Our Journey East - Day 5 .... Chasing through Nebraska

Today was a slow start.  Ceilidh had an episode at 4 am .... (our Pyrenees is an epileptic ... whoda thunk?)   She gets rather discombobulated for an hour or so afterwards ... sorta loses her whereabouts and recognition.  It is a horrible thing to watch, but Astrid assures that she is fine during and after, as long as it doesnt last too long.   So ... long night.

Awake late.  Pull down camp (hoses, electrics, water, jacks etc .... not exactly roughing it ... )  Then fill the propane, and on into Cabela's to pick up some RV accessories.  Then sit for an hour and update the blog ... finally.  On the road at about 1:30 pm.

A Note on Google Maps - Speed and distance.

When looking at possible routes, I relied on google maps ... very useful tool.  However, beware, as it estimates time based on very fast speeds :-)  For instance, the trip across Wyoming (Green below, through to Nebraska) is noted as 735 km and a time of 6 hours 30 minutes...   hmmm .... quick check and that is over 113 km per hour.  At first I thought it was illegal speeds, but many of the freeways here are posted at 75 Miles per hour limit.

The problem is, in the motorhome, we're running at about 100 km/hr or 62-63 mph.  Day one was about 58 mph.   In the end, relying on Google Map's times means we're playing catch up in the motorhome !

Crossing Nebraska

Since we got a late start, and our reliance on google, we had to run for a good part of the day ... to about 10:30 pm.  (also lost an hour crossing into Central Time Zone)   Crossing Nebraska is more interesting than Wyoming, but miles and miles of the same.

Stopped at a gas station where Astrid spotted some GMO corn ... "all the ground cover is dead, except for stalks .... pesticides etc !".  Astrid has been watching the Monsanto Overlords with a solid dose of scepticism and disdain ... organic is the flavour of her day.

We roll through Lincoln, grab a bite at the DQ (in a hurry) ... and travel to Nebraska City to park for the night.   St. Louis beckons tomorrow, with a visit with Deryck and Wendy Whiteley ('82 Mech Eng - Waterloo classmate)  Looking forward to taking it easy for a short bit ... no doubt some beer, wine, good food, and lotsa lies to be told.  Google tells me 582 km to their doorstep tomorrow... likely pull in 3-4 pm ... although I said 1-2 pm.....  

Dogs fed.  Cat out from under the couch (stays there all day long ... till motors stop).  All is well.

Cheers for now.

Astrid 'n Steve

Our Journey East - Day 4 ... Running Wyoming

On the road at 0845 hrs or so.  Running through Southern Wyoming is mile after mile of dry desert-like ranch land.  5-6 hours worth before we get to some interesting changes in the landscape and some larger towns - Laramie and Cheyenne.

Wyoming ... barren .. for hours n hours 

Astrid takes a run at driving the moho for an hour coming in to Laramie but is safety minded and passes it back before hitting Cheyenne - anticipations of traffic in the big rig.

When we hit Cheyenne, stopped in at the visitors centre - opened last October and an impressive building.  Astrid marvelled at the dog park - best by far we had seen.  Most were dry gulch strips of land added as an afterthought as a "pet walk area"  ... some even had the gall to say "pets only in far grassy area".  There was no grass at all, just tumbleweed, so we heeded the sign as the design begged.  NOT.

Connor & Ceilidh do appreciate green .... and Connor likes all the critters that follow to know he was there... a dribble here, a dribble there, everywhere a dribble, squirt.

The Welcome Centre was new in October, 2012 ... very nice spot with wifi and lotsa good help.

We head east to find the Nebraska border in about an hour and tire so find a spot, home to Cabela's outdoor gear - www.cabelas.com/... World Headquarters in Sydney, Nebraska !

Cabela's Outdoor Gear supplier ... World Headquarters in Nebraska

Park in at Cabela's RV camp ... very nice and all the services... except the wifi wasn't strong ...  too slow to do anything... hmmm.  Wassup with that ?

BTW ... posted Day 2-5 sitting outside a hotel on a Boingo Wifi feed .. Sunday a.m. .. it's now 1:25 pm.. slow start today .. Ceilidh, one of our Pyrs, is epileptic and had a seizure at 4:00 am last night.  Long night calming her down .... all is well now.

On the road again.  Check us out here ... Google Maps.

Cheers
Astrid 'n Steve