{"id":8847,"date":"2020-01-20T00:42:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T00:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=8847"},"modified":"2025-01-06T03:06:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T03:06:52","slug":"on-my-road-trip-out-to-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=8847","title":{"rendered":"On my road trip out to Utah…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As it turned out, I managed to drive 3,600+ miles to Utah and back, without a major<\/strong> mishap…<\/em><\/p>\n

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January 20, 2020 – I haven\u2019t posted anything since November 28, \u201clast year.\u201d One big reason? (Aside from preparing for the Christmas holidays.)<\/em>\u00a0Last December 27 I got in my car and drove 1,800 miles out west, \u201cin the bleak midwinter<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0(At right, a truck stop in Grand Island Nebraska, snowed in 12\/29\/19. See also the notes.)<\/em><\/p>\n

I drove out to visit my brother in Utah, and his wife.\u00a0(My \u201chiking buddies\u201d from the Portuguese Camino. See\u00a0Just got back \u2013 Portuguese Camino!<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em>Their son and daughter also came out \u2013 from Back East \u2013 along with my new\u00a0(as of June 2018)\u00a0<\/em>\u201cnephew by marriage.\u201d\u00a0(See\u00a0On a wedding in Hadley \u2013 and John, Peter and Paul<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/em>It was a great<\/em> <\/strong>14-day road trip.<\/p>\n

To start at the end,\u00a0I made it back to Atlanta on Thursday, January 9, “safe and sound.” That day I drove 566 miles in 12 hours, starting in Conway Arkansas. (Northwest of Little Rock.)<\/em> And that was even though I lost an hour crossing into Georgia from Alabama. (4:25 Arkansas and body-clock time, 5:25 God’s Country time.)<\/em> I had to be back to work the next day, Friday the 10th.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20191229_182623\"<\/a>Those great memories from the road trip included getting snowed in at Grand Island Nebraska, as shown above right, and at left, as explained further below. (Westbound I-80 was closed.)<\/em><\/p>\n

That was on Sunday, December 29, two days after setting out. Something like a hundred trucks were lined up on the side of the road, along with cars in the Motel 6 parking lot…<\/p>\n

The day had<\/em> <\/strong>started out well.<\/p>\n

I left the Motel 6 in north Kansas City – where I had to pay a $40 cash deposit the night before* – and made good time…\u00a0 I figured I was making such good time that I could afford to stop and do some “touristy stuff” before reaching my goal. That is, getting to Morgan, Utah by 3:30 or so on the afternoon of December 31. (Followed by a trip to Salt Lake City airport to pick up other guests arriving by plane.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The weather was good, and the Weather Channel hadn’t given a clue about what was about to happen.\u00a0Then the snow hit. The first clue came as I drove west on Nebraska state road 136, west of Brownville, just across the Missouri River. I cut over to avoid the “up and over” to Omaha. Then I saw another car, at first behind me but then it passed on the right.<\/p>\n

It’s roof was covered with snow.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’d hoped to make North Platte, Nebraska that night, but ended up stopping early at Grand Island. (I did make it to North Platte next day, but in doing so covered only 146 miles “as the crow flies.” But the crow didn’t have to go around the closed I-80 via back roads, down to Hastings, then west on US 34, then back up to Lexington via State Road 23.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

After checking in at Grand Island and getting settled, I walked – gingerly – through the snow, ice and slush from that Motel 6 to the big truck stop next door. While doing laundry I enjoyed two tall beers, a burger and conversation with the other stranded motorists, as shown in the image above left. (Those are my glasses, next to my half-empty glass of beer.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Other memorable moments from the trip?\u00a0Later on the way out I stopped in Wyoming for coffee creamer and other goodies at a Walmart. The price came to $6.66, which led me to think, “OH HELL NO!” So I bought some Tic-tacs to change the price. (See Revelation 13:18<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

But the best memory of the trip came on the night of Friday, January 3, at the “Old Manse” atop the family hill south of Morgan. “The girls” had gone to bed and the guys had stayed up and chatted. And drained a bottle or two of wine.\u00a0(Next day we were to go skiing at Snow Basin.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Eventually the drain-a-bottle-of-wine talk led to my brother and nephew swapping boot-camp-slash-Marine-slash-Army stories. (My brother served in the Marines in the 1960s, and my nephew served several tours in the Army, and is now in the Reserves while attending Penn State.)\u00a0<\/em>Like the Advanced Infantry Training that old-time Marines got after Parris Island boot camp. When the new Marines got to drink lots of beer at lunch, for a change. But then the “powers that be” had them line up in parade formation in their dress greens. Then they had to wait for hours in formation, “and the inevitable consequences thereof.” Or Matt sharing a story about taking a wrong turn down that back alley in Seoul, South Korea. “Further affiant saith not!”<\/em><\/p>\n

BTW: We all slept late the next morning…<\/p>\n

Good memories!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the next installment you’ll see how I cracked a rib while skiing at Snow Basin…\u00a0 And got a speeding ticket driving through *&^% Haysville Kansas!<\/p>\n

But for tonight I’ll go back to the memory of getting snowed in at that Motel 6 in Grand Island, Nebraska. With a view of the near-frozen North Platte River from my motel-room window, next morning and as shown below. But it also included that great burger and two draft beers at the\u00a0Thunder Road Grill<\/a>\u00a0at the truck stop next door.\u00a0(As shown in the notes.)<\/em><\/p>\n

So the way I figure it, \u201cthere\u2019s some kind of lesson there<\/a>!<\/em><\/strong>\u201c<\/p>\n

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One of three branches of the Platte River, the morning of 12\/30\/19…<\/em><\/p>\n

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The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0Road Trip Winter\u00a0– Image Results<\/a>. Another photo was accompanied by an article on safety tips for winter road trips, by Elaine Schoch<\/a>. Among the recommendations: Keep your gas tank half full, “to prevent gas line freeze-up.” Which I didn’t know, but kept filled up whenever the gauge got to half-full, figuring it might be nice to have enough gas to keep the heat on, while stopped and as necessary. Also, “kitty litter,” for traction in the snow. (My Utah brother recommended sand.) Plus other advice such as “stay calm if stranded.” Including “Run your vehicle\u2019s engine and heater about 10 minutes each hour to keep warm. Open a downwind window slightly for ventilation and clear snow from the exhaust pipe to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.” I’ll read up on that article again if and when I do another road trip “in the bleak midwinter.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On that note, see\u00a0In the Bleak Midwinter – Wikipedia<\/a>, about the “Christmas carol<\/a>\u00a0based on a poem by the English poet\u00a0Christina Rossetti<\/a>. The poem was published, under the title ‘A Christmas Carol,’\u00a0in the January 1872 issue of\u00a0Scribner’s Monthly<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/em>The poem first appeared set to music in\u00a0The English Hymnal\u00a0in 1906 with a setting by\u00a0Gustav Holst<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>Harold Darke<\/a>‘s anthem setting of 1911 is more complex and was named the best Christmas carol in a poll of some of the world’s leading\u00a0choirmasters<\/a>\u00a0and choral experts in 2008.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I took the \u201cGrand Island\u201d photos, including the one of my glasses on the bar next to a half-empty glass of draft beer.\u00a0The Motel 6 in question was at 7301 Bosselman Ave,\u00a0Grand Island, NE. The full link to the \u201cThunder Road\u201d website is\u00a0Thunder Road Grill | Pizza, Wings & Burgers | Grand Island, NE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Re:\u00a0\u00a0The $40 cash deposit, at the Motel 6 near the airport, north Kansas City. In all my 68 years of travel and motel-stops, I’d never had to do that before. A general rule: Motel 6’s in or close to big cities seem to be rather “dubious,” while those in or near small towns are well worth the savings.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: “Further Affiant Sayeth Naught.” That’s a “centuries-old statement that is still used on some legal documents such as pleadings as the final declaration prior to the affiant’s signature.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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As it turned out, I managed to drive 3,600+ miles to Utah and back, without a major mishap… * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * January 20, 2020 – I haven\u2019t posted anything since November 28, \u201clast year.\u201d One big reason? (Aside from preparing for the Christmas holidays.)\u00a0Last December 27 I got in my car […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8847"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8847"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21800,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8847\/revisions\/21800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}