Day 11: The Longer Boogie Home: Part 2
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The Boys rose about 5:30 in the morning and hit the road around 6:00, with IHG Coffee with the intent to get through Denver before the morning rush hour. The snow had stopped but it was pretty darn cold that morning!
Going Thru Denver in the Morning
The Mike a cruised quickly through the eastern flatlands of Colorado through a highway that connected I-70 and on to I-76 east bound! About two hours into the drive the trusty Land Cruiser was running low on petrol so the boys looked to fill up the car, and their bellies!
Country Fried Steak, Sterling-Style!
The Boys stopped in Sterling, Colorado population: 13,375, or very small! After gassing up they stopped at the little J&L Diner, filled with older Vets to the point that Mike and Bone felt like they were in a VFW hall! Obviously outsiders, all the old locals stared at the Boys like they were hippies from the 60's. As the locals continued to stare, Mike and Bone ordered their new favorite from a pleasant local waitress, Chicken-Fried Steak and Eggs!
The Frozen Tundra of Eastern Colorado!
The Boys thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast and belched their gratitude to the staring locals on the way out. However outside was colder than their Restaurant patrons stare, remember a few days ago Mike and Bone were in the mid 80's in Big Bend, this morning in the middle of Iowa, it was 0 (zero) Fahrenheit! That's -18 Celsius for you Europeans, and durned cold pretty near anywhere! Shivering back into the Land Cruiser, got back into the road!
Negative into Nebraska!
Shortly Mike and Bone cruised into the Cornhusker State with the temp still under 32 degrees through Julesburg! Cold weather, long drive makes one a little groggy in afternoon, knowing that any good college town has great coffee shops, Bone suggested that they make a "fuel" stop in the home of "Big Red", Lincoln!
Unscheduled Coffee Break in Lincoln!
Bone used the "Google" to find a local college coffee shop close to the freeway, which was closed! Failing one shop after the other, the Boys ended up in the middle of campus, in Hay Market Square at a little shop called Crescent Moon, whose barista's took forever to make an Americano and a simple cup of Joe! What was only supposed to be a 5 minute detour shot 40 minutes!
Hobbled into Omaha!
The original plan was to find a hotel in downtown Omaha for the night and find a good Italian restaurant in their "Little Italy". Omaha's "Little Italy" is so small that it is only a couple of not so good looking places far off of the freeway. Instead, they found an IHG right off of the Freeway and right next to a "fancy" restaurant called "Cracker Barrel!"
This time, they both tried the fried chicken, and quickly concluded that Cracker Barrel is better as breakfast place! Exhausted from the 541 miles from Denver to Omaha, the Boys crashed for the final night!