Here’re a few examples of down-home-ness that I found:

Everyday Religiosity

Most Americans are religious. In fact, according to a recent Washington Post survey, 92% of American people in God or a higher spirit. (Actually, I thought this might’ve be even higher.)

I guess my surprise came because I just thought people’s beliefs were more of a private affair. Instead they were not only on display, but also assumed to be universal.

For instance, when I attended the Jackson Hole Rodeo one Saturday night, I didn’t expect us to be asked to bow our heads for the health of the riders and to hear an “All rodeo workers please gather for the pre-rodeo prayer” to be blared through the PA system beforehand.

I remember thinking: Huh, but what if all rodeo workers didn’t all want to participate in the group prayer?

Troop Patriotism

I was touched when driving through one small town in Western Montana where the downtown park had yellow ribbons and photos of our soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan on the trees lining the green.

I pulled over and walked through the garden, looking at the faces and reading their names and ranks. All the soldiers were so young. And now that I’m working with vets of these wars, it almost broke my heart to even have a small inkling of the trauma

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(Not that I ever really have trouble talking to strangers – actually, maybe that’s the problem…)

For instance, when I broke down on my recent road trip (Mini Meltdown), I got to meet and hang out with Tom, the tow truck driver.

We spent about 3 hours chatting during the tow from Reno to Sacramento and I found out that he does quite a bit of charity work.

See, Tom used to own a biker bar (he’s apparently an outlaw biker – but a very nice one) and he did several charity events related to his bar and patrons. 

UnCommon People engaging in everyday philanthropy – Gotta love it!

Watch The Video: Tom, Biker / Tow Truck Driver/ Adventure Philanthropist

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Being intrigued by all types of mini living, I strain to hear. (After the river trip, I was supposed to meet up with Ryan to interview him properly, but I got sidetracked taking pictures of some newlyweds and eating bad nachos at a biker bar – but that’s another story).

A True Mountain Man

Here’s what I found out about Ryan’s mountain man existence:

• He lives in a 250 sq. ft. homesteading cabin.

• The cabin has no electricity.

• He survives the winter by killing 2 elk and on the crops he grows (and then cans) during the summer.

Wow – talk about rugged.

What exactly is a homestead cabin?

Good question! 

The Homestead Act, signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862, gave an applicant freehold title to up to 160 acres of undeveloped federal land outside the original 13 colonies.

The Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 increased the number of acres to 320. Eventually 1.6 million homesteads were granted and 270,000,000 acres (420,000 sq mi) of federal land were privatized between 1862 and 1934, a total of 10% of all lands in the U.S. (I was totally surprised by this figure really 10%?)

The Homestead Deal

Part of the homesteading “deal” was that the claimant had to improve the land.

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• Most miles driven in a day: 416

• Total money spent:  $1,870.56

• Most expensive motel: $153.70 (Jackson Hole)

• Song of the Trip:  The Commitment’s Destination Anywhere (my anthem)

• Favorite place:  Grand Tetons, WY

• Best Meal: Wake Up in Jackson Hole, WY – So good I ate here 2 days in a row. Sebastian, originally from Romania, whipped up two fabulous breakfasts for me: fresh squeezed o.j., a perfect latte, a vegetable frittata (sprinkled with sea salt) and a bacon and egg crepe that was to die for. Yum!  Be sure and check it out if you’re in the ‘hood.

• Worst Meal:  The Chalet: House of Omelettes, Eureka, OR.  Yes, breakfast is my favorite meal, but this was the pits and the owner Vera was downright rude. (I don’t think she liked my cowboy hat…). I ordered an asparagus omelet and given my California perspective expected fresh asparagus, not canned. I literally was sick for the entire day (as in pulling over to the side of the road sick). Don’t go – ever.

So, me being me, I gave myself a few rules or “guidelines” when I started out:

1) No fast food restaurants – no BK, Micky D’s or running to the border, which I abided by. I did stop once for a peanut parfait at Dairy Queen, so maybe I cheated a little.

2) No picking up hitchhikers – the fact that I needed a rule to stop myself

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• Amount of money spent:  $115.83 ($62.84 motel, $31.54 gas, $7.00 breakfast, $14.45 dinner)

• Best pic: Mini in trouble

• Song of the Day:  The Edgar Winter Group’s Free Ride

• Number of days the engine light was on: 7

• Number of cars that stopped to assist me: 1

• Nighttime abode: Sacramento, CA (only 2 hours form home!)

Yes, you read that right. The engine light was been blinking at me for the last 7 days since Missoula, MT. But I checked and there were no mini dealerships within 5 states!  Besides, the light was only yellow (not red).

It turned red, though, when I tried to get back on the freeway after making a pit stop in Reno. Basically the car lost power on the moderate incline of the freeway on-ramp and I was able to easily pull off the road.

I get free roadside assistance from Mini and it’s still under warranty, so they had a tow truck there in 54 minutes to take me the 2.5 hours to Sacramento – the nearest dealership.

So I waited by the side of the road, working on my suntan and sipping my ice tea. A Nevada Freeway Service patrol truck stopped to make sure a tow was on the way and that I was hydrated in the nearly 100 degree heat.

I actually don’t think it was such a bad way to end the trip. I mean, I was heading in

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• Amount of money spent:  $152.66 ($89.00 motel, $39.57 gas, $18.00 breakfast,$6.09 sundry items)

• Best pic: Salt Lake Flats

• Song of the Day: Dixie Chicks’ Cowboy Take me Away

• Number of times almost drove off road: 2

• Nighttime abode: Elko, NV

• Special Purchase: $289 for 2 western shirts (um, yeah almost $300 bucks)

How do I say this – I’m not such a huge fan of the Great Salt Lake because:

a) It’s Stinky

b) It’s like walking in cement, with wet grey goo seeping through your toes

c) It’s Stinky

But here’s a little more info anyway: the Great Salt Lake is a remnant of Lake Bonneville which, at its peak surface area, was nearly as large as Lake Michigan and was over 1,000 feet deep.

The salinity of Great Salt Lake depends on the lake's level, ranging from 5% to 27%. For comparison, the average salinity of the world ocean is 3.5% and a whopping 30.7% in the Dead Sea.

Maybe that’s it – I just went to the Dead Sea earlier this year and had a blast floating in the salty water.  Check it out: Getting Dirty: Dead Sea Style. 

That said, like most adventures, I’m glad I saw the Great Salt Lake, even if it didn't make My 3 Favorite Lakes.

‘Cause you know, now I know.

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Read the next post in this series: Thelma: Day #12 Reno 911: Mini Meltdown

Read the first post in

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• Amount of money spent:  $196.33 ($153.70 motel, $16.00 breakfast,$26.63 dinner)

• Best pic: Bull Ridin'! 

• Song of the Day: Lenny Kravitz’s American Woman

• Nighttime abode: Jackson, WY

• Special Purchase: $14 Jackson Hole Rodeo ticket

Rodeo here I come Yeehaw! I decided to stay an extra night in Jackson Hole (which was a pleasure) just to see the rodeo.  And I’m thrilled I did.

I got me an eyeful of calf roping, barrel racing and and my favorite bull riding!

Which reminds me of my own bull riding experience...

As they say, this isn’t my first rodeo: Bull At its Finest

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Read the next post in this series: Thelma: Day #11 Great Salt Lake

Read the first post in this series: Thelma without Louise: An American Adventure

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• Amount of money spent:  $206.85 ($153.70 motel, $27.84 gas, $10.75 lunch, $14.06 junk food)

• Best pic: Thermal Geyser

• Bear sighting: 1

• Moose sighting: 1

• Buffalo herd sighting: 2

• Song of the Day: Anna Nalick’s Breathe (2AM)

• Audio Book:  Judicial Trends in the 20^th Century by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

• Number of times I almost drove off the road: 2

• Nighttime abode: Jackson, WY

• Special Purchase: $25 Yellowstone National park entrance fee

One of the (only) problems with traveling is that everywhere you go starts to remind you of somewhere else you’ve been. For instance, parts of Glacier National Park reminded me of Wayna Pichu (the sister mountain to Machu Pichu) and central Montana looks a bit like central Chile.

Which reminds me….I took a 3-week Chile road trip, driving from Santiago to the island of Chiloe. (At the time, it was the farthest you could drive in southern Chile since the road through Patagonia wasn’t open yet). While staying on Chiloe, I took a boat ride around the bay to view sea lions close up.

There were about 10 of us in a small excursion boat, and there was also a small fishing boat and a huge container ship in the bay. Unbelievably, the container ship was heading straight for the fishing boat, even though the fisherman, at this point, was standing up and waving his arms frantically to no avail.

The ship collides into

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Go ahead and choose which organization will receive $1,000 from the Go Erin Go! Fund Voting ends Sept. 25!

Return To Freedom: This non-profit wild horse sanctuary founded in 1997 protects the freedom and natural lifestyle of America's free ranging wild horses. The organization’s goal is to preserving the freedom, diversity and habitat of America's wild horses through sanctuary, education and conservation, while enriching the human spirit through direct experience with the natural world.

Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch: A not-for-profit, a multi-service organization providing mental health programs and services to emotionally disturbed youth and their families. The psychiatric residential treatment center is located on a 400-acre campus in beautiful Billings, Montana and includes a clinic with a full medical staff, a recreation center and accredited school, Yellowstone Academy.  These funds will go to support the extraordinary work of the YBGR project based in Livingston, MT.

Save the Redwoods League: A 90-year-old nonprofit organization that is dedicated to saving ancient redwood forests and redwood ecosystems. The organization protects redwoods by purchasing forests and the landscapes, restoring logged forests by removing roads, creating wildlife habitat and removing small trees, as well as inspiring current and future generations to

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• Amount of money spent:  $183.01 ($119 motel, $33.81 gas, $7.50 breakfast, $7.50 lunch, $15.20 dinner)

• Best pic: Taken through my windshield while driving 

• Song of the Day: Tom Petty’s Into the Great Wide Open 

• Audio Book:  Which Liberal Vision? Europe, U.S. and the International Order by Robert Kagan

• Number of times I almost drove off the road: 4 (there was a lot of wild dancin’ going on)

• Nighttime abode: Livingston, MT

• Special Purchase: $25 Glacier National Park entrance fee

The “Going to the Sun” Road is the destination I had in mind when starting out. I originally heard about it from a colleague while living in Chicago about 15 years ago and since then I’ve always had a romantic notion about it.

The beginning of the day was overcast, but as I continued east on the 3-hour drive through Glacier National Park, the sun gradually came out. At the end, Sun Point, it was a gloriously sunny day Truth in advertising!

I thoroughly enjoyed my drive this morning. In fact, I adore the entire American West.  I attribute my attraction to:

1) Reading way too much Little House on the Prairie growing up. I had the 8-book box collection and I’d read them one after another. My favorite was Little House in the Big Woods. (Interestingly, Laura Ingalls Wilder was supposedly an ardent libertarian.)

2) The spirit of the Wild West – where anything goes!  I love the

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