Sunday, December 21, 2008

In Mezza al Nulla!






20 Dicembre
1000 km, 600 miles, from KC to Denver in a Penske moving truck across the emptiness of Kansas and Colorado makes for a long and stressful day. This part of my visit to the USA filled me with more fear than any other, although meeting my youngest neice proved more dangerous (She gave me a cold). I have never seen more semi-trailer trucks off the road and flipped over as I did yesterday. An ice storm had arrived 18 hours before me and made I-70 extremely treacherous. I was very lucky to find ice and snow remaining only on a small stretch near Colby, KS. 9 hours were needed to accomplish the drive in "the middle of nowhere" which is the translation of the title. It is a pretty nowhere in its way. I was lucky! for the most part with the road conditons having cleared considerably and having the gasoline prices ranging from 1.49 to 1.69 a gallon on the route. That is about 1/4 what it costs in Italy right now with the newly weakened dollar.
Here are some photos which many will recognize of the empty farmland and Flint Hills regions, which start out the voyage segueing to a lonely church, the 1st view of Pike's peak, 95 miles away and empty Colorado at the last.
I celebrated my arrival with a 99 Dunn Howell Mt. Cabernet,; making up for lost time with my wines, which have been exiled here away from their owner. My friend Leslie helped me, so don't fret for my liver. It was amazingly ready to drink for a 9 year old baby from Randall Dunn.
dds

5 comments:

Adrian Reynolds said...

Looks like prime Glen Campbell territory..."Wichita Lineman"

Anonymous said...

la traduzione più esatta è "in mezzo al nulla".
Sono contento che l'hai scampata al freddo ed al ghiaccio, almeno poi ti sei rilassato con del buon vino...
raf

Dwight said...

i put those pix up for my italian friends who haven't seen the great emptiness that can be our western states. Thanks for the correction Raf. I remember Michele always saying we were in mezza al nulla when we drove across nebraska and wyoming as well. d

Adrian Reynolds said...

No roadtrip is complete without Autogrill

Dwight said...

does quizmo's count? d