Its becoming obvious to me that eating well in the U.S. when you're travelling is an impossability... it all came to a head in the Nebraskan town of Alliance which we dragged our road weary feet into late in the evening after hopping all over South Dakota and Nebraska... we snuck up and down the main drag looking for a nice looking restaurant only to be greeted by hamburger grill after steak house after hot dog stand (which I know I should be writing more about but I'll get around to it...). We finally decided to hell with it and at least we'd have an experience by pulling up to an old style, neon draped road side "drive-up" food stall.
In the late evening summer glow with a glorious sunset behind us you can imagine our suprise to find the menu littered with such healthy looking treats as grean beans, broccolli, cauliflower and baked potatoes! Yumm - a nice heathy snack with a bean burrito to fill the gaps... how bloody wrong can you be.
Never. *!NEVER!* in my life have I had a meal that was totally deep fried... but thats changed now (if you can call it had). The meal arrived eventually in a series of suspiciously greasy and see-thru white paper bags. Burrito - fried. Green beans - fried. Cauliflower - Fried? Yep? Deep fried cauliflower - and it tastes as good as it sounds. ie. Crap. We made an effort to pick off the fat smothered bread crust but enough was enough... we gave up, leaving behind piles of grease sodden paper bags filled with perfectly good vegies that had been ruined... I'll never knock back a salad again (unless its deep fried that is).
Alliance is a nice town though - it was such a refreshing experience to drive past acre after acre of lush green sprouting corn, alfafa and golden wheat... lets hope our farmers get a break from the drought soon.
From Alliance we trooped onto the city of Cheyenne (pronounced shy-anne) for the biggest wild west celebration and rodeo IN THE COUNTRY! THis was going to be the wild west at its westiest and wildiest. Its a tough town, on the cold high praries... tubleweeds visit in the millions and buffalo used to roam these lands...
Trouble is, those days are gone. There is no real wild west any more, not that one can easily find. Its packaged up in easy to digest servings in themed family restaraunts and glizty expensive country and western stage shows... I think the real wild west might still be out there, riding fences and camping rough, but its not anywhere we'll find in a guildbook or festival or historic town.
Which is why Cheyenne felt a bit like the royal Canberra show - but with a smaller side show alley and no stunt cars (stunt horses sure - but they're not as fast nor dangerous). The rodeo though - when we got to it was good fun to watch, the bull riding is very exciting, the crowd all get to their feet and roar as the rider approaches the 8 second mark of being thrown around like a stick of celery in a blender - until we started wondering about the animals' (and the riders!) welfare. Some of them get pretty beaten (particularly one rider knocked out cold) around, and the wild horse race is a threat to life and limb for ALL involved, so many tough cowboys strewn over the field - and I dont think they're known for milking a penalty... The locals are very friendly though and the rodeo - I'm told - is the best outdoor rodeo in the US.
One thing that we all though was pretty good was a HUGE free pancake breakfast the town puts on for all comers. In two hours they serve 11,000 PEOPLE, mixed in a concrete truck mixer and cooked on huge bbqs. It was all over too soon though - we got served in record time, wolfed them down and then we hustled away as downtown 
Cheyenne quickly reverted back to its standard quiet and lonesome status. I kept waiting for the tubleweeds. Some poor local soul had scrawled, in obvious frustration on the window of a failed business "WYOMING SUCKS". I dont think thats true, Wyoming is an amazing place, from rugged peaks to sweeping praries to bone dry desert and dry rusting railcar after railcar this IS an interesting and engaging place, built upon the sweat and fading photographs of those who came before by foot, wagon or steamtrain - but the strain of trying to live the wild west dream after its long gone would be a tough life.
Cheyenne quickly reverted back to its standard quiet and lonesome status. I kept waiting for the tubleweeds. Some poor local soul had scrawled, in obvious frustration on the window of a failed business "WYOMING SUCKS". I dont think thats true, Wyoming is an amazing place, from rugged peaks to sweeping praries to bone dry desert and dry rusting railcar after railcar this IS an interesting and engaging place, built upon the sweat and fading photographs of those who came before by foot, wagon or steamtrain - but the strain of trying to live the wild west dream after its long gone would be a tough life.