America the Beautiful. . .and Bizarre

After leaving South America (and en route to South Africa) I stopped in the United States to spend some time with family and friends before the next leg of my journey. While there, my dad talked me into a father-daughter cross-country road trip to visit family in Montana and my childhood home in Ohio. 

For my return trip from Ohio to Chicago, I took the bus.

I spent hundreds of hours on South American buses so I’d like to see what North American buses have to offer. Overall, I’ll give it a good review. No food, blankets, or movies – but I did have a comfy seat and a working bathroom!

More importantly, I got to spend a week on the highways of the USA remembering how beautiful my country is. It’s so easy to forget, when traveling around the world and seeing amazing places, that the United States is full of so many diverse and beautiful places as well. There’s a reason (actually many) that inspired the song “America the Beautiful" -- spacious skies, purple mountains, amber waves of grain. . .I was lucky enough to see just a few of those reasons during my road trip.

While driving along I-94 through North Dakota, all of a sudden, you find yourself surrounded by fields of sunflowers. Stunning.

The plains of eastern Montana sometimes feel like a step back in time.

The mountains and rivers of western Montana are always near and dear to my heart. The beauty of these tree-covered mountains rival any others I’ve seen.

Western Montana is also home to a quiet grove of huge cedar trees. Standing over 175 feet high and many around 8 feet in diameter, these 200 year-old trees will make you feel the size and  timelessness of nature.

My Two Favorite Guys Dwarfed by a Cedar Tree

Somehow, there’s even beauty in a lake created by an open pit copper mine in Southern Montana. This lake is a half-mile wide and nearly 1800 feet deep and filled with heavily acidic water full of heavy metals and dangerous chemicals. And yet it makes for a beautiful, if toxic, sight.

The Badlands of South Dakota are otherworldly with their craggy peaks and ribbons of colored rock. Photos don’t do them justice!

In Minnesota and Indiana, even wind turbines, with their slow graceful motion, are soothing and quietly beautiful. Like an army of thin, white soldiers standing at attention.

But, of course, one can always count on the US to mix a whole lot of beauty with a little bit of bizarre. In southern Minnesota, in the town of Blue Earth, we saw a sign advertising a 60 foot Jolly Green Giant. What? It turns out that this town grows corn and green beans for the Green Giant label and are proud of the work they do. 

In 1978, Interstate 90 (the longest interstate in the US, joining the east and west coasts) was completed. They were building it from the two coasts and it met right here in southern Minnesota. To commemorate the completion of Interstate 90 this giant homage to the world's "largest" vegetable fan was erected. Only in America!

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Ciao

Unfortunately, the time has come to leave South America. I stayed longer than originally intended and still had to tear myself away. I easily fell in love with this continent, its people, its animals, the language, and the amazing scenery. And there’s still so much more to explore.

So I will not say “adios Sud America,” but only “hasta pronto!”

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Monkey Business

While I was in Colombia I met a (fabulous) guy who told me about a wild animal refuge in Bolivia where he had volunteered. While listening to his stories, it became obvious how rewarding his experience had been and his enthusiasm was infectious. Spending time volunteering at this refuge became one of my “must-haves” for Bolivia.

Greg with Katie

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Pass the Salt

Southern Bolivia is home to the world’s largest salt flats – the Salar de Uyuni. A salt flat is a "flat expanse of salt left by the evaporation of a lake." The Salar de Uyuni stretches over 4,674 square miles (larger than Lake Titicaca and nearly half the size of Lake Erie!). These salt flats are an amazing sight – nothing but white nearly as far as you can see in any direction!

Between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago Lago Minchin covered southern Bolivia. This lake eventually evaporated and the salt deposits were created. Additionally, with no outlet to the sea, minerals leached from the surrounding mountains have added to this vast expanse of white.

The Salar de Uyuni is located at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level. As a result, it can get pretty cold! Due to the frequent freezing and thawing process amazing hexagon shapes crack themselves into the thick layers of the salt.

Bolivia has been protective of this natural resource and only locals have rights to the salt and other minerals. The small town of Colchani borders the salt flats and the locals work by hand to extract 20,000 tons of salt annually (18,000 for human consumption, 2,000 for local livestock).  

First, the salt is scraped off the wet surface and piled into cones.

These cones remain for several days allowing the water to drain out and pool on the surface of the flats.

Once the majority of the moisture has been removed, the salt cones are scooped onto a truck and taken into town for processing.

The entire process is done by hand using a process that has been used in Bolivia for hundreds of years.

But the salt flats aren't all work. . . the great expanse of white in every direction messes with distance and perspective. . .

Saluting My Trusty Canon

Giving Our Ride a Lift

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