The Drive

I'm back in California after three long days of mind numbing driving. Its a simple trip from MN to CA. Just take 35 south to Des Moines and then I-80 all the way to Sacramento. But that's part of the reason its such a boring drive!
After saying goodbye to my "Minnesota" family (the Balgaard's) I headed out Sunday morning driving all of the way to North Platte, NE. The next day I finished off Nebraska and flew through Wyoming. The drive became a little challenging when I hit some high-wind areas out in Wyoming. At times the road was hard to see with all of the blowing snow and I really had to hang onto the wheel when the winds broad-sided my car. The high prairie is a beautiful area in winter as you can see from some of the pictures. That night I had dinner in Salt Lake City and decided to push on a couple more hours and make it across the salt flats to Wendover, Nevada, where you can get a room in a casino for $29 a night! ;) I headed out early the next morning. Somewhere out in the middle of the desert there was a little hold up when a truck a couple cars in front of me caught on fire or something. It takes awhile for emergency vehicles to respond when you're in the middle of nowhere. I didn't mind the wait since it was a good opportunity to snap some pictures of the desert sunrise. After that, the last day of my drive just seemed to fly by. I listened to a couple audiobooks and only stopped twice all day. Strangely enough I saw my first non-snow sprinkled terrain upon driving through the Sierra Nevada's. Hilmar was an amazingly warm 62 degrees when I arrived home in the afternoon. Not that I'm complaining but I was kind of getting used to thinking of Christmas's as white...
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!