Wild West Earlventure: First Leg

Hello from the open road!  Coming to you from Big Earl thanks to the miracle of mobile internet!

Thanks to everyone who pointed out that my Wordless Wednesday post appeared on Tuesday.  I can offer three explanations, so take your pick:  a) I'm blonde, b) I lost track of the days being on vacation, c) I scheduled the post in advance (anticipating poor wireless internet connections) & put in the wrong date, or d) all of the above.

Anyhoo....  

We are well underway, traveling west across I-80.  As we left Ohio, we passed the exit to the town where Brutus was born, just about 2 years ago.

With Big Earl fully stocked and loaded, we really only need to stop every 600 miles or so to refuel.  That would have gotten us across several states, so we made it across Ohio and Indiana without a pause.  However, the boys need an occasional potty break, plus we couldn't help a quick stop in Chicago for one of our very favorite foods on the planet: Giordano's stuffed pizza!!

Look at all that cheesy goodness!  Sorry, Brute - not for Frenchies!  The resulting gas due to the cheese in the confined interior of Big Earl would be unbearable!

After that tasty little treat (and we did feed the dogs BTW), we had the energy to make it the rest of the way through Illinois.  By the time we got to the Iowa line we were all getting road weary, so we packed it in for the night at this less-than-glamorous location near Davenport.  Brutus is in the photo, biggify and look close!

It was quite late when we pulled in and it was a weird night - we had to squeeze into a spot so small that Big Earl couldn't even put out his slides, and listen to semis going in & out all night!  The photo above was taken just after sunrise the next morning, just before we hit the road with a nice early start to the day.

Next stop, Altoona, IA.  After having to spend the night without hookups, we needed a drink & drain for Big Earl.  Did you know that some of the Bass Pro Shops (and most Cabella's) have RV facilities?  No more excuse than that needed to stop at one of Paul's favorite places!!

The boys were happy to stretch their legs, and humored me by posing (in the 85F heat) for a quick photo op.  Gotta get them out in every state, Mason in particular has a special goal he is shooting for (more on that in upcoming posts).  So after a brief break, we all piled back into Big Earl for the long haul across Nebraska.

We made it most of the way across the state before we decided to call it an early night.  The weather was beautiful, and we found much more comfortable resting ground for Big Earl at an RV park in North Platte, NE.

Brutus and Mason we eager to check the peemail there....

... as well as leave word that they approved of the location!

We ended our 2nd day on the road with a nice cookout, then went for a stroll to get some much-needed exercise.  We found this cute place nearby and just had to get a photo for our pal Frankie (one of his gals is named Penny, we wondered if she might be the hostess here).

Time to turn in for the night.  It's a l-o-n-g way still to go to our first destination, near Salt Lake City, UT.  We're hoping to make it there in one more long haul tomorrow, but it will be another tiring day on the road.  Please pardon our lack of commenting on your blogs, as internet access is touch-and-go at best.  We're trying to visit a few of you each day & leave comments if the signal is strong enough to do so.  Hope you'll enjoy being along on our Earlventure enough to stay with us!  Tune in soon for the next installment!