08-04-2016, 02:56 AM
I'm at the point of the trip where I just want to be home. I'm tired of overeating but can't stop myself. I'm tired of the endless miles of cornfields. From my vantage, it seems the whole highway system in the midwest is under construction.
The drive from Ottawa to Kearney, NE was uneventful. Except for the fact there was a fault in the podcast download, so I ended up listening to XM radio for the entire journey. I now know their play list is about 2 hours long. And I can make your hands clap.
I was playing a game, though. I was going to listen to Alt Radio on XM36 until I heard Blink 182's new song 'Sober'. I had heard a snippet of it the day before and felt I needed to hear the whole song. Despite 8 hours of the station, I never heard it again.
Kearney was just a wide spot in the highway. I asked for restaurant recommendations, hoping I would get the great response like I did in Boston with directions to some great restaurants. Instead, the counter woman just told me what restaurants I could see from the parking lot. Maybe these towns don't have good restaurants? I ended up having BBQ at some place called Skeeters BBQ. My waitress almost got the no-tip option for incredibly distracted service. How can you forget I wanted French Fries in the two steps you walked from my table? I guess you could have written my order down rather than relying on your memory.
She saved it, though, by asking me if I wanted a To-Go cup of iced tea for my drive to the hotel. Damn, I'm a sucker for that.
The corn field driving of the plains was relieved by the climb into the Rockies through Colorado. There were some beautiful canyons to drive through and I took some pit stops along the Colorado River. I got some angry fist shaking in Denver as I showed the locals the proper way to merge when losing a lane. They were angry I drove to the actual merge point rather than cutting in as soon as possible.
I drove through the Eisenhower tunnel at the top of the mountains. I also drove through the tunnel I was supposed to be building for the movie 'Mr and Mrs Smith' At least it looked like the reference photos.
For the first time, my hotel room was not ready by the time I showed up to the hotel. Rifle, CO is crowded because the Rodeo is in town. They also have 3 Kum and Go gas stations. I had an hour to kill. I asked at the desk for a good hike in the neighborhood. The clerk sent me on a twelve mile drive to Rifle Falls. I guess they don't know the meaning of nearby.
The Falls were less than spectacular. This became even clearer when I climbed to the top of the three cascades and noticed that the middle cascade was coming out of a pipe. Plus, the whole area was full of yahoos which I always adore.
The clerk at the desk was like the clerk in Nebraska about giving restaurant recommendations. She even mentioned one restaurant that she had never gone to but was planning to go there that night.
I have two legs of the drive left. Today I drive to Vegas and it's quite a long drive. The final drive on Friday is a four hop and I will be home.
There is also a movie stop along the way. One of the first films I worked on called 'Sundown:Vampires in Retreat" has one of it's locations along the route. I worked there with Mr. Lyndell back in 1988. If I want to add 90 minutes to the journey, I can drive to Moab where we stayed for the filming. I'm still debating whether I want to make my journey longer than it has to be.
The drive from Ottawa to Kearney, NE was uneventful. Except for the fact there was a fault in the podcast download, so I ended up listening to XM radio for the entire journey. I now know their play list is about 2 hours long. And I can make your hands clap.
I was playing a game, though. I was going to listen to Alt Radio on XM36 until I heard Blink 182's new song 'Sober'. I had heard a snippet of it the day before and felt I needed to hear the whole song. Despite 8 hours of the station, I never heard it again.
Kearney was just a wide spot in the highway. I asked for restaurant recommendations, hoping I would get the great response like I did in Boston with directions to some great restaurants. Instead, the counter woman just told me what restaurants I could see from the parking lot. Maybe these towns don't have good restaurants? I ended up having BBQ at some place called Skeeters BBQ. My waitress almost got the no-tip option for incredibly distracted service. How can you forget I wanted French Fries in the two steps you walked from my table? I guess you could have written my order down rather than relying on your memory.
She saved it, though, by asking me if I wanted a To-Go cup of iced tea for my drive to the hotel. Damn, I'm a sucker for that.
The corn field driving of the plains was relieved by the climb into the Rockies through Colorado. There were some beautiful canyons to drive through and I took some pit stops along the Colorado River. I got some angry fist shaking in Denver as I showed the locals the proper way to merge when losing a lane. They were angry I drove to the actual merge point rather than cutting in as soon as possible.
I drove through the Eisenhower tunnel at the top of the mountains. I also drove through the tunnel I was supposed to be building for the movie 'Mr and Mrs Smith' At least it looked like the reference photos.
For the first time, my hotel room was not ready by the time I showed up to the hotel. Rifle, CO is crowded because the Rodeo is in town. They also have 3 Kum and Go gas stations. I had an hour to kill. I asked at the desk for a good hike in the neighborhood. The clerk sent me on a twelve mile drive to Rifle Falls. I guess they don't know the meaning of nearby.
The Falls were less than spectacular. This became even clearer when I climbed to the top of the three cascades and noticed that the middle cascade was coming out of a pipe. Plus, the whole area was full of yahoos which I always adore.
The clerk at the desk was like the clerk in Nebraska about giving restaurant recommendations. She even mentioned one restaurant that she had never gone to but was planning to go there that night.
I have two legs of the drive left. Today I drive to Vegas and it's quite a long drive. The final drive on Friday is a four hop and I will be home.
There is also a movie stop along the way. One of the first films I worked on called 'Sundown:Vampires in Retreat" has one of it's locations along the route. I worked there with Mr. Lyndell back in 1988. If I want to add 90 minutes to the journey, I can drive to Moab where we stayed for the filming. I'm still debating whether I want to make my journey longer than it has to be.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm