The long road across Nebraska I-80. July 15-16

 I have spent 3 days trying to get through Nebraska.  I have to say I like Rt 20 across upper Nebraska more than this route.   I-80 is a mess with all the bridges under construction and the roadway being dug up on one side or the other.  Traffic is shifted to one side and is 2-way.  It is not consistent it may be the west bound side or the east bound side.  It seems that traffic going west is affected more than the east bound side.  Every time the lanes narrow and shift the west bound side has a backup of 4-5 miles of just tractor trailers.  This hasn’t happened on the east bound side so I have had pretty smooth sailing.

Western Nebraska seems to be more cattle ranches and the eastern end is more agriculture.  The mornings have been very peaceful leaving before 6 am and riding only until 11:30.  That is when the temperature climbs up to 90 degrees.  That lets me get in 250-300 miles in the morning before checking into the next hotel.  Still 45 days without rain but there have been days when it would have been nice to get wet!

I left Nebraska today 7/16 and passed through 10 miles of Iowa then into Missouri.  I am enjoying the morning routine.  I haven’t seen any wildlife on this trip, I guess that is good.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but there isn’t much to take a picture of on I-80!

The toughest part of crossing the plains is a combination of the cross winds and the buffeting of the tractor trailers traveling at 70-80 mph.  The cross wind gusts are hard on my ribs with pain every night requiring Advil to kill the pain.  It also contributes to being so tired on the windy days.  It is easy to see how there are many Utube videos on the tractor trailers blown over.  On a couple of occasions a sudden gust has made me shift lanes.  I have found that traveling at 80 mph is very painful with high gusts so I have found that 72 mph seems to be my happy spot.  The buffeting of the trucks is also more painful at 80 mph.  I don’t linger beside the trucks, frequently exceeding 80 mph but if one tips over I don’t want to be squashed!