as she was printing out a "warning" for the 2 moving violations.
I was just happy to get off without a ticket- but she definitely targeted and profiled us. In doing some research on the officer she is a decorated state trooper. She and her dog "Trigger" have been in numerous articles etc and were Officers of the Year in 2020. I wonder how it would have gone had it been my son and another young person? What if we were people of color? In hindsight I appreciate her doing her work, but also felt violated....it was a speed trap without the intention of catching "speeders." In any case it was a 20 minute delay...that is all
10) Rural Indiana, Illnois and Ohio are interchangeable. Thought of Ohio Lion when I passed the Archbold exit...and Obli near Cleveland
11) The snow and rain that impacted the games yesterday sucked to drive through- especially the Western part of the PA turnpike- which was a marvel in 1940 but should be blown up now...all of the polish in the world won't fix that turd
12) PSU Football Radio Network coverage was awful...two weak stations around Pittsburgh and then nothing for awhile until we picked up 1210 WCAU from Philly in the Laurel Highlands.
13) Listening to Steve and Jack felt like "home" for the end of a long 3 days of driving! Saw some neat things. Got my son and his stuff home. Glad to live where I do.
"We Are!" was a highlight!