Let the Vacation Begin!

$2.159

Tonight, I’ve spent most of the evening finishing up the packing, and getting the truck loaded. It’s hard to believe that only one person is going on this trip — there’s so much stuff loaded in the truck!

My plan tomorrow is to leave out bright and early, maybe around normal work time (6.30am) in order to skip some of the St. Louis rush hour, and head toward Kansas City. There, I’ve got to make a decision about my route. Mapquest has me going north to Nebraska, and across on I-80, which is a route I favor. That’s over 2000 miles.

However, Topo USA on my laptop has me going out I-70, and then picking up US-50 for the a big chunk of the trip. That distance? About 1875 miles.

Here’s the rub. I wanna go north to see the big mountains and to see some of the US (outstate Nebraska and eastern Wyoming) I haven’t seen in almost sixteen years. However, I would really like to run The Loneliest Road through Nevada and parts of Utah, although I have no real interest in running it or I-70 across Kansas and eastern Colorado.

So what’s a fella to do?

Well, I have four and a half days to get to Yosemite (Sunday at 2pm is when the seminar starts), so maybe I can combine the two plans. Go north, across Nebraska and Wyoming on I-80, and then find a way south to US-50, and ride that on across the rest of Utah and Nevada. I don’t have to quite figure that out now — that’ll probably be a decision for Thursday, or maybe Friday. Both paths lead to Reno, and it’s there that I would like to spend Saturday night so that the journey to Yosemite on Sunday isn’t too long or hard.

Of course dropping a few coins in The Biggest Little City on Earth isn’t a half bad way to spend a Saturday night! :-0

The return trip should be even more interesting, if that’s even possible. I intend to go north, as far as Boise, I think, and then come across Montana into Yellowstone. From there, I’ll find a route that takes me east so I can visit Devils Tower and possibly Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument. I’m sure there’s plenty more to do out that way, and I’ll have about six days to take it in and get home. I plan to leave Yosemite Thursday morning, and I need to be back to St. Louis on Tuesday.

Then on Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving), I’ll pick up Sio, and point the truck south, visiting Mom on The Mountain, and enjoying some nice down home rest after over 4000 miles of driving.