2012 New York Road Trip: 9 July (Day 7)

2012 New York Road Trip: 9 July (Day 7)

            9:50AM  checked out

            12:00-12:30PM Lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s

            2:20PM Rest stop

            3:30PM Gas stop

            4:44PM entered New York

            Again – lots of construction today.  It seems that in PA, they want you to put your lights on in construction areas – but they never have a sign up to tell you when you can turn them off again.

            5:13PM 17 Amity Ct Warwick, NY

            Miles driven today: 379

            Trip total so far: 3174

2012 New York Road Trip: 8 July (Day 6)

2012 New York Road Trip: 8 July (Day 6)

            8:40AM Checked out and gassed up

            10:20AM entered Indiana

            11:15-11:40AM McDonalds and gassed up

            3:30PM rest stop and gas

            4:40PM rest stop and made reservations

Hit  a lot of road construction today – lots of slow areas.  It seemed that every time I got back up to 70, there would be another 55 or 45 mph construction zone.  I sure wish I had my EZ-Pass – Ohio alone cost me $15.00.

            6:00PM Checked into Youngstown, OH Super 8.  This is the first Super 8 on this trip that really sucked.  The A/C was noisy.  The room was small.  The water pressure in the sink was almost non-existent.  I was not able to get hot water until around 8:00.  The shower was really bad too.  The only good thing was the WiFi – it was pretty fast.  I went out looking for a nice dinner.  It was not meant to be.  I settled for Taco Bell . .  . which I regretted at 5:00AM when I awoke to severe cramps and a visit from Montezuma.

            Miles driven today: 475

2012 New York Road Trip: 7 July (Day 5)

2012 New York Road Trip: 7 July (Day 5)

            10:11 Checked out and hit the road

            10:14 Almost immediately got caught in a big backup on I80.  While stopped on the freeway, at least 3 EMT’s and 3 Highway Patrol cars went by on the shoulder.  About 2 blocks more and all traffic was diverted off of the freeway.

            11:45 Based on a recommendation from a visitor center, I stopped at the Farmall-Land USA Museum in Avoca, IA.  It must have had hundreds of tractors ranging in size “Junior” tractors all the way up to ones with tires as tall as I am.  I probably would have enjoyed it more had I been a farmer, but . . . . it was interesting.

            In the afternoon I hit another nice backup where there was only one lane in each direction.  It could have been worse – in the lane going the other way, someone broke down on a bridge and really had the traffic backed up.

            Lots and lots of gigantic corn fields.

            5:56PM Checked into the Peru, IL Super 8.  I almost had a nice dinner at Olive Garden- but did not want to wait 30 minutes.  So instead had Wendy’s for dinner.

            Around 850 miles left.

2012 New York Road Trip: 6 July (Day 4)

2012 New York Road Trip: 6 July (Day 4)

            9:25AM I slept in and did not get an early start today.  I checked out, gassed up, and drove two miles to . . . .

            9:33AM The Nebraska Prairie Museum.   This was a great find.  It is definitely off the beaten track.  There is a restored railroad prison car in front and a hedge sculpted to look like a buffalo, and a prison watch tower.  The museum itself is a very plain looking warehouse-type building.  But inside . . .  it was amazing.  They had displays for just about any aspect of life on the old prairie you would like: displays of dresses, quilts, lots of barbed wire displays, a room with old farm equipment – including an actual (huge) threshing machine.  Displays of dolls, children’s toys, washing machines from a modern one all the way back to a metal tub that rocked back and forth – and wash boards. Gun displays, stuffed animals, war stuff.  They had a mock town consisting of a gas station, dentist office, doctor’s office, general store, land recorder office, toy store, dress shop, post office, police station.  A huge display of buggies.  And . . . it turns out the Holdrege, Nebraska was a POW camp during WW2 where they kept German POW’s – hence the railroad prison car in the front.  I think this was about the longest time (90 minutes) I have ever spent in a single museum – with the possible exception of  The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  This was definitely worth the 25 mile detour.

            1:00PM Lunch at the York, NE Applebees.

            4:30PM Checked into the Bellvue, NE Microtel.  At 4:30 it was a crisp 107 degrees.  At 7:30 it was still a crisp 107 degrees.

            Miles driven today: 214

2012 New York Road Trip: 5 July (Day 3)

2012 New York Road Trip: 5 July (Day 3)

4:00AM Up and loaded the car and checked out

4:55AM Finished gassing up, bought a cinnamon crumb thingy from a sumptuous breakfast and hit the road.

6:20AM Crossed into Colorado.  I forgot just how many mountains there are in Colorado.  I ‘peaked’ at just over 12,000 feet.  It was interesting to see how small the Colorado River gets here – I could almost have walked across it in places.

10:53AM Crossed over into Wyoming.

12:09AM Went to the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne.  It was free – and actually pretty interesting.

12:49PM Went to the Frontier Days Old West Museum.  This is right next to where the big rodeo is held.  They charged $6.00.  Very poorly organized.  No map handed out.  All they did was point to a crude map that only had about 75% of the exhibits on it.  The lady pointed to blank spots on the table to indicate where the missing exhibits were.  The one thing I really enjoyed was all of the carriages and stage coaches.

I had a heck of a time getting back to the freeway.  I kept hitting streets that were barricaded off – the GPS would re-direct me. . .  to another closed street.  Finally found the freeway.

4:41PM I decided to dine at a Perkins.  I made three passes at where the GPS thought it was located.  I accidently found it – on the other side of the freeway – after giving up.  Big disappointment.  First they were out of turkey, then they were out of pot roast.  I settled for Chicken Fried Steak – very forgettable.

5:40PM It suddenly hit me that I left 7 or 8 shirts on hangers in Moab.  Argh!!!!  I pulled over a called – the person who answered did not seem to be over-burdened with intelligence.  She actually asked if I checked out on Thursday (today!) and what color the shirts were.  Finally told me I would have to call back in the morning.  After I checked in I called again and talked to someone else – she had the shirts and someone is sending them to Jenny via UPS on Friday.

Miles and miles and miles of fields in Nebraska.  I passed corn fields that were miles in width.  I would love to calculate how many corn stalks in just one of these fields. The scope of these farms is staggering.

7:00PM checked into the Holdrege Super 8.

Miles driven today: 779