That was Easy!!!! NOT!!!!

 
After checking weather reports and highway 80 webcams from Omaha to Rock Springs, Wyoming, it seemed the next leg of the trip would be a piece of cake. Looking out our window at the guy snowblowing the parking lot and sidewalks at the Hampton Inn in Omaha it looked like a good day to stay over for another night. The flags were rippling violently, there was horizontal snow and visibility was nil. However, when I last checked, the highway camera a few miles out of town showed pretty clear sledding (a word which now seems like a pun). We'll make it shorter by saying that the description outside our window was pretty much true for the next 160 miles. Georgia was pretty nervous. We drove at 45 to 55 most of the way. Although fewer in number, there were again several vehicles lying in various positions by the roadside. The most interesting was the semi-truck that was in the shape of a pretzel. Georgia was pretty nervous.  By the time we got near North Platte where we had stayed previously, we decided we had enjoyed about as much of this as we could stand, so pulled in for the night. It seemed as though we might have a positive sign. If you are a conesour of Hampton Inn, you know that they have these homey little pictures throughout the inn. Georgia said that "Mahala would like this" as she looked at the picture of a tractor by our door. However, I noticed that it was not just "a tractor", but it was "the tractor". The Farmall "M" International Harvester made by McCormick-Deering. The main tractor I grew up on.  The tractor whose bellowing straight pipe drowned out my wailing as Elvis, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, Conway Twitty (Only Make Believe) and even the Righteous Brothers. It was also that tractor that carried me back and forth across the fields as I contemplated my future. I digress.....

Well. Now what? Either my navigation skills have wained or the weather witch is out to hassle me. I think I will give it one more shot. We have another decision to make. We can make tomorrow another short day and stop over in another familiar Hampton Inn in Laramie, then cross over Elk Mountain on Thursday, or we can go on over tomorrow.... A tough one. Going on over makes it a bit long for us, but the last time I looked, (this morning) Wednesday is supposed to be sunny in that area, but cloudy on Thursday. I get nervous when it calls for cloudy at that altitude because it could bring snow which could then hold us up for a few days in Laramie like on our first trip. I really didn't enjoy rushing from Laramie to Corvallis as on our first trip out.... Guess you'll have to check back to see what decision we make and how it turns out. In the meantime we pray that the midwest storm spares our loved ones. At the moment I'm listening to the Illini basketball team playing Penn State (ahead at halftime)... Maybe next year Nebraska TV will carry the Big 10 Network, but for now, I have to settle for the radio. (online).... I am convinced that online radio is one of the best things since... radio, when it works.