Laramie, WY to Columbia, MO

Yes, you read right. We skipped ahead to Columbia instead of stopping in St. Joseph. Nebraska was the most dull state ever (from the I-80 perspective) and Google's directions scared us a little when we left the intestate in Lincoln. They were right, they just didn't look right in real life. SO when we got to the Missouri state line (not much to see in 5 miles of Iowa either) we decided to keep going since we weren't all that tired and Kansas City would probably be a nightmare in morning rush hour. Turns out we were right that the interchanges of highways and interstates in KC are kinda complicated and as Jeff warned us, drivers aren't nice! But, we made it thru there in one piece and not too flustered. Columbia is where University of Missouri (aka Mizzou) is located so thinking of other college towns we're personally familiar with (Corvallis....Athens....) we decided it'd be a good stop. The Days Inn at Exit 124 had the best rate for what you get (wireless internet, hot breakfast, etc) but it's kinda sketchy and outdated. The mattress sinks at least 6 inches when I (Katie) sit on it. Truly, it's clean and functional....just not pleasant feeling. We definitely got spoiled by Marriott's and have learned you get what you pay for.

We plan to go ahead tomorrow and try to make it to Jackson, MS. We will be stopping in St. Louis for Chick-Fil-A.....and to see Katie's friend Jeff (just kidding, we would've stopped to see you even if you didn't have a Chick-Fil-A...it's just a nice bonus!) Then we're looking forward to some good southern BBQ in Memphis as an early dinner before cruisin' down to Jackson. This should let us get some good sleep there before going down to Bryan and Katie's in Florida. Mmmmm 2 days til I can walk on a beach! =)

For those of you with schedules and want to know how they'll be updated, we'll still be in Central time (+1 for Eastern, -2 for Pacific) taking 9 hours, 24 min to go 618 miles. This does not include stops for food, etc. Rough estimates are to leave Columbia around 8am and get breakfast. We plan to get to lunch w/ Jeff in St. Louis by 11ish. Then 6ish we'll be in Memphis for BBQ. With stops, that should put us in Jackson by 10pm.

We drove 813 miles today which pushed the car over the 10K mark just outside Kansas City. Pretty amazing =)

There wasn't much to see so most of the pictures I took were of interstate signs....and one at a rest area warning us about rattlesnakes! I'll add some tomorrow as this part of the country looks a lot more interesting!

Time to try to sleep now.

Boise, ID to Laramie, WY

Well this was a fun drive, 696 miles is an awful lot and ended up taking us 11 hours (with stops) but it really went well. We found Katie some Starbucks and then hit the freeway... I-84 was boring right away and never got much better with an exception if a mid-day rush hour-ish festival in Ogden. We followed I-84 until it ended and split into I-80E somewhere in the northeastern part of Utah. From that point on it was nothing but mountains, plains, and an overwhelming load of nothing. There were some deer I think too but I was driving so I didnt look.

We stopped at four rest areas to stretch, one just before Twin Falls in Idaho on I-84, One right before the Idaho/Utah border, One right inside Wyoming at Bear Park, and the last one was at Bitter Creek off of I-80. The first three were ok, somewhat clean but the Bitter Creek one was nasty!

We got to enjoy Chick-fil-A for lunch after a relatively tense drive through the commerce district of Ogden, Utah right before I-84 and I-15 head apart from each other. Have never had bad Chick-fil-A and this time was just as good. It was kind of funny that this place had won regional best branch 2 times since there is no other Chick-fil-a for like 1000 miles in any direction.

The driving was not bad, I discovered the benifits of cruise control today - my legs wouldnt have survived otherwise - There was *no* traffic on I-80 so I just put it on 79 (75 limit) and cruised.. i did think the car was gonna asplode as we went up into the mountains and the CC kept the engine at about 5k rpms. The result of this technology is that I feel just fine after 696 miles. Tomorrow will be almost as much but it is more of I-80 so it shouldn't be bad at all. I just hope I dont have to deal with Trucks passing Trucks going up a mountain and pointless construction.

We got into town and found a Brand Newish Fairfield (2/2 nights so far) and though it was a bit more than 60, it should get us free stays somewhere with our rewards...

Next stop, St. Joseph, MO!

-Nathan