IRVINGTON, NY –My Mini and I motored over the Tappan Zee Bridge at about 5:45 PM eastern time yesterday, effectively ending a journey that carried us over 7,000 miles in 21 days–first from New York to Chicago, IL; then along Historic Route 66 from Chicago meandering southwest to Santa Monica, CA; up the California coast along Route 1 to San Francisco and then further inland on I-5 north to Eugene, OR; and finally eastbound across the Oregon High Desert, through Idaho, and onward along I-80 crossing Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and ending here in Irvington.
Whew.
Today I went through the last photos, which I took on the road while crossing Wyoming on I-80 last Wednesday. The “best of” collection appears at the end of this post; while the landscapes are not that great in terms of framing, I think they capture the “motion” of the road rather nicely. And you tell me: Is that last photo of UFOs, or what? (It’s completely unretouched and was shot without a flash. The view is of mountains to the north of I-80 in late afternoon. I don’t recall seeing the lighted objects when I took it.)
I took my lunch break in Evanston, WY, a lovely small town near the Utah-Wyoming border.
The Main Street Artisans Cafe, in Evanston, served up some great coffee. The walls of the cafe and a back room showcased colorful Western art.
Buidling exteriors along Main Street bore fading ads from the town's past. Here's one for the Hatten Realty Co.
This remarkably well-preserved ad for Wrigley's PK Chewing Gum dates to the 1920s.
One more ad--this for the Wyoming Times.
The following photos were all shot during my afternoon drive from Evanston to the Nebraska state line, where all that fun with the snow and wet weather was to greet me–and focus my attention on driving exclusively for the rest of the trip.
Several states in the west and southwest US are generating power with wind turbines. I encountered these not long after leaving Evanston.
Ominous-looking clouds started gathering later in the afternoon. They moved eastward to Nebraska and waited for me there.
Trucks were a rarity along Route 66 but are ubiquitous along today
The cloud cover meanwhile thickened...
...and darkened the sky...
...before exiting the state for Nebraska. Here's a shot taken not far from the border.
UFOs in Wyoming? You tell me!
Here's a cropping of the same photo.
And here's a close-up of the 'objects' themselves. Pretty freaky, eh?
Thanks for reading!
Postscriptus: Someone yesterday brought to my attention that Milan, OH–the town where I spent my last night on the road–is the birthplace of Thomas Edison. I didn’t get much of a sense of the place, being that my motel was right off I-80. But still the news was a revelation to me. Edison was one of my childhood idols.
Route 66 Dispatch 