Wyoming

I was able to hit the road at a pretty reasonable time this morning and spent the majority of today's eight hour drive crossing through Nebraska. In a way today was like yesterday, but with a twist. Like yesterday, the sun rose with a fierce strength that caused the interior temperature of my car to spike up fast and by early afternoon we were all three more than a little uncomfortable. But it got to the point that I was worried the cats would overheat so I took their blanket out of the kennel, something that ticked Faelina off quite a bit judging by the loud constant yowls of protest she kept up for some time after. Like yesterday, I spent the day singing Brantley Gilbert songs and quoting the lines to Harry Potter but also threw in a couple hours of The Birthday Massacre to mix it up a bit. I made another Starbucks stop in western Nebraska but opted for an iced americano (vs a hot one) hoping it would help cool me off (it didn't but at least it woke me up).

Eastern Nebraska was much like Iowa with mile upon mile of cornfields over flatland, but as I drove further west the terrain slowly transformed. Beginning simply with more scatterings trees after a time those trees turned into miles of untamed woods. The acres of corn began to give way to more farms featuring herds of cows and horses grazing in pastures before the corn all but disappeared and ranches took over. The utter flatness of the land slowly adopted slight hills and dips and then finally at 1:56pm I saw off in the distance real hills. I grinned when I saw them because though only hills they might be I knew them to be a tantalizing promise of what was to come and I just couldn't wait. About 40 minutes later I-80 split and as I kept right to continue west the road rose upwards into those hills and again I had to smile because I knew what those higher elevations were bringing me to. At 4:15pm I said goodbye to Nebraska and crossed the border into the state I had been most excited about getting to visit on this trip - Wyoming. I was born in Evanston and had visited frequently when we lived in Utah but my last visit was at the start of our drive up to Alaska 20 years ago. I swear that the second I crossed that invisible line into the state something inside me clicked and I felt instantly more relaxed - more at peace. It was like I'd been holding my breath for four years and I could now finally let it go, and I think I know why.

Not long after arriving in Maine I started to sense that the underlying energy of life on the east coast was not the same as on the west, the spirit of the land and the people who lived there was different. I've never had the feeling that one is better than the other, instead I think it's simply which spirit and energy matches each individual person best. For me there was no question; when I'm out west my soul sings, out east it's just a muted whisper. I knew I belonged out west, and today I went back there to stay.

I continued down I-80 soaking up the scenery around me and then, almost exactly three hours after I'd first spotted the hills, my eyes alighted on what they had promised. Far off in the distance, beneath soft sunlight clouds, dark blue silhouettes filled the horizon - Mountains. Just as some people need the sea to be truly happy, and others can only find real peace in a desert sunset, I need mountains surrounding me or else I just can't breath right. The lack of them in Maine is the single reason why I could never live there forever and the promise of being near them once more was the most exciting, alluring factor about moving back west. Having those tall constant guardians near again makes me feel safer and more complete than I have in a long time.

I spent the last 30 minutes of my drive today smiling like a fool as the highway wound through the Medicine Bow National Forest all the while bringing me closer to those far off giants. I reached my destination - Laramie - and got us checked in and settled early enough to see the sun set over the Forest's hills from my hotel window. There is a lot about this move that has me scared, nervous, unsure, and doubting of my ability to find success, but right now I am absolutely in love with the spectacularly wondrous place it has brought me to tonight.