Left Green River Wyoming at dawn and drove through Wyoming and all of Nebraska stopping in the Omaha area. Just me, and the big trucks rolling down I-80. Weather was perfect. Clearly a big snowstorm happened a day or two before, but now just a mix of high clouds or sunshine. It sprinkled on me once or twice the first day. I knew this was the last of the 80 MPH speed limits, as the landscape changed from “western” to “midwestern”. From Omaha to Chicago I had nice clouds keeping the sun from being too intense. Stopped to hit the gym in Des Moines. Then rolled on across Illinois, where I met Christopher for dinner. We went to a BBQ restaurant for some REALLY good BBQ (something impossible to get in the PNW!) He had a pulled pork sandwich and I had a Rib & Sausage plate. It was delicious and the company was excellent. Always nice to see him.
The hotel near his work where I usually stay was charging over $300/night for some reason, so I found a much more reasonable hotel, that happened to be downtown. He met me there after work and I drove him to the BBQ place and then home where we exchanged gifts (some LED lights for his bike from me, and he gave me some gifts he brought home from Japan for his Brother Nick, and his wife Izzy whom we are seeing in Portland next weekend.)
Slept like a log and planning on another dawn departure. Shooting for somewhere in Pennsylvania for Saturday night.
