Re: Heads up CK5rs Greg72 is on a cross country run. DAY 3
(Actually submitted by Ken, the copilot)
DAY 3
7:20am, Rawlins WY, 76366.4, fuel fill up 42.54gal, 7.13mpg
From a mechanical perspective, yesterday afternoon was uneventful...and that is a good thing. In order to make our daily goal of at least 500 miles, we drove until about 9:30. Our need for an Internet connection has gone unmet. It was not until our 3rd hotel that we found a vacancy. The Travel Lodge was surprisingly expensive given its rural locale. I was told that we got the very last room with 2 beds. Perhaps I underestimated the penetration of business technology in these parts as it appears that Travel Lodge uses a real-time supply-demand model for their room pricing.
8:15am - although I expect that we will see another hot day, it is beautiful right now. The sun is shining and the temperature about 60. As we drive along rte 80, I am struck by the occasional tree. That's right...tree. For the past few days, we have seen fewer and fewer trees and greenery. As we get closer to Cheyenne, the hills are looking a bit more inviting.
10:30am - Our next stop was the Flying J truck stop. Their wi-fi services are legendary...I guess. It's kind of like a T-Mobile Hotspot at Starbucks, but without the Frappacino. Definitely more plaid. We were able to upload some photos to Greg's 4x4 gallery.
My turn to drive. As things tend to break when I drive, I have noticed that Greg hesitates a bit when turning over the keys. We begin our journey. Not two minutes into it, a driver pulls up ong side and points to the side of the road. We pull over. Did I cut him off? Nope. It appears that the tire recently repaired in NV has developed a tumor of sorts...about the size of a baseball...on the inside of the tire. Our eagle-eyed angel in a Bonneville points out the trouble spot and goes on his way.
As we swap the old tire with an even older spare, wrestling with the hubcap and 800 lugnuts, my mind flashes the scene from A Christmas Story in which the son helps the father by spilling the lugs nuts from their ad-hoc holder hubcap and shares a special moment with his dad as he first uses the mother of all swear words.
We are lucky on that there is enough air in the spare to get us to Tom's Tire for a new set of rear tires. Greg put a positive spin on the effort these tires are working hard. New tires will help.
2:50pm, Sydney NE, pit stop with fuel fill up, 76626, 36.8gal - 7.1mpg, 240 miles to go today to meet our goal.
8:30pm - Grand Island, NE - Its bad enough that every state has a town called Washington . Why does Nebraska have a town called Island ? We are in the middle of the state, in the middle of the country. Nice little hotel...clean and new. We chose the Sleep inn because it was close to a few places to eat...and more importantly...to get a drink.
Carlos O'Kelly's is a cantina with decent mexican food and a limited perspective on tequila. Our server was not-so-quick. She seemed to be distracted by the foursome of questionably aged boys in the next booth. The boys were talking across the room to bartender be generous on that $4.25 shot of Cuervo. Don't be stingy with that. We come in here a few times a week. I could see our drinks sitting at the other end of the bar. Our server was nowhere to found. Finally... Sorry about that. I am actually a very good waitress. Hmmm...so do you only play a bad waitress in real life? The bar's TV was on the CNN channel, but the sound was just low enough that we were not paying attention. Every so often, I would see a glimpse of Tom Ridge suggesting that we might be hit with a major terrorist attack before November. Greg and I do our best to make light of the announcement. Greg points out that Tom Ridge bears a striking resemblance to breakfast cereal great, Count Chocula. I point out that Grand Island NE is most likely not a big terrorist target. Our dinner arrived...and just in time for breakfast. The server again apologized and told us something about her shift schedule...TMI (too much informmation). Braaaap...braaaap...braaaap goes the TV. This a test of the emergency broadcast system. This is only a test... Being from New England, you become numb to these announcements. We don't have much in the way of severe and sudden weather. Even when heavy, snow falls slowly.
For some reason, this test sounded different. Upon closer inspection of the screen, I realized why. This was NOT a test. Turn to channel 16 for more information... But no one was moving. A few other people must have seen the warning. It repeated a few more times, but still no one did anything. Greg and I looked at eachother. Terrorism? Maybe we will be lucky and it will just be a large-scale weather disaster. It's amazing how our priorities and concerns have changed over past few years. As we continue to watch, the standard ticker-type scrolling news banner is replaced with a local update. Severe thunderstorms are heading for central Nebraska. We can live with that.
Upon our return to the room, we watched a bit of TV. The storm watch had been upgraded to a warning. Grand Island was in the middle of the path.The warning included 2 hail and extremely high winds. Scary yes, but we can live with that. HBO was showing a revealing expose on the dangers of pole dancing in San Juan. Unlike dancers in the US, these ladies made no claims about working their way through college. When the show had concluded, we took one more look at the weather. The warning now included a Tornado warning for the central part of the system...Grand Island. Gulp. We decided to take extreme action. We crossed our fingers and went to sleep...
