2 RV's heading to Davis / Sacramento CA

... spending the night in Sidney NE

More from yesterdays meeting. One of the manufactures chassis is on hold, the small no-tow trips are part of that hold. So at some point there should be a lot of units in a short amount of time. They also said at the meeting that the company will be expanding, either by landing new customers or by buying other companies and getting the customers that way.

The people that went up to AK said it was so cold that something on their RV froze up and they didn't have any heat for the night. They sleep in the RV's ... in down sleeping bags. Also they mentioned seeing a lot of wildlife. But most of the touristy things are closed during the winter.

Today.

We were down for breakfast at 6 AM, I had been mostly awake for quiet a while. OJ was like water so I complained, they took care of it right away. The cranberry juice was out also. Bacon and cheese omelet. I wasn't going to have yogurt because the small containers were diet. BB looked at the ounces and the bigger containers actually had less yogurt than the small containers. So I ended up having yogurt also, plus part of BB's banana.

We pulled out right as the sun was coming up. We had to look at the top half of the sun to see the traffic.

On the NW corner of Des Moines they are working on where a rail trail, hiking, used to be. Close to that area there was a pickup with it's engine under water in the river. They must have driven down the hiking trail, it wasn't next to the construction equipment.

1st stop was in Adair at the rest area. We usuall park with the cars, but an oversized load had pulled was sitting on the shoulder with one pilot car next to it and another across the drive from it. Problem was the one across hadn't left enough room for anyone to get between the two pilot cars ... so we parked with the trucks. When we left, the two pilot cars were just then moving ... not sure if they had let cars past before that or not.

Lots of cops doing roadside truck inspections today. I think there was six within 20 miles of Omaha. Better them than me.

2nd stop was Gretna at the QT for fuel. We hadn't looked at prices but it is still the cheapest

The weight scale in IA was closed and we both got the OK to bypass at the first NE scale.

I've notice that the Claas dealer in Milford, NE has had a lot less equipment lately and today I noticed they big tall sign is gone. Posts are there but nothing on it. Looked it up on the website and it says they are still in business. The Claas site shows that in MN that Ziegler is the dealer. But Ziegler doesn't list on their locations that they sell Claas.

3rd stop was in York at the Iron Skillet for lunch. Only the salad bar was set up when we got there. I asked how soon and they said a couple of minutes. We have seen this waiter a few times so I asked him how soon the place was changing to an IHOP. He hadn't heard anything that it ever was going to change ... but seeing I asked him one question, he stopped by a few more times to chat. Guess business is down ... maybe because of the virus people aren't eating out as much? Food was good. But it was a Friday, during Lent, so there was a lot of fish. So I just had the soup and salad bar and saved $2. Didn't go away hungry.

Before we ate, we had to call in and get our permits for NV or we would have had to sit in UT for the weekend. Completely forgot about calling the drop until we got to the motel ... after they had closed. Nope that isn't an issue Monday.

By noon I have Willie radio (XM) on. They mentioned that a different station was counting down the biggest 1,000 country hits of all times. So that is what I have been listening to. It doesn't show that that station is assigned to anything, so we will see what happens when they hit #1. Should be Sunday afternoon.

Kearney is supposed to be the 'sandhill crane capital of the world.' I've never seen many cranes, lots of other birds in the deep of winter. Today I did see a few hundred cranes and a bunch of sea gulls? Too far away and sitting to know for sure. Haven't looked to see if there is a peak week ?? for the sand hills or why the area has this notation.

4th stop was Cozad at Casey's for fuel. No issues with the pumps this time.

Somewhere today we both noticed a rental RV sitting at a rest area starting to pull out. He caught up to us and passed BB and then it looked like he was going to pull in between us ... a couple of times. Then I realized that he couldn't control it, so I hit the brakes and hit the shoulder and let him pass. As far as I could see he was all over the lane. Later we saw him parked again at a rest area. Soon I see BB riding the rumble strips as the guy is trying to pass her. He was going to be brave ... until he started swerving into my lane between us again. I just pulled to the shoulder and let him go. No one else was having an issue with the wind today.

We get to the second scale and I get the bypass and I thought I could see that BB did too. But she pulled in. I asked later and she said that she did get the by pass ... first. Then got the must exit and there was no one behind her so she exited. She weighted and was back on the road.

When she pulled in, I slowed to 60 mph and a truck caught up to me and stayed behind me. When BB caught up to me I set the cruise back to 65 mph and he stayed with us. Finally after an hour he pulled out to pass just as we were ready to exit in Ogallala.

5th stop Ogallala at Walmart for fuel. Still only two diesel pumps working. Who ever I was waiting for was talking to BB, usually people ask how much they cost, not sure what he was asking her.

$.50 a gallon spread at this exit. Walmart and Casey's have diesel for $2.49, the TA is $2.69 and Sapps has it for $2.99. Between the two of us we are putting in 30 gallon every stop. So $15 saved just here.

Just before we get to Sidney, I look back and BB is on the side of the road. I pull over and wait for the call. "I have a warning message ..." It wasn't a warning light, it was a message in the radio display area. It doesn't say what the warning is unless you tap on it, BB didn't want to. I had gotten the same message earlier. The county we were passing through was testing their emergency notification system. Whew ... we were back on the road.

6th and final stop was in Sidney NE at the Comfort Inn for the motel and the food was at Three Margaritas, a Mexican place we eat at when we stay here. It's a two or three block walk across the freeway but it is over 70 here tonight before the sun went down. No snow. Food was good, too much, but not stuffed.

Cookies were ready when we got back :)

We had about another hour of sun light tonight but it would have been another hour and a half to Cheyenne plus however much time it would take at the Port of Entry. IF we had only taken a half hour at the buffet we might have tried to make it.

67 RV's on the board. Two coming out to CA that would work for us, but we are already here.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. Maybe Evanston, maybe Coalville, maybe all the way to Tooele.