Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. ~ Mary Ritter Beard
On the Road Day 4
Started at day break in Ogalala, NE ended at sunset in Iowa City, IA.
A long day of driving with a really fantastic break. A good friend lives in Lincoln, NE and him and his wife were driving west this morning to go see the grandkids last high school football game and celebrate their birthdays. So we did an algebra problem, if one car leaves from Lincoln at 10AM CDT, traveling west at 70mph and another car leaves Ogalala at 7:30 MDT traveling east at 70mph, where will they meet? The answer is Grand Isle, NE, or as the following picture shows, nowwhere.
We hadn’t seen each other in ten years and while it was a brief half hour in the middle of nowhere Nebraska, it was great to see him. We got really close in grad school in Kentucky, we had a really tight knit group of friends. Unfortunately in the last year one of our group, Paul, passed away unexpectedly, so it made meeting up that much more meaningful. He’s also a witness to the great cowboy midget event in East St. Louis, a story you only get in person, or if you know the secret webpage where it’s posted. Or, you can wait for my memoir to be published.
Back on the road and pushing for Iowa City, IA. I have to say, drivers in Iowa have been the worst so far, by a long shot. Even saw someone, while traffic was flowing above the speed limit, rip off and pass traffic on the inside breakdown lane at like 80 mph, absolutely nuts.
Pulled in and instead of gassing up and washing the windows, went straight for food and the room, I’ll gas up in the morning. There was a restaurant next to the hotel, they made a really good steak but god knows why this was in the lobby, the name of the restaurant was the street address. Just another Iowa mystery. Went for a walk after dinner around the property only to realize the hotel is next to a cemetery so imagining poltergeist movie scenarios. And oddly, saw an Amazon Prime van driving out of the cemetery at like 7:30PM at night, does Prime spread ashes now?
Anyway eastbound and down for Chicago then Cleveland tomorrow, only a measly 1100 miles to go.
After a few days on the road, the routine is finally set, packing the car is second nature each morning, everything is arranged for the drive, my music, my drinks, my snacks, napkins, tissues and emergency pee bottle all at the ready! Happily, there have been no emergencies, have a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane
