One state to go...

I'm not prepared to declare myself a whole new woman yet, but after my performance today I'm feeling rather confident about my ability to become one. We made it to the hotel 13 hours after we left this morning, and not only do my fingers work, but I have no tension in my body at all. I'll admit that if I did have any when we arrived, that grande margarita I downed while waiting for my carry-out order at the Mexican cantina washed the last of it away. Now that the dogs have been fed, walked, brushed and have settled down to sleep for the night with my mom, I only need to do my yoga and drift off for the night.

Maybe people won't agree with me on this, but I really think that western Illinois is lovely. Perfectly ordered rows of crops stretch away from the interstate for miles. Crossing over the state line into Iowa only increases the beauty, as the flat farmlands of Illinois turn into rolling hills. Barns, farmhouses, and grain silos add bursts of color to the varying greens of crops and grasses, and in the midst of all of this natural beauty, wind turbines tower over the landscape and gently turn in the breeze. I'm always amazed that such subtle revolutions can produce energy for thousands.

Tomorrow we'll have another 8 hours of driving, but it is always my favorite part of the drive. Western Colorado is pretty desolate, nothing more than desert, but once we reach the outskirts of Denver, the mountains begin to appear on the horizon. They seem like a trick that my eyes play on me at first. Mountains? Or simply clouds? In the end, they're a perfect combination of both. And so we drive to the clouds tomorrow...