We started this blog on our first trip to Corvallis, Oregon in January 2008. On that trip, we got stuck in Laramie for 3 days because the pass at Elk Mountain was closed just as we got there. We rushed across the central Oregon Highway, mostly in the dark and arrived in Sisters, Oregon amidst the most beautiful and forboding snowfall we had ever seen. Georgia was all "oohhs and aahhs" and I was white knuckled because I was scheduled to give an exam at Oregon State on the next morning. What an adventure! What made it so special was that the local folks in Wyoming and in Oregon said they hadn't had a winter like this in years.
This year with the promise of tolerable weather and troublesome flights, we decided to drive again. The difference for us is that Georgia is recovering from foot surgery and I just found out that I tore my medial meniscus (knee), so we are a bit more gimpy than we were. Our first day put us at the same Hampton Inn in Coralville, Iowa that we had stayed in on the first trip. We knew a great storm was heading toward the midwest, but accourding to reports and my calculations, we were supposed to skate across I-80 north of the storm as it traveled east across Kansas and Missouri. This is where Yogi joined us. We spent a little over 5 hours on the second day driving in freezing rain. Keeping the windshield clear was difficult and there were vehicles along the road in all kinds of positions including on their tops. Yes, Yogi; it's Deja Vu, all over again!. While the weather was decent we saw a sign to Brooklyn, Iowa, "a community of flags"... We decided we had time so drove off the interstate 2 miles to find this delightlful little farm community. Not exciting, but worth the diversion. Even an old style Standard Oil station. Here's the link, http://www.brooklyniowa.com/
When we got to Omaha, it got nasty enough that we assigned Garmin the task of finding us a place to stop. Found a nice 3-year-old Hampton Inn to crash for the night. The other difference with this trip is that we finally got set up for skype. Got to visit with Rod's family and Greg's family, then Jeff called, so we had some nice family visits to help us settle in. Although it's snowing here in Omaha, I've checked the webcams on I-80 all the way to Rock Springs, Wyoming and it looks good for the present with promise of sunshine the next 2 days. So we will get back on the road, but not hurry. As best I can tell, once we get going the weather should let up. Another little wrinkle was that I was watching the ambient temperature and it was pretty much 23-25 degrees across Iowa, then all of a sudden, here in Omaha, it dropped to 11, then 10... That must be where we "crossed the line". I'm thinking it will be too cold today to stick on the windshield. Since there are nearly 450 miles across Nebraska on I-80, I doubt we will make it out of Nebraska today unless the roads are more clear than I suspect. We have heard that this is the "storm of the century"..... Thanks again, Yogi!!!
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