Oh my back hurts!

Well gang, I did it!  I covered 2500 miles in two and a half days.  I haven't posted due to the fact that I have been either driving or sleeping, and mostly driving.  I am still exhausted as I sit here and write this, so there will be more to follow as I manage to recover from the drive.

Day 2 Marion, IL to Cheyenne, WY
When I set my day two goal as Cheyenne, I was only half expecting to make it.  Ok I actually gave myself a 20% chance of making it. It was over 1000 miles (1006 to be exact!) and is farther than I had ever driven in one day before.  I do like to challenge myself though, so I went for it.

I left Marion around 8am with St. Louis in the GPS.  I had made plans with Mellisa to meet up for breakfast around 9:30.  Seems we only get to hang out when I am driving through her state!  We met at this divey old pancake house inhabited mostly by blue hairs called Uncle Bill's Pancake and Dinner House.  I got the 2x2x2x2, and you guessed it, 2 pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage.   This place has some of the best pancakes I have ever had.  Oxnard people, don't fret, Uncle Herbs will always be my favorite.

HOLY CRAP When linking to Uncle Herbs I just found out that it is closed!  CLOSED!! Well now it is official, there really is no reason ever to go back to Oxnard.  I blame ALL of you Oxnard for allowing this to happen.  You shall all pay, pay I say!

Ok, back to the road trip.

From St. Louis I hauled ass towards Cheyenne.  I can sum up the rest of the drive in these two words:

1. Corn
2. Soybeans

The country was beautiful. Don't get me wrong, I love the Midwest.  Not sure I would want to live there, but I do like visiting.  Every time I drive across the country I laugh to myself when I think of all the irate people who say this country is overcrowded.  It is far from overcrowded.  We just need some sort of lottery system for newcomers.  When you come into the country you pull a card from a hat, that card tells you want state you get to live in.  Problems solved.

When I got to Cheyenne, it was dark.  There was no moon out and I couldn't see much outside of my headlights.  Also, I was exhausted so finding a hotel was a little more challenging than normal.  I finally find the Motel 6 and was surprised to see how many cars there were in the parking lot.  I didn't even make it in the door when the lady at the desk pointed to the no vacancy sign.  Seriously, Cheyenne Wyoming has no vacancy?  After getting the same thing at two other motels I was beginning to think I was going to have to drive to Laramie.  I finally took a chance with a non branded hotel, and they had two smoking rooms left. I took one, gross, but necessary.  

When I asked why Cheyenne was full, the very nice lady at the desk informed me that it had been Frontier Days this past weekend and a lot of people stick around afterwards.  Sure enough when I got up that morning at 6am the "breakfast" area was full of what I am guessing by their outfits were Mennonites.  Very interesting.

That was day two of my trip, Day 3 to follow.