another drive to NE under my belt

When you drive 12 hours by yourself with two pups that don't talk back(thank goodness), you have a lot of time to think and observe. Here are my observations for my first drive from NM to NE.

* This drive is incredibly desolate. I often wondered when I got down to 1/4 tank of gas if I was going to hit a town that had a gas station before I ran out of gas...I follow a lot of back-roads through Colorado and Kansas and am "in and out" of cell service so I'm quite thankful I have a reliable car.
* Rural America makes me smile so much ~ you get a lot of the one pointer-finger(not the other "one finger" obscene waves) waves from the farmers and ranchers. I find myself feeling rude if I don't return the pointer finger gesture.
* Speaking of the drivers ~ I love when I come upon a vehicle and I can see the silhouette of the cowboy hat of the driver. It makes me smile everytime!
* I love the NE Cornhusker pride in Kansas and western Nebraska. I saw lots of Husker flags and numerous shops and cafe's with some sort of Nebraska reference! Go 'skers!
* The Starbucks near my house wasn't open when I left Santa Fe so I thought, "I'll just hit another Starbucks on the drive since Starbucks are everywhere." Well - not so much! I think the first Starbucks I saw advertised wasn't until I hit Colby, Kansas which was more than half way through my drive. Needless to say, I survived the drive with only one Dr. Pepper of caffeine.
* I panicked when I got to a gas station that had the "old-fashioned" gas pumps. No credit/debit card option?? I have to share the pump with the car on the other side of the pump?? I seriously almost went to find a different gas station because I didn't know the proper etiquette of using the pump and paying. But I survived and was able to settle my tab inside the store - who knew something so silly could cause a little stress?!!? :)

So - here I am in NE and so excited to see family and friends. But I am definitely missing the Santa Fe sunshine...it's so gloomy in NE!