Where the buffalo (used to) roam...

"Sorry sir, we've run out of economy cars so I'm going to upgrade you to an SUV ."

I protested, lamely, that SUVs are bad, but by now I had no choice - I was in a car rental office 15 miles from Denver and about 200 miles from where I wanted to be that night (Alliance, Nebraska). So I took it. But I did ask for the smallest SUV they had, which still wasn't very small. Here's how I justified it:

• I'd be driving a very long way. The plan was to take in Nebraska, South Dakota, Yellowstone and then back. The Jeep Laredo has cruise control, so I could get some kip while the car took the strain.
• I'd be driving off-road. This was true to a point, as (sadly) all of the roads on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are dirt. Which makes for pretty spectacular driving but also for bad karma. Pine Ridge is adjacent to the Black Hills - home of 'Wild' West cities like Deadwood, Cody, Buffalo, Sundance and Keystone; but also holy land for many Indian tribes and guaranteed to them by Treaty in 1868. Once gold was discovered, the land was illegally settled by 'pioneers' and then requisitioned by the government. The Indian tribes were left to Pine Ridge. A few years later, as if to rub it in, some muppet carved the faces of four US Presidents on one of their mountains. (The Indian response, the Crazy Horse Memorial, is immense - it's taken them 50 years so far and the head alone would fit all of Rushmore).
• I could sleep in the Laredo's roomy interior. It was actually quite comfortable.
• GLOBAL WARMING IS A MYTH!! It seems that as soon as you get West of Chicago, all radio is right-wing talk radio. And it really is as bad (or worse) than I expected. I stumbled on the Rush Limbaugh show and within an hour they'd covered gun control, abortion, climate change (which is a myth, apparently), taxation and trade union legislation. The late-night stuff was even worse - hateful, racist, paranoid lunacy. One guy decided to have a pop at Michael Moore's new film on healthcare, saying "LET'S TALK ABOUT THE REAL ISSUES!! Like our national language, illegals and criminals coming here from Mexico, the attack on our Christian identity, prayer in schools, our second amendment rights [to own machine guns], the liberal-controlled media. Let's not waste our time on stupid issues like healthcare - if they think it's so good in Cuba they should go live there." Another said that the US could learn a lesson from "Nambia" (where?!), "who can deport their illegals". But luckily I also found NPR, which reaffirmed my faith in humanity (this show, for example, is hilarious).

Anyway, a nice little road trip. I think your solstice was a bit bigger than mine, but I made it to Alliance, Nebraska in time (home of Carhenge) and got out to the Black Hills and Yellowstone too. Apparently some people are reading this for holiday tips - so mine would be to go to the Black Hills (particularly Hwy 87 and the Needles Highway in Custer State Park), drive West on Hwy 16, but skip Yellowstone. The Grand Tetons just south of it looked much better.