Driving to Minnesota

The storm now passed and headed south and east I decided it was time to get the dog and my stuff back into the car and head out to Dad and Flo's for the festivities.

I actually left at what I like to call "Butt-Ugly-Early o'clock" and headed east. Saga and I made great time. She pretty much slept the entire trip.

I could not believe the time I made. The roads were dry and clear. Even where the ice and snow made driving treacherous only yesterday; today it was smooth sailing. I saw the remains of the wreck that killed two people at Keenesburg, but that was all that was left to show of the storm. The conditions today were completely different!

With stops only in North Platte, Nebraska to top off the tank before heading cross-country from I-80 to I-90 and a quick breakfast burrito from Sonic, I kept racing through the early morning.

My early morning was spent driving through the darkness in Colorado with the sunrise (see the picture above) occurring just before I crossed into Nebraska. I am not going to say where the above picture was taken... (It may have been taken in a place that it was perfectly legal to be going this fast - you don't know) ... I include it at this point to show off the 44 mpg that I was getting at this point and because my entire trip was basically run at about this speed!

The morning continued to be clear and smooth sailing as I headed north toward Murdo, South Dakota. I love the gently rolling topography of Western Nebraska/South Dakota. I guess it is time for me to expand my collection of Road-side geography tomes. I want to learn more about the reason these states look the way they do.

The only inclement weather I actually had to drive through was fog it was a bit foggy but once I turned north, it cleared-up PDQ.

As the afternoon wore on, I noticed that I was being followed. Looking more closely at it, I realized that this guy had been following me all day long. I saw him this morning in my rear-view mirror, then later, as I drove north, he pulled along my left side and paced me for almost the entire trip into Murdo. I saw him occasionally tailing me through South Dakota, and then he pulled alongside me to my right as I drove north out of Sioux Falls.

Just before turning west for the final leg of my journey into Minnesota, the skies to the west clouded over with an approaching front. There was no rain from the system, but there certainly was a nice skyscape for the later part of the afternoon.

As I said, the day was pretty uneventful. Other than the bio-breaks periodically (a few for me, a few of Saga) and the obligatory stop for gasoline at North Platte, Nebraska and then again in Chamberlain, South Dakota, we cruised for the entire day at about eighty miles-per-hour and accomplished the trip in just under thirteen hours of driving.

I hope your day was passed as pleasantly!

Don Bergquist - 12-October-2005 - Kensington, Minnesota