Day 9

Rain crept in last night while we were eating. When we stepped out of Pizza Hut it was drizzling. By the time we returned to the campsite lightning lit up the prairie. And the wind was so fierce it seemed the tent might blow away with us in it.

Wyoming is desolate. We drove to Devil’s Tower this morning and planned to get breakfast along the way but we saw nothing except endless fields of rolling hills. We had to drive ten miles passed the tower to find a cafe and the prices in this teeny tiny town made NYC look inexpensive.

Returning to the tower we found a line of cars that could match traffic going over the George Washington Bridge during rush hour. It was insane. We sat in traffic for 33 minutes in a county where the entire population is a tiny fraction of Manhattan’s population.

I am glad we went to Devil’s Tower. If we hadn’t I would have felt like we missed something. However, I have no desire to ever go back. The crowd was horrible — all just to see a stone jutting out of the ground. I couldn’t even use the bathrooms because they were so foul from overuse. And those of you who know me know I have a very low bar for bathrooms.

According to Kati’s car, it reached 102 degrees. I was still keen to do a hike but Kati decided if she attempted it the sun would instantly turn her into a puddle. G3 and I set out to do a three mile loop trail. I wanted to avoid the popular paved trail since navigating it would be like Rockefeller Center at Christmas time. The trail we took was relatively empty and the views were pretty, but there was little shade. After a mile, G3 started to melt and asked if we could turn around. We did.

Kati‘s question of the day: When a fly gets trapped in your car and inadvertently transported miles from home, what does he do? Does he find his way back? Does he settle in? Does his confusion kill him?