West by Northwest Day 13

Got ready with the kids in the morning to head out relatively early.

Packed up, said goodbye and hit the road.  One odd thing about Alliance is that many of the side streets have no traffic control (lights, signs, etc.) in either direction.  To avoid confusion, we went back to the main drag and headed out on State Route 2.

"Hell, I even thought I was dead 'til I found out it was just that I was in Nebraska." - Little Bill Daggot from Unforgiven
The drive started out very pretty with perfect temperatures as we continued through the Nebraska Sandhill region.  Nebraska is a long state east-west.  Around the time we got on State-91, the drive started to get monotonous.  This was made worse by a few construction zones with pilot cars and one of the most painful fuel stops ever encountered.  I won't list the gas station, but Mullen, Nebraska has only one station on State 2 and apparently, slow motion is even too fast.

We continued through Nebraska as the Sand Hill region gave way to flatter hills with more trees.  Beef ranches gave way to agriculture fields.  By the time we approached Blair, Nebraska, the interstate was looking like a welcome change.  This is atypical since normally the interstate is avoided.

We got on the interstate shortly after entering Iowa.  There was no lunch stop as we wanted to pour on the miles, but snacked at gas stations along the way.
Passing through Des Moines, I-235 was a parking lot due to an accident, but luckily I-80 remained relatively free flowing.

As we got to Iowa City, it started to get dark to the point that shortly after the construction on I-80 in Iowa City, I had to trade the dark glasses for clear lenses.  The sunset in the rear view mirror was a pretty orange.

As we approached Davenport, we stopped at an exit with a few hotels, but the intersection was unpleasant with trucks and no good restaurants easily seen.  We went a few exits down and found a Days Inn with reasonable rates right next to a restaurant called The Shed.
After checking in we walked to The Shed for a pork tenderloin and all-I-can-eat ribs.  The food was phenomenal.  The food would have been good anyway, but everything tastes better after more than 700 miles.

Finished the evening with...Oreo Cakesters!
Mileage for the day was 718.8.