Eighty on I-80, Part 1

Hello all, it's not quite the weekend, but I don't think I'll be posting over the weekend. So here we go!

With school around the corner, I haven't been able to delay on a decision any longer. Except I still kind of am. Graduate school is a heck of an investment, but the jobs that I'm interested in pursuing would not be attainable without a professional degree. Even so, I'm doing what I can to drive the costs down. I'm still waiting on a few things, but I'm running out the days as I sprint across the country.

So to all my friends in Hawaii, I miss you all already!

To all my friends in Colorado, I'm sorry to have missed you these last couple of days as I've been plotting out trip stops and shopping for yet another 1200 mile road trip. Because what kind of summer would it be if I didn't travel 10,000+ miles? This time I'm ripping eastward from Denver.

Packing up this morning, I said good-bye to my father and brother at our old house in Colorado (which is a freaky story in and of itself) and ran down to I-70 before boarding I-76 for the long haul out of Colorado. Once you get out of the Denver cityscape, the plains get, well, plain. There's not a whole lot to see out east.

I've driven to California from Colorado/New Mexico multiple times and the corridors through the American Southwest are breathtaking--every rest stop is an overlook into a dramatic canyon or sprawling desert brush. Painted Desert, Sonoran Desert, Monument Valley. I mean, stunning. Middle America is very much about farmland--be them corn or cows; which I have no problem with, but I predict another 400 miles of plain plains.

Denver to York, Nebraska is about 430 miles on an I-76 to I-80 route. The interstate dances with the Platte River in crossings north to south and back again several times. You'll mostly share the road with semis and other wanderlust-ridden adventurers. I got caught in five or six construction areas which slowed the 75 mph hurtle to 55. Nothing too awful, but it does take a bite out of time when you're running a 400-mile (6-7 hr) day.

Lunch in Colorado at Julesburg.

Since I'm rolling on my own, I have to entertain myself--either by belting out to my favorite songs or counting how many semis I pass. Today, I ate on the Coloradoan border of Julesburg and passed into Nebraska in some surprise I was already out of the first state in line.

I stopped off at a rest stop in mid-Nebraska (Cozad) and chatted with the tourist guide there who told me a little about Nebraska's history. Carol pointed out the pioneers' trail to the south of the Platte and the Mormon trail north of it. The Cheyenne Indians weren't too happy about the pioneer expansion and a tribe of them attacked a caravan near Cozad as well as the trains that were coming through. Lots of death and fighting over Nebraska.

The Cozad rest stop off I-80 E, Nebraska.

I have a deep love of maps and I'll pore over them every chance I get. Especially in transit. This map positioned outside of the rest stop building indicates where we are along I-80.

When I mentioned I was surprised at all the lakes I'd been passing since crossing the stateline, Carol also told me Nebraska sits on the Ogallala aquifer--the high water table is perfect for irrigation and farming. Makes a lot of sense. Armed with this knowledge, Nebraska became a little more than a flat stretch of cornhusk.

The Great Platte River Road Archway near Kearney, Nebraska, I loved the metal-worked wings.

I hurtled quickly through the thick waist of Nebraska until I reached York and its blessed hot air balloon signaling I was done for the day.

The Yorkshire Motel had rooms available and I booked a $57 'basement' room that included free wifi and a continental breakfast. My staples for most of my travels. The motel clerks, whom I assumed were a husband and wife (owners), told me if I skipped over to The Kitchen and flashed my room key, I would get 15% off my meal. Sweet! They handed me a menu and I settled on the chicken tenders.

Unloading and checking the vehicle fluid levels (since it hasn't been driven in awhile and my family and I had had problems the day just prior to leaving), I lugged my things down to the room and rested about an hour before surfacing to eat.

The colorful mural outside my basement bedroom window of the Yorkshire Motel in York, NE.

The Kitchen had a contemplative menu with plenty of bang for your buck delights. I did order the chicken tenders and ate one of the four, intending to save the remainder for a cold lunch tomorrow. I had a lovely salad, vegetables and mashed potatoes with a great biscuit gravy. All very good!

A storm rolled in during the evening and shut off the power briefly, I worried my car would suffer hail damage, but it got a shower instead which sluiced a number of bug casualties from the front. Works for me.

Tomorrow, Iowa and Illinois.