Our Cross Country Adventure -- Part One

Bad weather ahead while traveling in Wyoming.
The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument over I-80 in Kearney, Nebraska.
Z in front of a bison at the Archway Monument.
Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha, Nebraska.
Z in the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters.

We finally left Utah on Saturday, April 5th. To no ones surprise we didn't leave until later than we had planned. We had wanted to get to Nebraska on the first day, but only made it to Little America, Wyoming. We checked in really late and then stayed up later to rearrange our clothes and other items that we really needed so that Jer did not have to unpack the entire van each night (yes we had stuff in our van that should have been in the moving truck). We got up kind-of late and drove to North Platte, Nebraska. We had made some preliminary plans of where to stay each night, but because of leaving late on the first day, we did not get to any of the cities on the day we had planned -- we would just drive until we didn't want to anymore. I would sit in the passenger seat with Jer's blackberry and surf the web and use the GPS and find a hotel to stay in for the night. On Monday we were able to visit The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument that went over I-80. That was fun. After a brief visit with a Highway Patrolman for speeding (no ticket -- just slower driving afterwards:) we traveled to the Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha, Nebraska and went through the Mormon Trail Center. Z impressed the Sister Missionary with all of the answers that he knew. We arrived late in Des Moines, Iowa. We had wanted to make it to Nauvoo, Illinois by Monday night, but obviously we were behind. Nauvoo was the only place that we had made hotel reservations, so we had to cancel Monday night, but it was okay. We were safe and having fun -- that was all that mattered. We had been through lots of yucky weather -- rain, ice rain, and even snow. Z was doing well just watching movies the entire time, and B would sleep. Some people would have been able to go further each day, but between bathroom breaks and feedings I think that we did rather well. Each time we would stop to feed B, we would try to time it around our meal as well and it would easily be a hour stop each time. Next is Nauvoo, Illinois.