drivetofive

Odometer:  6,858

Trip Mileage:  1,398

I did it!  While it wasn’t a record-setting mileage day in my driving history, it was still a long one.

Omaha is the largest city in Nebraska with a population of just over 400,000 people.  Little did I know, too, that Omaha is the birthplace of what later became known as the “TV dinner.”  Thanks, Nebraskans for giving us that!

My day started off very early – 5:30 a.m. local time, hopping on I-25 northbound from Santa Fe with the highway to myself.

Welcome to Las Vegas!   Las Vegas, New Mexico that is.  No gambling allowed here.

Beyond Vegas, I-25 climbs up toward the CO/NM border and I finally got a chance to exercise some smooth-shifting skills.

Made it!  One more state added to the list.

Are we having fun yet?  I think so.

You’d think the Rockies would be a bit more… rocky?  Reality is that the eastern side of Colorado is actually pretty flat.

Just north of the CO border, I diverted from the interstate and instead took to the 2-lane backroads for the next several hundred miles.  Hwy 350 paralleled the train tracks for awhile.

You know you’re in a remote place when you get zero service.  And zero data.  Thank goodness I was in a reliable car!

Thought this was a ‘cute’ name for a little one-horse town in the middle of nowhere off Highway 71.

Where 71 meets 70 in the town of Limon, I thought I’d fuel up…

… but I quickly learned that the only gas station in town only had two grades of unleaded fuel:  85 and 87.

Neither is acceptable for Premium-sipping ILX so I continued on.

These windmills off 71 reminded me a bit of Palm Springs.

And… just when I got some good momentum going, a construction zone held me up for about 15 minutes.

Giving me time to stare at that “A” a little longer.

Here we go – Woodrow, Colorado.  ZIP code 80757 and not even enough going on to warrant a Wiki page longer than two lines.  Here we have the ILX posed in front of the ultimate all-in-one:  Post Office, General Store, and Coffee Shop.

I took this picture for my friend Woody.

Finally I got back to an interstate, I-76 at the town of Brush, Colorado.  Check this out:  The “Brush Hair Company.”  Doesn’t that just seem fitting?!

Fueling up!

Right at home behind the wheel!

And, another state conquered.  Thankfully there was a family pulled over here so I enlisted their services in getting a picture for me.

Omaha awaits!

Hwy MPGs are rated at 31 on the window sticker – I’ve consistently been getting better than that.

Gothenburg, Nebraska is teeny town on I-80 in central Nebraska whose only claim to fame is that it’s home to an original 1854 Pony Express station.  I’d stopped here many years ago in my Legend on a cross-country adventure, so I figured I might as well take the ILX there, too.

Foreground, 2013 Acura ILX.  Background, 158-year-old Pony Express station.

Transportation has come a long way since the days of the Oregon Trail.  Which, by the way, was my favorite computer game in elementary school!

Nebraska is one continuous construction zone.

Finally, arriving at the Motel 6 off I-80 in Omaha.

And a visit from my Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based friend Dawson who I met via the Acura Legend forums.  This guy has gone through 4 Acura Legends and a couple of Integras.  I let him take the ILX for a spin and he had fun with it.

When all other restaurant options fail – Denny’s is always there for you.

So how did it feel to spend over 14 hours behind the wheel of the car today?  I feel like I need to go for a run around the block!  I get stir-crazy from sitting in one position for such an extended time.  I’m a little fatigued, too, but this has less to do with that KIND of car I was driving but rather the fact that I was IN a car the entire day.

Thankfully, tomorrow’s final stretch to Milwaukee, Wisconsin is “only” about 8 1/2 hours of drive time, and fewer than 600 miles.  Piece of cake!

This entry was posted on July 25, 2012 at 9:02 pm and is filed under ILX, NALM, Road Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.