Friday, June 24

Friday afternoon. We’re in a HoJo’s in Lincoln, NE. Our first travel day, Wednesday, was a short driving day because it was sort of a shake-down trip, mainly to see how the cats would handle long distance travel.  We stopped after 5-6 hours in Youngstown, OH.  We really put pedal to the metal the next day, Thursday, and ended up in Davenport Iowa.  Today, Friday, we’re in Lincoln, NE.  Traveling with cats involves cat litter, food, water, treats, and paper towels to pick up after motion-sick animals. We’re also traveling with a 19 year old daughter, which involves its own set of logistics: snacks, blankets, pillows, subzero air conditioning, cell phone chargers, hotel Wifi, etc. We aren’t doing any sightseeing, so the scenery has been pretty ordinary, with relatively flat land, and farms on either side of the highway. Apparently summer is when Ohio performs all of its construction on I-80, so we were constantly having to slow down and merge into single lanes. Indiana, on the other hand, apparently favors deferred maintenance, so there was little construction but the condition of the road (and rest stops) was disappointing. We’re seeing many windmills in Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska.  It’s hot out here in Lincoln with few trees and very little shade, but I’m not sure if that’s how Nebraska is naturally, or if that’s the result of highway construction and farming. My next project is to figure out how to publish photos along with this blog. Alan is a terrific photo/videographer, so our December trip was very interesting. This summer trip, with Frances, Alaza and me, promises to be less visually appealing - but we'll try.