Oregon Coast Bound... Part 2

Staying in Ogalala, NE, had us 71 miles short of the first day's destination. This meant we had an even longer day, mile-wise than we wanted. This would be a 500+ mile-day to get to Evanstion WY, thus, we were out the door of motel @ 5AM. This is the beauty of having your vehicle parked right outside. You load up and can go. But we needed to buy ice, coffee and a few other things to get us down the road, and being right next to a truck stop travel center, they have a store where you can buy just about anything you need.

 Traffic this early has been wonderfully light. Exactly how we'd expected it. There had been a brief shower earlier, and it was still cloudy and was only 68 degrees here. Once the sun was up, I could enjoy the scenery. At this point there are miles of range where cattle graze on whatever grass they can find. The rugged flat-topped hills are sometimes rocky. I try to imagine people in wagons and horse-back coming this way, facing dangers of every kind just to build a home and life.

By 6 AM, we pull into rest area, just outside of Sidney WY ( where we had intended on staying). It's one we aren't familiar with, but a lot of people are here taking their breaks. A man was standing near the building, on some rocks and in front of a sign which said "DANGER. RATTLESNAKES MAY BE PRESENT" The man had his hands out as if to say, "What rattlesnakes?" The woman nearby--I assumed was his long suffering wife--merely ignored him. We did too. I told Dennis later, "I wished a rattler had been there." We laughed about it. It doesn't matter where you go, you run into lots of dumbasses.

We continue to stop whenever needed. Dennis needs to stretch his back, and really sitting too long is unhealthy. I don't believe in driving hours on end without frequent breaks. And at our age we need a few more than we used to.

There are no roads without road construction. Usually it puts you down to a two-way, sharing one part of the highway, and reduces your speed dramatically. My husband, at times would do 80 in the 80-mile zones, but a lot of time he backed off and did 77, or 78. He feels that 80 is too fast. And yet you get someone who thinks it's just not fast enough. You make very good time at 78. Think about it. I measured how long it took to do just one mile. He did it in about 45 seconds. Doing a steady speed like that we ate up the miles.

We'd bought a subway sandwich along the way--something that just works out for us--packed it up for later and ate it when we wanted. We reached Medicine Bow around Rowlins. A beautiful area. Elk Mountain to the left, and nary a barn or house to see here, just scrub, sage and cattle, and snow fences that might be 15 feet tall.

We did make it to Evanston at 2 PM. Staying in a Best Western. Got a card for a 10% discount, which helps a lot. Every room is downstairs, and ours was somewhat like a suite, with a living area with a couch, cushioned chair and coffee table and large TV, and a small refrigerator. A curtain closed off the vanity and sink area. I don't know why they don't put the sink in the bathrooms. If anyone knows, I'd love to know. But this was an excellent room. However the bath tub was too long. I take baths, shaving my legs is tricky if I can't put my foot up somewhere. I kept getting my hair back into the bath water and my hair got all soapy again. I should have rinsed it out under the shower, but I guess my brain was addled from the road and it didn't occur to me. So, my hair felt like straw once I dried it. I just put it up in a pony tail and wore a hat.

There was a dinning lounge, but we didn't care for anything on the menu, as it was just fried food, and steaks--which were very expensive. Since we'd had steak dinner last night, we didn't care to order anything on the menu. We just had a pizza delivered. Sometimes you just want to stay in and watch TV.

Stop in for more of this travel log, hopefully tomorrow. I've run out of time here.