The Shriviling Land

A bump in the road shakes you to awareness. The sky is blue with a few scattered clouds. Your sister is still sound asleep. You quietly get dressed and sneak up front to watch out the windows. The sun is shining bright behind you. The fireball sits in the sky as if it was placed there to light your way. There are hills in the distance that are blanketed in clouds. Some of the clouds fall over the mountains like marshmallow fluff over ice cream.

You sit up front and watch the sagebrush and hills that surround you. Sometimes when the hills fall away, you can see far distant mountains. You sister wakes up and your mom makes breakfast. All the while you are still watching the land. It looks the same. The asymmetrical shapes of the hills, the sagebrush, the gaps between the brush filled with weeds. You see plenty of antelope. Some are big bucks with horns like forked spears jutting from their heads. Others are ladies with their young hiding nearby or running around.  Also along the way you see a giant hole next to the freeway. It is a giant coal mine. And it is home to one of the largest cranes. The hole is a couple hundred feet deep, but the boom of the crane can easily be seen. When a Tonka Toy is parked next to it, the tonka toy looks like an actual kids toy. It is amazing to see how massive the crane actually is. It makes you feel tiny.

You get off the freeway and start driving along Hwy 30. The highway allows you to avoid Salt Lake City and it's traffic. It also allows you to see more beauty. When you start on it, you know you are getting close to Idaho because grass is starting to pop up between all of the sagebrush. The grass gets greener and more abundant as you follow the winding road. You see a couple deer hiding in the brush next to a small creek. You pass over a large creek and it is beautiful. The water is clear and you can see the water-smoothed rocks in the bottom.  You follow the creek around bends and past farms with dilapidated barns. You follow it into Idaho. The hills rise up on either side of you and gently roll by. You stop and eat dinner at The Ranch Hand in Montpelier. This town was home to a bank that Butch Cassidy robbed. It is a small town but peaceful and very pretty.

You reach the main interstate head west. It is starting to get late and then the sun begins slowly falling. You pass through Pocatello and Twin Falls. You also pass over the Snake River twice. It winds through the country cutting deep gorges. Black rocks make the walls rugged and dangerous. The monster leaves you behind. The sun starts setting and the sky becomes a fiery orange and red. They mix and there is an array of reddish hues. The red lingers until the sun is fully behind the Earth.