Journal Entry #5 - Rock Spring WY to North Platte NE

Tuesday  9/3/2002

Day Five

     Rock Spring Wyoming to North Platte, NE
     Starting mileage 89260 / Ending mileage 89745

Got up early as planned, 6:00 am. Someone (*Tessa) peed on the green carpet and once again the wet vac came to the rescue. David had cereal & I had a bagel with my new honey on it. Yum! We’re out of milk and have built up a shopping list, so the plan is to stop a little early today, possibly Kimball, Nebraska, and grocery shop. Also, stop in at a library to check email. *Note: get some postcards!

Departed at 7:15 am. Took a picture of the “Weather Rock”.

At 8:36am, passed a sign that said Continental Divide 6930 elevation. At 9:14am “Continental Divide / 7000”. Stopped in Rawlins for a break & also some McDonald’s breakfast. Then on to Cheyenne. The landscape is so monotonous that I have difficulty not nodding off. When we drove by Laramie it didn’t look too hospitable, but the area around Cheyenne has more trees & greenery. We stopped @ 12:30 to fuel up and have PB&J, chips & pop. Also looking forward to some of the brownies we made Sunday night. Back on the road by 12:50.


This morning we played the Trivial Pursuit game that Sharon and Ray gave us. I rolled a die to see which category to choose, then read the question. We both took a guess before checking the answer. We won’t be on Jeopardy any time soon… The cell phone has been on “Extended Service” and “Roam” yesterday pm and so far today.


We decided Kimball, NE isn’t far enough due to our early start, so our new destination is Ogallala. Hit a rest stop in Chappell @ 3:00. Hot, dry winds that are fun to walk around in, but that been making the driving fairly difficult for David. He’s had to keep the speed @55, and both hands on the wheel as the rig shimmies around. Speaking of rough driving, since Boise, ID and on we’ve encountered a lot of rough roadway – the misaligned cement pad type. Very annoying to drive on, and some of the rivets in the bike rack David built popped out. 

(1460 miles total at 3:45pm)

Well, 4:24pm just became 5:24pm as we entered “Central Time Zone”. Now we’ll be on the road even “later” than normal especially since we decided to bypass Ogallala and push on to the KOA in Gothenburg, @ 50mi east of N. Platte.

(*Stinky cow place west of Ogallala has us worried about staying near the stench)

Okay, now we’ve decided to stop at a private campground (Holiday Park) in North Platte, so that we can find a grocery store. We pulled in @ 6:30 (central time) After setup, dog walk, spaghetti & red wine dinner, we headed into “town”. Debated shopping at Wal-Mart (so many reasons) but pulled in since it was handy. Nice “food center” with prices noticeably lower than back home. We were pleased to see a liquor isle, so we don’t have to make a separate stop. The prices were so extremely low, even on excellent brands, so we stocked up a little. Then, off to fuel up so our morning will be errand-free (except for getting a USA Today). Even at 8:30pm, it’s in the mid-70’s and we’re wearing shorts & short sleeves. No cable at the campground, so we’ll just go back & lounge until bed.

Fuel: Rock Spring, WY  21 gal / $28 / 215 miles

Fuel: Cheyenne, WY  23.5 gal / $31.00 / 256.5 miles

Fuel: N Platte, NE  25.1 gal / $34.75 / 221 miles

*Tessa is a black lab/border collie/? mix that we adopted from the pound in 2001

End of Entry