Driving – Day One – Minneapolis to North Platte

It’s been a while since the last post. We’ve been busy packing and getting ready to leave (and celebrating my birthday). But, this morning, at 6:45, we left the alley. We pulled into our hotel in North Platte about 6:15. You'll notice that Google Maps says about 9 and a half hours, but our actual time was closer to 12 hours.  I'll let you in on Tom's secret travel formula -- two hours for each 100 miles.  And, if you look at the 650ish miles we traveled and the just about 12 hours we traveled, I'd say that's a pretty dang good formula!

I hadn’t thought about how different a winter road trip would be from a summer road trip.  But, it is different.  One of the things we saw, which you’d never see on a summer road trip – is herds of cattle grazing in harvested fields.  It reminded me of the story of Ruth, where the people are gleaning the fields.  I wondered where the cattle grazed in the summer.

Tom and I always think about pioneers when we’re road tripping and how different their journey was from our own.  The difference was reinforced when we clicked “walk” rather than “drive” when asking Siri for the time/distance from Des Moines to North Platte and she said 5 days, 20 hours instead of 6 hours.  Getting out of the car at the gas stops hit home the urgency they must have felt at getting to their destination before the really bad weather hit.  We were grateful for paved roads and good suspension rather than the hilly prairie and the bumpy ride of a wagon.

We saw windfarms and windmills – the old-fashioned kind you see in Western movies.  Some were defunct, but some were working!  For some reason, this made us both glad! 

We saw a bald Eagle and other birds of prey.  And, when we drove through Kearney, I realized we’d be coming home during the Sandhill Crane migration – something I’ve heard about for many years, but never witnessed.  I could have my chance this year!

We had a non-descript meal and headed back to our hotel, which Tom says is better than staying in a covered wagon or a tent, so I could jot down some notes for the blog.  I asked Tom what he wanted to contribute for the day.  He squinted at me and thought hard.  I asked a few questions to prime the pump.  But, the one that hit pay-dirt was when I asked him what he thought the most surprising thing was during the day.  His response, without hesitation, was, “when you put the brakes on on the freeway!”  It sent us both into a fit of giggles.  (To explain… I had the cruise control on and was behind a truck, which I needed to pass, but someone came up quickly on my left, and I had nowhere to go…so I applied the brakes.  Tom was napping, and it surprised him.)

All in all, a successful day on the road.