4/23/14
We were just talking today that about 3-4 years ago, we made the trip to Rapid City, SD from Dayton, OH and we were able to drive all the way there, go to a wedding, and drive all the way home in just 3 days!! Let me clarify - I drove the entire time. All in just 3 days!!
Well, we've now been driving for 3 full days and still a day and a half from our land.
What a GREAT night's sleep we had!! I wish I could take this mattress with us! The lady said it is a Serta pillow top, King Size bed. With 4 cats, the King Size bed was perfect!! It is now 7:30am NE time and we are about 30 min from another time zone change. It's kinda fun to 'go back in time'!
We are getting things ready to head out for the day. We are going to be making a pit stop at the local auto zone to get a special coolant for the radiator. Nothing is wrong with the radiator, but this coolant will help keep it 'cooler' than the typical coolant. Yesterday he checked all our fluids and his truck and my car both needed a half quart of oil, so Scott is also going to get some extra oil for us both.
We are praying for another great day of driving!!
Driving
Today was a crazy day!! Nothing bad happened, but we had so much fun on the drive today. First we left North Platte, NE about 9am (OH time) and 7 am (NE/WY time) - we had just crossed over another time zone and are now 2 hours behind the OH time.
This western part of Nebraska we saw lots of Angus cows and we even saw wild turkeys!!! Just before crossing over into WY, the terrain started looking a lot like Wyoming
This entire drive, Tiger rode in the back seat on the floor. So I was able to snap a few pictures.
Above - Just a picture of me following Scotty
Above - all the Angus cows!! We saw them all through NE and all through WY too.
Above/Below - We don't have these in OH, so I thought I'd write about it. The highways out here literally close if there is bad weather.
Above/Below: You can kind of see the gates that they close when the highway shuts down. The one below is easier to see. They also have these on the entry ramps too.
About 1 hour into our drive, Buddy (our black/white cat) was going NUTS in his cage!! So we pulled over and let him out. He isn't scared of anything now. He sat on his cage looking out the window, then he sat and laid down on the big cage and looked out that window for about 30 min or so! He ended up on the floor behind my seat, but apparently that wasn't very comfy for him, so at our next stop I found he was back in his cage!
Parts of NE and WY have a pinkish colored road. I am guessing it's from the gravel/sand that is used in the concrete. But it was amusing to me. These pictures are attempting to show that and also show the landscape and the gravel road alongside of the highway. We are now in gravel road country!!
REMEMBER - if you click on the pictures it will make them bigger.
Above - this is an irrigation system that was turned on! I know this is silly, but growing up on a farm in OH, we didn't have irrigation systems. This was the only one I saw actually spraying the field.
Once you get close to the NE/WY border and all throughout WY, there are oil pumps. And we also saw an actual oil drilling rig.
Above/Below: Along the drive, there are these fun characters on the mountain tops. Here is one that is a howling wolf. Last time we drove through, I thought some of these were real!!
Above/Below: There is a place called 'Scottsbluff'. Just had to take a pic!! Anyone want to call Scott's bluff? haha
This next part of our trip was so crazy!! It was really windy once we entered WY and there were 35 - 50+ mph wind advisories for vehicles particularly those with trailers. So we drove only 50 mph the entire way from Cheyenne to Casper.
And the fun part, we weren't playing wack-a-mole... we were playing dodge-the-tumbleweeds!! I dodged way more than Scott did. We don't have tumbleweeds in OH!! I was trying to get pictures of them, and you'll have to click on them to make them bigger, but you can see some of them across the road and also the fencing along the road was covered in them!!
Above - Scott just obliterated one and there are 2 more that made it through unharmed:)
Above/Below - We are here!!! Just crossed into WY and of course I had to get pictures of the 'Welcome to WY sign'
Above - Jack Miller, we were thinking of you!!! Happy Jack Road:)
Above - Here is another of the characters on top of the mountain. I really thought this one looked real!!
The rest of our drive through WY was LONG. Our gas mileage really sucked today. With the crazy wind and the continuous hills, I think I was getting about 20-22 mpg at most and Scott thinks he got about 6mpg. We filled up with gas a LOT.
When we got to Casper (~4:30pm WY time), we had planned on stopping there since we were both really tired. But the hotels were completely booked for a concert that was in town. So we headed about 2.5-3 hours more to the next hotel in Thermopolis.
I'm not disappointed because this was by far the coolest part of our drive so far!! We drove by a place called Devils Half Acre. It looked a little like a mini Grand Canyon to me. We didn't stop but I definitely want to come back!!
We were SO thankful to have brought extra gas-filled containers with us, because between Casper and Shoshoni we had to stop to add more gas to Scott's truck. I think he added 3 gallons - just enough to get us to Shoshoni to fill up.
Then we drove through Shoshoni and the Wind River Canyon. Oh My Goodness! That Canyon drive was incredible!!! It scared me because of the tall mountains on either side, so I drove through it pretty slow. We went through 3 really neat tunnels through the mountain and what I found really fascinating was the rail road track that followed the road. The image of old time mine openings into the mountain is what I thought of when I saw the tunnel openings for the trains. I'm very easily amused!!
Just past the Wind River Canyon is Thermopolis. We had to stop in the middle of town for a deer crossing! We headed to the hotel in Thermopolis and it was about 7:30-8pm when we stopped for the night. And of course we had to celebrate with authentic WY food - Taco Johns!! It was really good! And we were so hungry from driving about 13 hours today. Even with all that driving, the cats still had no accidents in the car and I couldn't be happier with how our drive went.
Right now we are about 2.5 hours from our property. This is our last night in a hotel, so we slept in a little, going to take our last stand-up hot shower, and letting the cats chill out a little longer before we leave.
Once we get to our land today, our task will be to unload the big trailer and Scott's truck. We have a shed on our property so we'll see if we can use it to store some things in. Right now Scott's trailer is packed and for the convenience of getting in and out, plus to give the cats more room to roam in there, we need to get it unloaded before bedtime tonight.
That's all for now!! I'll be back on in about a week-ish with more updates.
FEW SIDE NOTES:
Scott's truck was running 200-210 degrees, but yesterday it cooled down 30 degrees from the additive he put in the radiator. Then the temperature dropped to about 50 degrees outside, and at that time his truck was running at about 160 degrees. Much better than the day before!!
Also at breakfast the day before, I met this lady who was traveling from AZ to MI and she said her daughter went to Wright State University!! That's also where I went and Scott took classes there too. And at one of our stops to get gas, as I was walking in toward the bathroom, I saw this guy wearing a Dayton Dragon's sweatshirt. He said he was born and raised in OH. Small world!!
