Spoffords Travel

Day 6 September 18, 2024 Ames Iowa to Joliet Illinois 319 miles

The day is partly cloudy with some breeze. We were the only people in the hotel last night. Don’t think that happens often. Good thing we weren’t there on the weekend. Iowa State University is here and they have a home football game. The hotel will be full.

We are out of town very quickly. (It is not a veery big town.) Two large plants are just outside of town. One is Barilla which makes pasta and the other is Verbio which makes renewable natural gas. We saw lots of large plants today. Most had no visible name and if they did nothing as to what they made. I guess you are just supposed to know.

Before long we are on a four lane divided highway. It’s not a freeway because side roads cross rather than having exit ramps. For some unknown reason the GPS keeps taking us on little side routes but always returns to the main highway. Some of those are gravel roads. The dust on those is so fine that everything in the car is covered with dust. After the third side trip we stop using the GPS and just follow the highway. We had looked and know that we should stay on US Highway 30 until it intersects with US Highway 52. Then follow that into Joliet. We get back on the GPS when we get closer to Joliet.

We did encounter one long stretch of construction where the road is being resurfaced. We had to wait for the pilot car. That must have been 3-4 miles long. Our morning break took us just a little off the highway. As we returned to the highway we met about 8 very large pieces of farm equipment going the opposite direction. They do take up more than a lane. Harvesting season is upon us.

John Deere has stores in almost every town. Equipment comes in all sizes but very few color choices. One of the stores had certified pre-owned equipment. Surprisingly for all that equipment we saw very little was out in the fields.

Speaking of fields we have never seen so much corn. The fields are huge and there are lots of them. Miles and miles of corn on both sides of the road. No wonder there is so much ethanol in the fuel. Some of the gas stations offer 15% ethanol. Only a handful of the fields were harvesting. Even then they only had one machine cutting the corn and one hauling away the corn.

Well with all that corn there must be lots of raccoons because we sure saw a lot of roadkill raccoons. No antelope and maybe only one deer.

Very few cattle today but we did smell hogs. When we came through Iowa a few years ago it seemed like every farm had hogs. However, we were further south on that trip.

Not many windmills until we got closer to Joliet. Then they were all still. Granted the wind was calm but seems they should have been moving some.

US Highway 30 skirted most of the towns similar to a freeway. It just went through all the corn fields. Well once in a while there was a bean field. Still saw lots of silos but no grain fields. The grain must have been in the few fields that were bare.

A couple of signs about buggies were posted but we never saw any buggies. The Amish population must not be large. The small towns we did drive through usually had big older homes that were well cared for.

We arrived at the hotel at 6:00 pm. Later than usual. The mounting bracket for the turn signal device on the car broke off today. Rob had to make at least a temporary fix. Tomorrow will tell if it works.

Day 5 September 17, 2024 O’Neil Nebraska to Ames Iowa 304 miles

The day started out mostly sunny but ended up mostly cloudy. It had rained overnight but we didn’t have any rain during the day.

The terrain is a little flatter than yesterday and there seem to be more trees. Huge corn fields are everywhere. Only a couple of fields were actually in the harvesting mode. More cattle than yesterday with one long horn steer that seemed to be out of place.

We came to one farm that had a huge amount of big round hay bales. On the other side of those bales were two huge feed lots. There may have been more on the other side of the hill that we could not see. Sure explains why we have seen so many cattle trucks. Numerous other fields had cattle as well just not as many. Most are angus.

We came to a small roadside display of various kinds and sizes of windmills. No sign to indicate it was a museum. All along today we saw the big wind mills that are rotating fairly fast for their size. They should be because the wind is really blowing again today. Even the corn stalks are bending over.

Not much construction today which is nice. Most of the roads were two lane with minimal traffic. But as we approached Souix City Iowa the road became a four lane divided highway. The last ten miles or so of our journey were actually on a freeway with lots of semis.

The temperature was in the high eighties today. The good news is that the car never overheated. However, the passengers were feeling the heat. We almost got out the water spray bottles to cool us down.

Day 4 September 16, 2024 Chadron Nebraska to O’Neil Nebraska 250 miles

Quite the thunder storm blew through last night. Plenty of thunder so the lightning was somewhere. The rain came down pretty hard for a short period of time. Surprising though the car didn’t show signs of much rain. No puddles on the inside. The skies are blue and the air is rather warm for this time of day.

When Rob took the suitcases out to the car he found a note on the windshield. A retired Navy person had parked next to us last night. He left the note on the windshield that said, “Too bad you are Army but the car is great.”

We did our usual stop for gas and as we left the GPS said to continue straight for 249 miles. We followed her guidance and then turned into the hotel parking lot.

Today’s drive was much the same as yesterday. There were flat sections and rolling hills. Trees were rare except near towns or farm houses. The fields contained mostly corn, beans, hay, sunflowers or cattle. Based on the number of silos grain is out there somewhere also. One of the pastures with cattle had a few long horns. They must have been young because the horns weren’t super long.

Traffic is relatively light which is nice. Most of the semis are cattle trucks. Not much construction which was nice. Not many towns and the ones we did go through were very small. Most populations were under 1,000.

By afternoon the blue skies had turned to clouds. They looked like rain was soon to follow. The wind picked up too. It never did rain so that was good. We arrived at the hotel about 4 pm. Not a bad day’s drive.The murder mystery audio book made the drive seem shorter. Unfortunately the end of the book never matches the end of the drive. But, stay tuned maybe tomorrow we will know the rest of the story.

Day 3 September 15, 2024 Casper Wyoming to Chadron Nebraska 206 miles

We started the day with a trip to Walmart to get a couple of camp chairs for the tour. They were suggested in an email received yesterday. Glad they had a couple of cheap chairs. Then we went to Harbor Freight to get a couple of chocks. They are required for the tour. Evidently we will be in hills part of the time.

After two long days we decided to make it a shorter day. We were definitely on backroads to start the day. We only saw two vehicles until we turned onto a different highway. The terrain was pretty flat with large ranches. The day is sunny with lots of blue sky.

Our first wildlife sighting was a pair of domestic goats out in the barrow pit. Pretty sure they don’t belong there. Maybe they were trying to go wild.

We did see a few pumping oil wells throughout the day. Not too many however. They were not close together either.

Only a couple of metal silhouettes on today’s drive. The landscape is more varied than yesterday. We had flat areas, rolling hills and a few deep valleys. All of it is dry with very few trees.

We saw two or three antelope in different places. Never saw any large herds. They are usually close to the road. We only saw one roadkill one so that is good.

We stopped for a break and lunch at a rest stop. They had lots of shade trees but only a few tables. In the shade with a gentle breeze it wasn’t too bad. The temperature is definitely warmer today. We already have two of the windows open.

After lunch we saw a group of 6-8 wild turkeys right beside the road. They didn’t seem too scared when we drove by.

One area had quite a few birds of prey sitting on the power poles or fence posts. Food must be plentiful. Thankfully there were no buzzards checking us out.

The wind was really strong for most of the afternoon. Even with an audio book on with headphones we could hardly hear the story.

We blew into the hotel about 3 pm. We were hot and tired so we spent some time cooling off before going for frozen dinners at the grocery store.

The car ran fine today. It was pretty warm this afternoon and we had no overheating issues. A special thanks to Elvin Hightower for helping Rob tighten up the steering last week. It has made it easier to keep the car on the road.

Day 2 September 14, 2024 Swan Valley Idaho to Casper Wyoming 324 miles

We got on the road shortly after 9 am. The skies are mostly blue but the air is crisp. Therefore we have all the windows closed. The road is full of traffic. Still lots of RVs and various sizes of work trailers. Traffic is about the same in both directions.

The terrain is mountainous with ranches scattered along the way. But then we came to the mountain separating Idaho and Wyoming. The grade is usually 10% both up and down. This is where the landslide occurred earlier this year. They have a good detour while they figure out what to do for the long term. The car performed well on the steep grades.

The GPS took us on a back road rather than through Jackson. That drive was really pretty. The Tetons were in full view. A small river ran a short distance from the road. Ranches filled the space in between. Traffic was much less here too which was nice. Once we got back on the main highway the traffic was much heavier. Still lots of tourists out on the road, in the turnouts and going along the green belt.

We came to a field with 20-30 head of horses. We couldn’t believe the number of people stopped and taking pictures of the horses. The area is called Elk Flats. I hope they realize these are horses and not elk.

We turned more easterly away from Yellowstone. Oh my there is a live deer. We have seen several roadkill ones. We did more climbing and crossed the Continental Divide. On both sides of the town of Dubois Wyoming were fire crew camps. A large fire has been burning in the area for over a month. Warning signs were posted along the road. We did come to a couple of areas that had obviously burned. A few spots were still smoking. We didn’t see any flames or serious smoke. That was all good.

Down from the mountains again and we saw two bison in a pasture. They are probably being raised for meat. The fence around them was higher and looked much stronger than for cattle.

We drove through an area where the hills were quite colorful. Erosion left interesting shapes and colors. Farms dotted this area as well. What a beautiful place to live.

The car turned over 50,000 miles. That was the highlight between Shoshoni and Casper.

This all gave way to the prairie. We are driving on Highway 26 and it makes the stretch from Boise to Mountain Home look good. The land is quite flat with some sage brush. We did see several antelope however. Also a couple of large flocks of sheep.

Periodically we saw large metal silhouettes along the road with the number 307. The company GW Mechanical is promoting the creation and placement of these to break up the boring road between Shoshoni Wyoming and Casper Wyoming. It is the state’s original and only telephone area code. Now 307 is considered synonymous with Wyoming. It is meant to unite all residents regardless of occupation.

About 3 miles from our hotel we encountered major road construction that made getting to the hotel rather more complicated. The GPS didn’t realize all that work was going on. Good thing we spotted the hotel on the way. We arrived here about 6 pm. It was a longer day but the weather and car cooperated. We also listened to a murder mystery on the headsets which helps make the ride seem a bit shorter.

Day 1 September 13, 2024 Boise Idaho to Swan Valley Idaho 318 miles

We started around 9 am but had to stop at Costco for gas. Then we realized that neither one of us had turned off the kitchen sink. Our kitchen sink is a tap on and off but occasionally it turns itself on. Unfortunately it doesn’t turn itself off. So we went back to turn it off. We left the second time about 10:15.

We took the freeway to Mountain Home and then turned onto the backroads. The drive to Mountain Home is still very uninteresting. We stopped in Fairfield for gas and decided to have lunch at the little drive in next door. They were quite busy but the food was good.

We continued through Craters of the Moon and on to Idaho Falls where we planned to stay the night. We tried booking online but everything came up no rooms. We called one of the chains and asked for Idaho Falls. They said yes they had a room. When the address came via text the hotel was in Blackfoot. We attempted to cancel the reservation since that would be back tracking. They wanted to charge 30% penalty fee. We argued that but they said it would need to be reviewed. So we decided to drive down the road and just stop at some hotel. That is when we found out this happens to be check in weekend for BYU Idaho so the town was booked full. Our choices were to go to Blackfoot or continue on to Swan Valley. We went to Swan Valley.

There are no accommodations between Idaho Falls and Swan Valley. We got to Swan Valley about 8:00 pm. The sun was down and the heater was turned on. Luckily we found a room. It was above a bar but a quiet bar. You would think that we were retired Navy. (Any port in a storm!);

Day 39 Arco Idaho to home 196 miles

We left Arco at the usual 9:00 am. The skies are at least partly cloudy with smoke.

We drove through Craters of the Moon but didn’t stop.

The town of Carey was having their fall fair. Looked like a good crowd.

Wildlife today consisted of 9 antelope all in one field and 9 birds of prey spaced out at different places along the way. We did see what looked like a heron out in a grain field. Seemed an odd place for it. The rest of the wildlife came in the form of roadkill. Two skunks and 7 deer or antelope. Sometimes it was difficult to tell.

The closer we got to Boise the hotter and smokier it got. Sure miss the cool clean air from up north. The house was nice and cool when we arrived which felt really good.

In summary

39 days on the road

445 gallons of gas used

$5.199 average price per gallon

8,044 miles driven

$2,312 spent on fuel

18.26 average miles per gallon

206 average miles driven per day

1 flat tire

1 new fuel pump

8 gallons of gas lost due to fuel leak

12 nights in the trailer