I had today planned… down to the minute, just about! We were going to leave at 9 a.m., and we were going to arrive in Cheyenne, Wyoming, at the KOA by 5 p.m.
Key the sound of screeching tires…. the refrigerator isn’t working! This necessitated a stop at the nearby Camping World for a propane refill. A few minutes later, we were on the road again. Not too bad of a set back, all in all. Maybe 15 minutes.
My expectations was that we’d drive from our home in Council Bluffs to Grand Island, Nebraska, 150 miles away for our first tank of gas. I estimated that at about 6.5 miles to the gallon (on E85) we’d have a little left over. Bad idea.
We only got 5.5 miles to the gallon. Approaching GI, I was on pins and needles… would we make it. Exiting on the S. Locust exit (314) we were told there was gas…ed but at the end of the ramp we were paul harveyed… the gas was 5 miles away in towards town. And we made it just 1 mile before the engine died.
Thank goodness for OnStar!!!! The operator that came on was very courteous, and in minutes we were told that help was on it’s way… and that in a few minutes after hanging up, I’d get an automated phone call telling me how long before service arrived.
Well, it turned out that service was being sent from Lincoln Nebraska over 70 miles away and wouldn’t get to our location for an hour and a half… which turned in to 2 hours!
Now, why would they do that? I’m 4 miles from Grand Island… a town of nearly 100000 people you can’t tell me that there isn’t some kind of towing service in GI!
Anyhow, here we are, now… 4:24 p.m. MT. And we’re FAR FAR FAR away from our night’s destination. I hope now to arrive by 9 p.m.!
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Well, we finally made it last night! We arrived at KOA at 8:10 p.m. In our final 20 miles, we drove through a driving downpour, watching the lightening. When we checked in at the campgrounds, we were told we’d just missed the “big storm”. Hail, lightening, very high winds.
After I parked the rig, as I was about to get out to start set up, ma nature decided to drop another load on us… we set up in the rain. I got drenched. 😦
But, all in all we were glad to get settled in.
So, our first night on the road came to a peaceful, relaxing end… and a new dawn begins. In Cheyenne, Wyoming!
I’ve got pictures… but can’t get them uploaded… watch back later.
On The Road II 