Monday morning we woke up to light rain and wind. It looked a lot worse out. Breakfast at 6, on the road at 7:30. Light rain continued as we moved east but we could see clearing skies in the distance. It was about 50 deg when we left, and the temp was forecast for the day was to drop into the high 30’s according to the front desk at the hotel.
The elevation continued to climb and we topped out around 8600 feet on our way to Cheyenne. Skies cleared and temps warmed up a couple degrees every hour as we progressed. Our first stop was in Laramie for gas and a pee. Karen drove that first leg, then I took over. The first two days Karen did the morning and I the afternoon legs. That was a bit too long so today we tried 2-3 hours each. Better. Karen says her shoulder is bothering her a bit because of the sidewinds and having to hold the wheel harder.
We stopped for lunch in North Platte NE, with high winds and temps in the 90’s. It didn’t feel that hot with the wind. Since we had a long day yesterday, we picked a Wendy’s for a quick lunch so we could make up some time on the road. Karen took over driving again after lunch and I plopped in a DVD to watch. The speed limit is 75 in WY and NE and very few people drove slower than that. Many were pushing 80. We kept to the limit and with the tailwinds of previous days turning into headwinds, our mpg’s dropped a bit. We got 27 for the drive thru Yellowstone but we were going only 45 most of that. 22 seems to be about right since.
Traffic picked up a bit going into Grand Island NE and into Lincoln here as well. Mostly people returning from the holiday weekend I’m guessing. Otherwise LOTS of trucks. 586 miles for the day.
We arrived here about 5pm CT which gave us some time to check in before going to dinner. Karen’s GPS was handy giving us clear directions to go into downtown Lincoln to the only Applebees for dinner. Which was not busy at all except by a few local students from U. of Neb.
Our aim is to arrive by late afternoon or early evening in Aiken on Wed. Which means pretty much 600 miles a day average. Tuesday our goal is Paducah KY after a brief stop in St. Louis at the Arch. We may or may not take time to go in it. From Lincoln, St. Louis is only 450 miles so we should be there early afternoon, 1-2pm. Four more hours to Paducah approx. Then on Wed Paducah to Aiken should do the trick. We’ll see how it works out.
So far we’ve stayed at Hampton Inns because David gets points thru Delta Airlines. These are very nice hotels, very comfortable beds, very good breakfasts, and reliable service. We’ve kind of planned each leg so far to end up here and its worked out. With hi speed internet we can check our msgs of course and I can do this blog.