Day 1.5-2.5

The backroads of southern South Dakota and NW Nebraska capture the imagination the only way open, empty places can. The land changes back and forth between horizon-stretching grassland and rolling hills and buttes. Both are, at the most, sparsely populated by cattle. (Lindsey at one point: "look, people!")
For some reason my brain keeps on insisting that something I've long been looking for, something important, can be found tucked into the folds of those hills or at the top of that ridge. I think Lindsey put it best at one scenic overlook: "I just want to run all over those."
The towns out here seem to be gladly forgotten outposts resisting the winds and change alike. Of course, that's a romantic/bullshit interpretation, but the universally peeling paint, aged signs, and overall lack of visible evidence beyond the cars and gas pumps that it is later than 1982 prod the imagination.
The other cool thing about being in the middle of nowhere is the speed limits are high and seem to be more suggestions than rules. We both enjoyed twisting and turning at 80+ mph.
The novelty and speed put us in good spirits. A snippet:
L: "I should be a race car driver." *accelerates around a minivan and makes her passenger grip the handrest like a nervous parent teaching a lead-footed teenager*
"I especially love passing."
D: "Looks like you've got a double-pass coming up" *indicates at a truck-SUV clot ahead*
L: "Nope, I never do two people at once."
D: *giggles and grabs notepad to record moment for posterity*
We proceeded in this fashion to our campsite in Ft. Robinson, NE (where Lindsey took her gorgeous star pictures) and again the next day towards Denver and the Flaming Lips!!