About this episode

The episode narrates a family's road trip from Denver to Yellowstone, highlighting their experiences and the importance of infrastructure along the way.

A family, driving north out of Denver. They left before light. Mom’s driving. Yellowstone tomorrow. Lamar Valley and the bison and wolves and trout. Tonight, the Sheridan Inn. The car planned this stop in Buffalo before they crossed the Platte. It planned every stop. Dad has the atlas open on his knees, the paper kind. Nobody’s looking at it. Two kids in the back. A yellow dog between them with his chin on the armrest. Somewhere past Kaycee the little one got carsick. Mom keeps empty cups up front for it, and she passed one back without looking. The windows are down now, summer heat and wind noise, and nobody’s saying why. In one mile, exit right. Charging stop. Buffalo, Wyoming. The chargers sit at the Miller Travel Center across the street from the Best Western. Eight stalls, white posts, painted lines. Mom backs in on the first try. Dad’s out of the car before it stops rocking. He takes a deep breath and clicks the cable home. The screen says thirty-five minutes. The kids step out slow. The dog tows the boy toward the grass strip at the edge of the lot, nose down, working. A good stop. Restrooms, coffee, a rack of postcards with bears on them. Everything works, and everything…

People in this episode

Host: Joel K. Douglas

Topics covered

• family travel
• road trip
• electric vehicle charging
• nature
• wildlife
• summer vacation

Keywords

• family
• road trip
• Yellowstone
• charging station
• Buffalo
• Miller Travel Center
• wildlife
• carsick
• summer heat

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Denver, Yellowstone, Lamar Valley, Buffalo, Platte, Sheridan Inn, Miller Travel Center, Best Western

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