Spoffords Travel

October 24, 2022 Day 16 Wamsutter Wyoming to Evanston Wyoming 173 miles

It’s cold and very windy. The morning started very cloudy but cleared to partly cloudy. We had constant head and side wind with gusts up to 40 mph. The puddles in the parking lot are all frozen. The snow on the windshield came off partly but Rob had to scrape the rest off. A thin layer of snow is on the roof of the car. The car refused to start so Rob got out the jump-start battery he bought in Hershey. That started the car but the water in the engine is partially frozen. He started taking ice buckets of hot water out to the car to pour on the water pump. That wasn’t enough. He kept taking more and more hot water out. Luckily this little place has very hot water. He spent over an hour getting the car thawed out. Unfortunately during one of those trips he slipped on the ice and fell. We don’t think he broke anything but he is a bit stiff and sore. He will have a trophy bruise tomorrow. With no engine damage we finally left the motel about 11:15 which is much later than normal. We are going on the freeway today because the backroads are nearly three times as far and are probably snow covered. We can’t believe how many semi trucks travel this freeway. Of course they are going over 70 mph. Poor woodie really struggles with all the wind. We hardly got out of second gear. Wow, we crossed the Continental Divide. We didn’t even seem all that high. We nearly got rear ended by one of those semis. One was passing us on the left and another was coming up in our lane. The driver must not have been paying attention because he ended up driving half on the shoulder and half in the dirt. We thought he was going to tip over. A rest area was just ahead and he kept going along the edge onto the off ramp. Sure wish we had a video of that one. He was not injured so we didn’t stop. We drove for over 2 hours to get to a Walmart to buy antifreeze. We are expecting another cold night. We also bought sandwiches and ate those in the car. Then it was back on the freeway with a target of Evanston which is about 100 miles further. We did cross over one mountain pass and the snow is still on the ground. Not on the road though thank goodness. By the time we got to Evanston it was approaching 5:00 o’clock. Time to stop for the day. Enough fighting the wind for one day. We checked into the hotel, went to the grocery store to buy supper and returned to the hotel. Rob drained the radiator and put in the antifreeze. Hopefully things will go better tomorrow. Now to see what the weather forecast is.

October 23, 2022 Day 15 Cheyenne Wyoming to Wamsutter Wyoming 207 miles

Today is mostly cloudy with a definite possibility of snow or rain. We didn’t book a room last night choosing to wait until this morning to check on the weather and road conditions. We checked the Wyoming road report, listened to the weather channel and looked at a few web cams. Looked like we should be able to go to Rock Springs Wyoming. The no highway option was significantly longer than the freeway so we took an option that combined the two. We started on the freeway. Lots and lots of semi trucks going at high speeds. We can see mountains in the distance. The altitude is above 5,000 feet all the way. Once we left Cheyenne we saw very few houses, gas stations, or anything else. After 40-50 miles we turned off on a secondary road. The weather was still not bad. Only a few rain drops. We passed through the small community of Centennial and began the climb over the mountains. Pine trees with some aspen dot the terrain. We passed the turnoff to a ski resort. The climb is somewhat steep so we are in lower gears. Some of the cars going the other direction have snow on them. Near the top we could begin to see snow on the ground in the shade and up higher on the mountain. The elevation was almost 11,000 feet. We figured going down the other side should be okay. Oh we were so wrong. We were in dense fog most of the way down. We were mostly using the lines on the road to drive by. Finally we were down lower. We stopped in the first town we came to for gas and lunch. Rob had chili and Connie had an interesting tuna sandwich. It started to snow lightly while we were in the cafe. Before long we were back on the freeway. It seemed like even more semi trucks. The snow continued to fall and increased in volume. The temperature was just right so the snow stuck to the windshield. Connie couldn’t see out her side at all. Rob could only see through some of the small area cleared by the windshield wiper. Luckily it wasn’t sticking heavily to the road. Then we had had enough. We stopped and got a room in Wamsutter Wyoming. It has one gas station, one motel and one restaurant. Maybe a few houses but not much. There was enough wind blowing that it was snowing a little inside the car. We got in our room and turned the heat up to thaw out. We must have been quite a sight if you could see in. We had on winter coats, blankets over our laps and other blankets to try to block some of the holes. Hopefully the weather tomorrow is better. If not, we may stay another night in this booming metropolis.

October 22, 2022 Day 14 Ogallala Nebraska to Cheyenne Wyoming 180 miles

Today is sunny and cool. A big storm is supposed to be on the way. We had to settle to stop at Cheyenne because this provides more options depending on the storm. Most of the drive was up and down small hills. The scenery was not much. Some corn fields and some pasture but everything is dull in color. Lots of dead trees. The only living trees seemed to be around the few farm houses. Most fields are watered with huge sprinkler systems. The incredibly long trains continue today. The power poles that ran between the rail lines and road way had burned in one section. The wires were on the ground in a couple of places. The ground didn’t look black so not sure when the fire happened. Never counted the cars but most trains must have had well over 100 cars. Towns are really small. Definitely under 1000 residents. We stopped at Karen’s Kitchen for lunch but they were hosting a funeral dinner. We went next door to the Subway. The wind starts picking up and the temperature has gotten warmer. We saw a couple of big feed lots. Both had lots of big round hay bales. Then one farm had a bunch of goats. Must have been 100 or more. The wind is stronger yet and is coming broad side against the driver’s side. It was so hard that it blew the passenger door open twice. Numerous tumbleweeds blow across the road. Some were quite large. We arrived mid afternoon. There are some really strange looking people walking along the road. Couldn’t find the Boise State game on TV so had to follow on the internet. Amazing they actually beat Air Force at Air Force.

October 21, 2022 Day 13 York Nebraska to Ogallala Nebraska 236 miles

Sunny and only a little cool today. The water tower for York looks like a hot air balloon. It is located not far from the hotel. The road today is very flat. Very few hills plus very few turns. More corn harvesting and more cattle. Lots of big grain storage places. We followed a train track for quite a ways. Several long freight trains going both directions. Several processing plants along the way and a couple of major distribution centers. We went through Kearney Nebraska where one of the University of Nebraska locations is situated. Lots of signs for fan parking. Must be something going on soon. We stopped for lunch in Elm Creek at a small cafe called Sadie’s. The waitress (Sadie) and cook own the place. The building is over 100 years old. They have decorated the inside for Halloween with the big blow up statues and one stationary one. Looks quite impressive. Lots of locals come in for lunch. That probably has something to do with this being about the only place in miles for a sit down lunch. We can see the freeway not far to our left. Even so the lesser highway carries a lot of traffic. Finally saw one very large feedlot. The temperature is definitely warmer. We even opened the front window which serves as the air conditioning. We arrived in Ogallala mid afternoon. That gave us time to visit Boot Hill Cemetery. Lots of the town’s history is explained on the various billboards. What is left of the cemetery is small but it has a concrete walk around and some restored grave headboards. Burial records are not at all good. We learned that the town was the end of one of the cattle drive trails from Texas. It had been a rough and tumble town for several years. One of the original boarding houses was called the Spofford House. It burned down many years ago so we couldn’t see it. Rob tells me the new radiator has developed a small leak. Here we go again. Hopefully we can make it home before it becomes a big leak. A bigger concern is a big storm front headed for our current planned route home. As always, timing is everything.

October 20, 2022 Day 12 Cameron Missouri to York Nebraska 256 miles

The weather today is much warmer with high thin clouds and slight breeze. We were all bundled up for cold weather when we left but were removing most at the second gas stop. We had to start the day by filling the tank so the second stop was about 2.5 hours later. Once again we were off and on back roads and US highways. Much more farming activity going on today. The farm equipment here is huge. Whenever any of it is on the road they spill over into the oncoming traffic. Looks like most of what they are harvesting is corn. Lots of big sprinkler systems. That was surprising because we thought they depended on rainfall. The backroads go up and down small hills like a roller coaster. Not many turns but lots of dips. Luckily no going upside down. You can see for miles when you are on top of one of those hills. This area was covered with windmills. They were spread apart but there were hundreds of them. At least half of the day we drove by them. We also saw more cattle than in the past. Most of those were beef cattle. One farm had hogs and one pasture had what seemed to be filled with miniature horses. More road kill similar to the previous days. The majority of the towns we passed through had populations under 10,000. We both thought the number of semi trucks was larger than expected for those roads. All kinds of trucks. We were going to do laundry yesterday but their washing machine was out of order. The motel tonight has two washing machines with one of those out of order. Guests must be really hard on washing machines. The car ran well again today. Gas costs between $3.499 and #3.699 per gallon.

October 19, 2022 Day 11 Warrenton Missouri to Cameron Missouri 228 miles

Another cold sunny day. Not as windy however which is good. We went on and off farm roads and one of the US highways. The main highways don’t have as many small hills to go over. The farm roads have very little traffic of any kind. About half of the corn fields have been harvested. We see lots of big equipment but most are just sitting. We passed through several small towns and near Mark Twain Lake. Lots more road kill. Once again mostly raccoons but at least two coyotes. We did see two small vultures at one carcass. They didn’t move when we passed by. The kill was off the road on the opposite side so they were pretty safe. We tried to pay more attention to the gas gage today so we didn’t run out of fuel. Lunch was at a Dairy Queen. Stopping for lunch and a bathroom stop seem the better option. It’s too cold to sit in the car or at a park bench. Rest areas don’t exist on the farm roads. We passed the exit for Hamilton Missouri. For those that don’t know that is home to the Missouri Star Quilt Company. Connie chose not to go. Simply not enough room in the car for all that she might find to purchase. We arrived at the hotel earlier than some days. That is good because we plan to do laundry. Unfortunately the washing machine is broken. So we go to the grocery store to buy microwave meals for supper. That store has some interesting items for sale. A bag of cracked pecans that must weigh about 2 pounds costs $17.99 and you still have to get them out of the shell. Then there was a nice selection of sweets labeled Amish that included coated pretzels and fudge. Rob did some maintenance on the car since we arrived early and the temperature is the warmest of the day. That still is less than 60 degrees. He cleaned and adjusted the points while answering questions from several onlookers.

October 18, 2022 Day 10 Vincennes Illinois to Warrenton Missouri 237 miles

Today is sunny but very cold. The wind blew quite hard all day. At least half of the day we drove on US highway 50. Sometimes it was a two lane road and sometimes it was a four lane divided highway. We were quite bundled up and the fuse to the inverter failed. This kept the heater fan and electric blanket from working. Hence we were getting cold. We stopped for gas and Rob replaced the fuse and was able to get at least some of the devices working again. Connie went in the convenience store to warm up. Half of the store has hard liquor. There are certainly some interesting flavors of vodka and whiskey. The price of the snack foods and candy are really high in my opinion. A single serving of chips is over $2.00. You really pay for the convenience. We saw lots of road kill. Mostly raccoons but a few deer and one coyote. The drive is mostly flat and through farmland. A few small towns and the edge of St Louis. At least this time we didn’t drive through downtown St Louis. We were definitely on some back roads. Even the farmers weren’t using them. They were paved however and often in better condition than some of the bigger roads. We listen to an audio book as we travel using blue tooth headphones. That makes the trip seem much faster. We turned off one of the lesser roads onto a divided highway and the car ran out of gas. We had been listening to a good murder mystery and not paying attention to the gas gage. Luckily we still had two full gas cans in the back. They are very difficult to pour into the gas tank however. Hopefully we won’t do that again. Other than that the car ran fine.