Day 2 is another driving adventure.  We drove from Council Bluffs, IA to Cheyenne, WY.  On Wednesday, the temperature was 92.  Today, we never hit 70!  I hope it gets better.

I forgot to mention that Rick continually searches for great root beer.  As Rich is tasting beers at brewpubs across the west, Rick is tasting root beers.  Brewpubs not only brew beers, but they also brew their own root beers.  Yesterday, Rick tasted the Bugeater root beer at Upstream Brewery.  He declared it one of the best he has had, but the label was the best.  It was a preteen age boy with bug eyes and a butterfly net.  Rick searches on for great root beer on this trip.

I wanted to say that nothing exciting happened today.  Rich corrected me on that though.  He says it was a plus that he woke up today.  I think so too.

Driving across Nebraska, you cross the Platte River about 600 times.  It has different names at different places, but it’s still the Platte River.  The exciting thing was all of the swallows flying over and around the river.  I wondered what bugs they were eating.  We stopped in North Platte (the town) for lunch.  I could see quite clearly that they were eating a ton of grasshoppers!  Keeping the next plague in check.

Rich says the other exciting thing to happen was his free coffee.  We stopped for gas before leaving Iowa and went in to get coffee for the drive.  There was coffee in the container, but the attendant was afraid it wasn’t hot enough.  It was fine with me, but Rich thought it was cold.  The poor guy quickly made more coffee for Rich.  But when we got to the register, he didn’t charge us for Rich’s cup because it wasn’t right the first time!

We stopped at one rest area for a break.  There was a lake behind the visitor’s center with a kinetic sculpture floating just off shore.  It moves and expands with the wind and contracts when there is little or no wind.  Today, there was a mild breeze, so it was tightly compacted.  I can’t image what it looked like yesterday with 35 mph gusts!

As we got ino Wyoming, we could see a storm just south of the highway.  It was raining, looked really dark, and threatening.  It’s amazing how far you can see out here.  At one rest area, I walked out to take pictures of the storm.  It just looked so near, but yet so far away.

We arrived early in Cheyenne, which gave us a chance to relax.  I logged into email to look around.  I know, I know.  I’m on vacation.  I guess I just don’t completely disconnect, but I still enjoy my time off.  Then I don’t feel totally disconnected when I return.

For dinner, we found the Shadows Brewing Company housed in the old train station in downtown Cheyenne.  It was beautiful inside and the brewing equipment was the center piece of the station.  We got seated and ordered drinks.  Rick got his root beer.  Rich started with an IPA (I don’t remember the name).  It had a strange flavor to it.  Not the best drinking beer.  I ordered the Buffalo Brown Ale, which had a slightly sweet flavor with a deep background that hung in your mouth.

For dinner, I had the beef brisket with cole slaw and sweet potato fries.  It came with a brown sugar sauce for the fries that was heavenly.  The brisket was so good.  Rich had the sirloin steak.  He enjoyed it a great deal.  Rick got a simple meatball sandwich since he claimed not to be all that hungry.   Rich ordered the amber ale as his dessert beer, which turned out to be very good.

So now is time to post pictures and settle in for the night.  I could use a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow, we’re off to Park City, Utah.