Day 20- March 28, 2007

I didn’t remember until 2200 hours last night that I needed to add both Omaha and Lincoln trunked info to my Pro -96 file for today’s trip. I also forgot to stop at a local Denver bookstore and try to purchase street maps of both cities (neither were available in Albuquerque). I finished the Pro-96 files around 2300 hours.

It got windy and much cooler overnight in Denver. When I left Denver around 0645 hours it was extremely foggy and in the low 40s. I had to head west on I-70 to I-270 to catch I-76, which connects to I-80 east. It was a scary drive out of Denver. I tried to stay far enough back to keep the tail lights of the vehicle ahead of me in view. After about 40 minutes of driving in a gray cloud, the sun started to burn off the fog. I was able to receive Denver trunked radio traffic for almost an hour out.

I spend the rest of the time on I-76 dodging tumbleweeds in 30 to 50 mph wind gusts from the south. Many of the semi’s were having trouble with the winds, especially the double semi’s. It was hard passing the big rigs as the wind would catch you when your front end reached the front of the big rig. It could have been worse. It could have been raining too!

I actually had very good driving weather the rest of the way. The winds finally died down by the time I got to Grand Island (64 degrees) and the sun was shining most of the way. I started picking up the Lincoln FD trunked radio about 30 miles out. The Lincoln trunked setup is very strange in that each company has its own designated talkgroup (I’ve never seen that before). I got a good view of the Nebraska State Capitol and downtown Lincoln from the freeway as I passed through on I-80. There was a lot of road construction in the Lincoln area.

I reached Lincoln by 1430 and Omaha by 1530. I lost an hour in central Nebraska where it switched from the Mountain to the Central time zone. I only heard a couple conversations on the Omaha trunked system. I thought about staying in Omaha and even got off the freeway to look for places to stay. It was sunny and 75 in Omaha. When I couldn’t find any motels along I-80 in Omaha, I crossed the river into Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The radio station I was listening to talked about severe storms in the Omaha area overnight and continuing into tomorrow. I still felt pretty fresh and because I knew it was going to be dry in Des Moines until tomorrow afternoon, I decided to continue on to Des Moines (140 more miles) for the night. It was beautiful driving along I- 80 in Iowa as the much of the grass and farm areas had greened up. I made it to Des Moines by 1730 hours and checked into a motel just north of the city.

Tomorrows journey will be a very short one. I should easily be home by noon. I didn’t take any photos today, so I’m including some more from yesterday. I did learn something new today. Nebraskan’s must have weak kidneys. How did I figure that one out? Because they have Rest Stops every 30 miles along I-80.

Your Roving Reporter