Tuesday/Wednesday December 29th/30th - Days 9 and 10 of fly and drive trip to Oregon - O'Neil Nebraska to Oglesby Illinois

Tuesday: 

My charming evening in O'Neil became a bit less charming the next morning.  There were several inches of snow and little plow pushed mounds of snow in front, behind and on one side of the car which was parked on the street.  I shoveled for a few minutes using a borrowed snow shovel from the hotel.  I got so focused on the snow that I didn't remember to buy gas in O'Neil but I had enough to easily make it to a mini market in Orchard, Nebraska.  I also got a drink and breakfast burrito while I was there. The drive East on US-20 was mostly snowy but there were some small and some slightly longer stretches of roadway that were dry, protected by little drifts of snow in on the side of the road.  So there was a lot of alternating between 45 on the snowy stretches and maybe 55 in the clear spots.  It was only about 120 miles to get to Sioux City Iowa but conditions got worse as I got nearer to Iowa and there were ominous warnings about massive snows predicted for central Iowa.  




I had originally planned to go to Stone State Park or Preparation Canyon State Park (both in Iowa) and then to stay in Sioux City.  This made choosing to stay in Sioux City and sit out the snow an easier decision.  

The Hilton Garden Inn along the riverfront turned out to be a gigantic very upscale property with great river views and a variety of room types.  My King Junior Suite was wonderful with a couch I could watch TV (I'm still re-watching the Good Wife), a separate bedroom and a river view.  Most Hilton Garden Inns serve a basic but serviceable limited menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  This HGI serves a typical HGI breakfast in that space but the property has a gigantic high ceilinged glass walled gorgeous restaurant called Crave.  The restaurant is actually a hefty walk from the lobby of the hotel and I didn't even know it was there at first.  For dinner I had a Fruit & Beet salad and fettucine alfredo with chicken, mushrooms and onions.  I had a blackberry Mule with my meal and took a piece of house made coconut cake up to my room for desert.  Every piece of the dinner, especially the main dish, was aiming FAR higher than an average hotel.  I'm so glad I didn't have lunch that day so I could really savor every bite without feeling too gluttonous.






Wednesday:

In the morning I woke expecting to find a lot of additional snow but there really was only an inch or so more than when I arrived.  The roads in Sioux City were sloppy and slippery but I headed out early to go to Panera Bread for breakfast.  On the way I noticed the car had a serious wobble at speeds above about 50 MPH.  Actually I noticed it on the way into Sioux City the day before but didn't pay a lot of attention to it.  I examined the car and the wheel wells were absurdly crusted with snow and very hard solid ice.  I hacked away at it as best as I could with the snow scraper I bought in Idaho but it was rock hard.  I considered either trying to find someplace warm to put the car or trading it in at a Hertz for something different but neither was very practical.  When I stopped a bit out of town to buy windshield washer fluid (which was seemingly frozen in the car), I again scratched away at the wheel wells and a lot more ice broke loose and the handling issue went away.  It was a frustrating start to the morning but thankfully it got better.

Other than right inside Sioux City, US-20 was almost 100% snow and ice free and  I made pretty good time across the 365 miles of road between Sioux City and Bettendorf Iowa.  I did make 1 time consuming stop in Fort Dodge for a hair cut, an early lunch at Taco Tico and gas.  I also went ahead and went to Backbone State Park which was one of the 4 Iowa state parks I had printed out information on during my trip planning.  I hoofed my way through about a mile and a half of the Bluebird trail which had 6 or more inches of fresh untouched snow.  It was very peaceful, I saw about 4 deer and a giant owl and the temperature was about 23 degrees which is not a bad temp for a winter hike.  The trail starts just outside the gate to the main Backbone State Park which is closed in the winter.  In dry weather it would have been an easy hike but with deep snow it was plenty challenging and any hike in such a remote location as a practically closed state park far from home is at the outed edge of my risk tolerance.  Thankfully it was an uneventful walk.







The last few hours of today's drive were pretty routine.  I finally got to try a Loose Meat sandwich in Dubuque at Maid-Rite.  From there I headed South on US-61 then East on I-80 over the Missippi River into IL with a stop at Culver's for some custard and another for gas before arriving at the Best Western in Oglesby Illinois where my day concludes.

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