Day 70 - Happy Birthday Robinson!

Last night was amazing for sleeping nearly outside.  It was a cool, clear night and when I went outside in the middle of the night there was a simply incredible display of stars, perhaps the best of the trip.

I knew I had another long driving day ahead of me.  Fortunately, I woke up just as the sun was starting to come up.  Also fortunately, I had something to break up my day - breakfast with my cousin Jackie, her dog Pancake, and her new puppy Ruby.  They’re down in Ft. Collins so rather than head due east, I diverted south for a bit.  


The drive was pretty uneventful except for a couple deer that were standing right on the side of the road.  I’m SO glad they chose to stay there.  


I made it to Fort Collins and was greeted by both Ruby and Pancake.  Puppies really are adorable, I’m looking forward to finding one for us.  Jackie and I brought Ruby and Pancake to downtown Fort Collins for some breakfast at Snooze.  Jackie had recommended the eggs benedict as her recommendation was well worth it.  Yum!




We returned to Jackie’s house to drop off her and the dogs and I got back on the road.  If it was possible, today was even WORSE from a scenery perspective.  There was a LOT of BORING along the way.  In fact, for a while before I got onto I-80, there were literal tumbleweeds on road!  At least Robinson was willing to talk with me for a couple of minutes as I wished him a Happy Birthday - that passed 3-5 miles.

As I got into Nebraska I got the information from Google that there was a 20 minute slowdown on I-80.  So, I followed the diversion recommended and it would have worked great except that there was a railroad crossing and that crossing had a train that came to a stop.  And then it stayed there for over an hour.  Fortunately, as soon as the train stopped, I turned off the engine, got out of the car, and sat in the shade typing up this blog!  Eventually the train moved on and I was able to get rolling on my “shortcut”.


I failed to reserve my spot so I was hoping that Mormon island still had something available.  I drove in and the ranger there said that he could help me out.  It turned out there were still three spots so I snapped one up.  I set up camp and then filled up Rover with gas before settling down and having some dinner.  


Just like last time, as I finished dinner, the sun was starting to set so I took a walk around the lake and snapped a couple of pictures of the sunset.

As I walked around the lake I ran into an older gentleman who was out fishing.  He told me a bit about some of his fishing moments on the lake and then showed me a picture of the muskie he caught there.  Suddenly I thought about pulling out my fishing poles!


Unfortunately, it was too late and so I just enjoyed watching the stars come out for a while before I packed it in for the night and got ready for sleep.  I had a VERY loud neighbor watching a movie outside at high volume, but it didn’t bother me because I was tired and I had my headphones in listening to my book on tape.  I’m not sure why I started it because I was OUT within 5 minutes.  I didn’t get any exercise today, but I was worn out!


Total mileage - 11,571

# States/Provinces - 19 / 2


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