Comfort Inn Pocono Mountain White Haven

... go figure that out.  29,000 people live here and it is exactly 1733 miles to Boston and 1733 miles to San Francisco.  So I guess we are in the middle.  
Spanning I-80 is the Great Platte River Road Archway a tourist attaction that follow the stories of trappers, pioneers, the 49ers and Pony Express which passed through here in history.  Then up to more modern times with the ...

... had to go single file and left large ruts in the ground still visible today. Chimney rock was a unique looking landmark that indicated that the journey was about 1/3 over. – See Nebraska isn't completely flat.

At Chimney Rock, my powers as a rain god increased to include hail. While inside the visitor center a thunder storm came through ...

... with period dress and pioneer demonstrations. (At least that's what Tish told Tom.) So we made the trek south of I-80, our concerns growing as we passed a series of cheesy signs for "Harold Warp's Pioneer Village." (Harold Warp made big money as the inventor of Flex-o-glass, for those of you trivia buffs in the crowd.)

Well...our fears were realized ...

The drive to Kearney, NB today was very long. This was the first time in three trips West that I have encountered extended traffic stops on the interstate. My luck finally ran out. We stopped at Cabela's. This is my second trip to this store. It is fabulous. I bought some new assault rifles to defend myself when I get to California. Check out my photo with the bear. It is in the entrance of Cabela's store.

... many towns in the Midwest use Lewis and Clark as a tourist attraction. I wanted to ride the buffalo, but the docent went nuts. I wanted to try on Sacajawea's bison skin , but they didn't like that either. This is a great stop if you are ever in the area ...

So after five weeks of enduring America's public transport system, it comes as a relief to head west from Chicago in a car. I'm sharing the petrol and driving with a fella moving West from Chicago, who turns out to be a bit of a character. The first day takes us 800 miles over the Great Plains through Iowa to Western Nebraska - thoroughly uninteresting landscape but pretty stunning skies.

We traveled north through Oklahoma and Kansas (via I 35;I 135; US 81) for 12 hours. Finally, after traveling for 12 hours, we found a place to stop!!! It was nice having our RV to just park. It was 48 degrees, Tuesday Morning, in Grand Island, NE!!!

Oil leak fixed, $45 motel, and within 1-day's range of our motel. Now we're doing a little better. Caught up to a storm front in Nevada around sunset, when thunderstorms are at their most powerful. As we drove past, under the rain-free base, just to the Southeast of the storm, a massive downburst developed with powerful straight-line winds and threatening-looking clouds. I pushed the ...

Today, Friday, was another driving day. OK Nebraska rivals Nevada for the worst state ever to drive through! We already described Nevada. Nebraska is desolate and flat the sand of Nevada is traded for wheat fields. Fortunately today was a short (320 mile) day. We arrived in Grand Island at around 5:00 and immediately headed for the pool. It was hot outside. We swam, ate dinner and swam some more. The night was ...

... the first one only lasted 30 minutes but the rain was severe, causing some drivers to pull over. The second storm, this time in Nebraska, was about an hour with high winds but the rain was lighter. It did serve to drop the temperatures from the low 30sC to the low 20sC, which was a nice break. I stopped for the night in Kearney, Nebraska (about half-way across the state). Total mileage today: 1087km