Day Five

Day five was a much better day.  We drove from Columbia heading toward Sioux City which was around 7 hours away.  The car top carrier was giving us (Don) some trouble.  It was shaking like crazy and passing motorists have signaled that we should check it.  We did the bungie cords, duct tape (after all duct tape fixes everything, right?  Not this time) and some cords that tighten somehow.  I don't know what they're called, but Don finally got the thing to tighten down so that we can actually go over 70 mph without the thing shaking.  So, traveling 80 mph, we finally made some progress.  The dogs have settled into a rhythm of  sleeping while driving then jumping out when we stop.

We found LC's Barbecue in Kansas City.  We got some to go and took it to a dog park so the dogs could run while we ate.  Of course Missy didn't have any interest in chasing the ball when there was bbq near by, so it kind of back fired on us.  That and the fact that there was a huge hole in the fence that Bailey kept going through.  But it was otherwise a nice park with benches and lots of trees.  And the bbq was really, really good.

We decided to stop early.  We stopped in Omaha around 4:30 and found a great hotel.  It's Hawthorne's and it is a much better place than we've been so far.  No more 2 star places, only 3 stars from here on!  (Rated in the AAA book)

After Don took a short nap, we had dinner at a great restaurant, Spezia that was right around the corner leaving the dogs behind.  It was a little more expensive than I thought I wanted.  The more expensive the bigger chance that I actually have to change clothes and put on make-up.  The later of which I vowed not to do until we get to Rapid City.  But I'm glad we went.  It was good food and a relaxing dinner, something we really needed.

So today we'll drive the rest of the way to Rapid City to see Don's sister and family.  It's quite a ways away and there will probably be nothing to see on the way.  The landscape yesterday was quite flat and I'm sure it'll stay that way until we get closer to Denver and my sister, just dryer.

Omaha looks like a nice city, but again probably too cold to retire to, so I'm going to stop considering any town as a retirement city until we start heading south.