Spoffords Travel

Day 25 September 22, 2025 Arco Idaho to home 200 miles

Not the best place we stayed. The bathroom light puts out about the same amount of light as a small taper candle. That lasts about 10 minutes. Then the light goes into strobe mode. The amount of light is more however. That soon runs out and it’s back to dim. The faucet for the shower is extremely difficult to turn on. Once it was on the hot water was barely luke warm.

The rain fell last night so the hood of the car is very wet. Not a good sign for starting the car. Today we were lucky. It started on the third try.

We stopped at a rest stop and Rob added more oil. The car does have a small leak.

The highway is being resurfaced for a few miles. We waited a short time for the pilot car. As we passed the flagger she blew bubbles.

We did see a small herd of antelope and some roadkill.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful thankfully. We managed to avoid gravel roads other than in the construction.

In summary

25 days on the road

277 gallons of gas used

$3.34 average price per gallon

5,365 miles driven

$924.05 spent on fuel

19.59 average miles per gallon

214.6 average miles driven per day

0 flat tires

0 small rock chips in the windshield

0 rock hits in the radiator

1 broken headlight bulb socket

Day 24 September 21, 2025 Dubois Wyoming to Arco Idaho 238 miles

The cabin where we stayed last night is at an elevation of over 8,500 feet. The air this morning is cool. Fall is in the air. The office has a continental breakfast for $5.00 each. We had sausage, egg and cheese croissants in the cabin for $1.50 each. Bought those in the frozen food section of a grocery store.

The drive back to the highway this morning was beautiful. Almost as if the trees changed color overnight. We saw a doe and two fawn on the road. They were gone before we got a good picture Or hit them with the car.

The logs used to build some of these homes are huge. They have incredible views. Glad I don’t have to go on their driveway however.

The sun is shining so the trees look like gold. A few are orange or red.

After we got on the highway a small herd of deer crossed the road. By the time we got there they were in the trees and invisible.

The closer we got to the entrance to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons the worse the traffic got. Lots of RVs going both directions. Everyone must be trying to take advantage of possibly the last good weekend.

In one location traffic was really backed up in both directions. Cars were parked solid on both sides of the road. We never saw what they were looking at but we guessed a moose. Oh well we must save something for the next trip.

The skies are looking very ominous. The forecast is for rain this afternoon. Well they got it right. As we started down the Teton Pass the rain started falling. It was good to have the windshield wiper working.

The drive from Idaho Falls to Arco was not very interesting. Not long after getting in the motel room the thunder, lightning and rain began. Just before sunset the sun came out.

Day 23 September 20, 2025 Douglas Wyoming to Dubois Wyoming 272 miles

Shortly after leaving town we saw a rather large herd of animals in the distance. They didn’t look like cows, deer, antelope or elk. Much further down the road we saw a smaller herd of the same animal. They were domestic sheep! A ram had its head up. He had large curled horns.

We also saw a lone antelope and later a couple of small herds. They don’t seem too bothered by the traffic.

More of the 307 metal work was along the way. A couple were on fences of private property and others were out in the open. Remember 307 is the area code for Wyoming.

We stopped for lunch in Shoshoni Wyoming at the gas station. That is the only place to eat in town. They do pizzas, burgers, subs, salads and other goodies. We split a foot long sub. While we were eating a lady came in with a pet raccoon on her shoulders. Another lady came up to her and petted the raccoon. That was a first.

The terrain is much more colorful and interesting. Finally got out of the corn and soy beans. No more sand hills either.

We filled the car with gas and stopped at the grocery store for salad mix in Dubois. Our lodging is in a cabin out of Dubois. A few miles out of town we turned off the highway onto a dirt road. We drove five miles on a good gravel road that twisted and turned its way up the mountain. Several switch back turns kept us from going very fast. Numerous big log homes are all along the road. We finally got to Crooked Creek Cabins. Quite a complex. They have a restaurant, RV park, rental cabins and rental outdoor equipment. The cabins are made of logs with metal roofs. They must have different configurations because they aren’t all the same size. The restaurant seems busy and four wheelers are driving all over.

Day 22 September 19, 2025 Thedford Nebraska to Douglas Wyoming 294 miles

The day started out very cloudy with lots of thunder and lightning. It must have rained at least some during the night because the hood of the car was very wet. The car does not like wet. Therefore it took about 15 minutes and lots of attempts to get it started.

We drove a short distance when it felt like we had a flat tire. We stopped, Rob got out and checked the tires. All were just fine. It was the road. It had a strange patch that just affected the narrow tires differently.

We continue to drive through the sand hills. The area is 23,000 square miles. A giant aquifer is under the hills. We see lots of small wind mills used to pump water. The wind mills don’t need to be very tall because the wind is so strong at ground level. Farmland has ended but some cattle roam the hills.

A flock of 20 or so wild turkeys were beside the road. They didn’t seem too concerned about the car.

Further down the road were two vultures sitting on a log. They had their wings out sunning themselves. They were the same but smaller and not so ugly ones we saw before.

A small lake was further down the road. At least three what we think we blue heron were standing in the water. One was on a dead tree limb much higher up. Must have wanted a better view.

We did have to wait a few minutes at one construction site. They were resurfacing another section of road. Amazing how many vehicles were backed up when we got to the other side. The distance was about two miles but still had a pilot car.

The road paralleled the railroad tracks most of the day. At least a dozen trains pulling coal cars went by. For a couple of miles other cars were just parked on the tracks. Seemed a strange place to park them. Wyoming produces about 40% of the nations coal so that is most likely where this is coming from. Don’’t know where it is going. Each train has at least 100 cars. One of the trains honked his horn at us.

We had a short break of flat land so the farmland was back. This time one of the main crops was sunflowers. They were a shorter variety with smaller heads but lots of them.

As we entered Wyoming some of the rock formations were interesting. The altitude was higher too. Not as much traffic.

We got to the hotel earlier than expected. We gained an hour by crossing into the mountain time zone. Also helped that the roads were mostly straight, no cities and few highway changes.

Day 21 September 18, 2025 Glenwood Iowa to Thedford Nebraska 291 miles

This morning is cooler and very cloudy. It stayed cloudy all day and did rain on us a couple of times. Once was rather hard. Luckily we saw it coming and got the side curtains on before the rain hit.

Made a mistake yesterday. Glenwood is in Iowa not Nebraska. It is very close to the border however. Very soon into our travels we crossed a river into Nebraska.

We also forgot to write yesterday that we saw three vultures eating on a road kill. These were smaller than some and not as ugly. Roadkill is pretty common. Lots of raccoons and possums with deer mixed in on occasion.

The terrain again today was farmland and rolling hills. We did see a couple of large feed lots and smelled several others. A large percentage of the semis were cattle trucks.

Only encountered one construction area. The crew was putting down new asphalt. A fairly long line of traffic accumulated on each side. The single line flow of traffic past the construction was about a mile. Will be really nice when finished. Another section further down the road needs to be done. It had a small cut in the asphalt about every ten feet. Sure got tired of the bump bump bump.

We stopped for lunch at a Subway. The sandwich of the day was a chicken bacon ranch which is one of our favorites. Then this Subway had hand dipped ice cream. We each had a small dish. Sure tasted good.

We saw three long trains pulling coal cars. We both agree that the railroad crossings in Nebraska are much smoother than the ones in Kentucky. The ones in Indiana and Illinois weren’t too good either.

We were so engrossed in the audio book we neglected to monitor the fuel level. We ran out of gas about 12 miles from the motel. The wind was really blowing and the traffic was going pretty fast. It would rock the car. No one stopped to check on us. They could probably see Rob pouring in gas from our spare can.

Several people in Thedford were interested in the car. Rob talked to several at the gas station and again at the motel.

The menu for tonight was going to be some of the microwave soup we brought. That is when we discovered that we left the two cans we brought at Shelley’s. The grocery store was already closed. Luckily a restaurant is next door. Rob bought “take out” and we ate supper in our room.

Day 20 September 17, 2025 Burlington Iowa to Glenwood Nebraska 267 miles

The day started out sunny but ended up cloudy. In fact we had some rain. The biggest shower was just as we stopped for lunch. It was really coming down. We had three of the side curtains off. By the time Rob had those back on the car the rain stopped. He got a cold shower and was very wet.

We drove almost the entire day on the same highway. What a change from previous days. Most of the terrain was flat with corn and soy beans. Some places were rolling hills with assorted trees.

Not many towns and certainly no cities. Lots of places have pumpkins for sale. Some houses are decorated for Halloween. Harvesting is beginning for the corn. The equipment they use is huge.

While we ate lunch a train went by. That is one of the few we have seen even though we have crossed lots of tracks. Most of the track crossings have been very rough.

The number of semi trucks was higher than expected. We were not on the freeway. They go much faster than us and are very loud. Sure glad we have head phones on. However, the murder mysteries we listen to always seem to get solved.

Day 19 September 16, 2025 Olney Illinois to Burlington Iowa 270 miles

Another hot day with some big white puffy clouds.

The terrain most of the day was flat with fields of corn and soy beans. They are harvesting in some fields. Some really large farm equipment. Some of the harvesting kicks up a lot of dust. Unfortunately the woodie does not have power windows.

We didn’t go on quite so many narrow roads today. Some of them are a bit rough however. Rob had to work to keep the car on the road a few times. We actually got some distances of 40 miles before changing roads.

One of our gas fill ups had such old pumps they couldn’t process a credit card. Then as we left a customer came out of the shop. He asked about the car and then said a prayer for our safe travels.

We crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa. Burlington sits right on the river.

After arriving in Burlington we went in search of Snake Alley. It is supposedly the crookedest street in the world. Constructed in 1894 from brick and limestone, it features a series of seven curves—five half-curves and two quarter-curves—that drop 58 feet over 275 feet, offering a unique test for drivers. A young lady was having her senior pictures taken on the road. Glad we didn’t hit her. The drive down in the woodie was interesting. Brakes are a requirement. Cars are only allowed down in warm weather. To us the curves seemed closer together than on Lombard Street in San Francisco.

We also filled the car with gas and went to the grocery store. It was a really nice store. It even had a small cafe. All we bought was a salad kit for dinner.

Our hotel has a guest laundry so after eating we went to do laundry only to find out the washer was broken. Lucky for us a 24 hour laundromat was nearby. Still only one headlight so we were very careful. Connie offered to help with her cell phone light.