Denver to North Platte, Nebraska
After yesterday’s cold and snow, the day dawned clear with
the temperature in the low 30’s. We were
up by 6:30 and had a quick breakfast, hoping to get the final packing done and
be on the road by 10:00am. Most of our
stuff — clothes, food, cameras, etc — was ready to go and just needed to be
packed in the modular plastic bins we use in the motorhome so it didn’t take
too long. Then it was time to carry it
all out to the driveway and get it into the over-cab bed we use for our storage
area. The final item was a telescope —
something that was not on our list of needed items but just something to have
for possible wildlife viewing and casual star gazing. It looked like we’d have room for the little
SV66 refractor that we keep set up in our dining room to watch waterfowl out on
the lake behind our house. I gathered
the mount and tripod, a couple of star watching reference books with night sky
charts, the aluminum case for the telescope and its accessories, and stuffed it
all into the remaining space in the motorhome.
We filled the fresh water tank, disconnected the shore power, but away
the leveling blocks, locked the front door, and settled into the pilot’s seat
and co-pilot’s seat. It was 9:57am and
all was well. For once we were going to
make our departure target. After a
quick stop at King Soopers to pick up a bag of M&Ms for a batch of gorp,
our favorite munchy while driving, we were on the way for good.
Fast forward to approximately Mile 35 — we were driving past
Barr Lake on the far northeastern outskirts of Denver, a place famous for
watching bald eagles. I thought to
myself, I’m glad we brought that telescope after all. I’m sure we’ll have many opportunities for
seeing things like that. But wait! I packed the telescope case, the mount and
its dedicated tripod, but did I actually remove the telescope from the tripod
in the dining room and put it in the case?
NO! (slap on forehead), it was still back home where I never went to get
it in the last-minute rush. Duh. Oh well, at least we got at the first screw-up
out of the way early.
After that, the rest of the day was anti-climactic — just a
blast up I-76 to I-80, just over the Nebraska border. Our original thought was to stay overnight at
Lake McConaughy, just outside of
Ogallala, but it was still early, so we decided to continue on to North
Platte. The All-Trails app on my iPhone
listed several campgrounds near there, so we chose the Buffalo Bill Ranch State
Wildlife Area, which has a small and very pleasant campground with electric
hook-ups right on the North Platte River.
Finding it took a bit of time because it’s not well-marked, but we
finally settled in for the evening and enjoyed a nice dinner of fresh green
salad, vegetable lasagna, and a glass of wine.
Total miles for the day:
305.
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