Number of Miles Driven: 550

Drive Time: 8:30 am - 9:00 pm (3-hour stop in Omaha)

States Driven through: CO, NE, IA (3)


July 23


Per the last blog post, the ending to our wonderful day spent at Estes Park was not a great one. We hadn’t planned the hotel for this part of the trip because we didn’t have any specific goals/plans for this stop other than to sleep. We assumed we’d just get a hotel that was convenient and a reasonable price - well, you know what you get when you make assumptions. 


There were several hotels in Sterling, CO -including a Hampton Inn - our consistent go-to; but, in an effort to save a few bucks, we selected a Super 8 (still over $100… for a Super 8!). They can be hit-or-miss, but the photos looked reasonable, and the top three “overview” reviews indicated “comfortable bed” “good for the price” - so I did a nonrefundable booking to get an even bigger discount. As we pulled into the parking lot, we could see the prison not too far in the distance - and we immediately began to regret our nonrefundable decision. 


View from our window...Sterling Correctional Institution (not zoomed in) 


There were several people just hanging out around a table outside - not sure if they lived at the hotel or were just using their wifi - but they didn’t appear to be visiting overnight guests. They didn’t appear to be unsavory characters, but it did make us question what the typical usage of the hotel was if you catch my drift. Michael checked us in and he said the lobby felt like a place where drug deals go down (at this point, I’m pretty sure he was just overreacting to underscore my bad decision-making). As we piled out of our car with McDonald’s in hand (Andrew told me we’ve had more McDonald’s on this trip than in the past three years - probably a true statement), the people hanging out were looking at us and probably wondering what we were doing there (we had the same thoughts..). It kind of felt like how you’re looked at when you’re out of place and everyone knows it. 


We got to the room and it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great - I’m sure our first impressions impacted how we viewed everything else about our stay. It seemed clean (enough) and there was plenty of room for two air mattresses. We had a lovely view of the prison from our window. Michael quickly brought in as few bags as possible and tried to limit his time out of the room. The kids took quick showers and were in bed by 8:00. We let them watch their tablets for a half hour then lights out. Right when they settled in, we started hearing loud conversations in the parking lot outside our window (we were on the second floor). The people were just hanging out in chairs and on the tailgates of their trucks chatting away - all surrounding our van. Michael’s estimate was that 30-50 different people hanging out at different points (he checked outside the window frequently) - but I”m pretty sure it was less than that. We turned on white noise for the kids to drown out some of the noise, and Michael put the armchair against our hotel door. Of course, Andrew noticed this and wondered what was going on. Michael tried to “normalize” it (can you normalize that?) by saying he tends to do that at hotels for extra security. Aside from the noise outside, Dani was having her own little party in the bed. We initially had Matthew, Dani, and Carolyn in the same bed, but Dani kept bothering Carolyn, so we pulled out an extra air mattress and Carolyn slept on that. I didn’t have much difficulty falling asleep, but Michael was awake until the party outside died down around 1:15.


Our original plan was to have a leisurely morning and get on the road by 9. We decided to leave a little earlier and not be so leisurely about it. We didn’t drag in all the food and just ate the grab-n-go bag of breakfast provided by the hotel (hey…4-star hotels don’t provide free breakfast…just sayin’…), and we planned to make lunches at a rest stop. Not exactly the restful night we were hoping for, but all was well - our van didn’t get robbed and there were no escaped convicts breaking into our hotel room. 


July 24


We were leaving Sterling by 8:00/8:30 and we had crossed the Nebraska line within the first hour. They were doing major construction on I-80 East, so many of the interstate signs had been removed and replaced with temporary signage. Therefore, we didn’t see a “Welcome Sign” for Nebraska - the third one we’ve missed (New Mexico, Washington, and Nebraska). The drive through Nebraska was easy and fast. Yes, there were lots of nondescript cornfields, but they were made more exciting by lots of crop-duster planes flying low back-and-forth over the fields. One of the planes was flying perpendicular with the interstate and we happened to be driving by right as it was flying toward us - that was fun to see. It was on Dani’s side, so she thought that was neat. All the planes were yellow and we saw at least 10 of them (perhaps more..) as we traveled I-80 through Nebraska and Iowa. 


We stopped for lunch at a rest area because we had not made our lunches that morning. Of all days to stop for lunch, this was a great one because we had plenty of time to get to Omaha for dinner, so taking extra time to stretch our legs was nice. Aside from an intermittent sewer smell at the rest area, it was a nice lunch break and we were back on the road within 45 minutes. 



Shortly after leaving the rest area, we passed under a huge bridge/arch across the interstate - a fun visual addition to all the cornfields. 



We arrived in Omaha about 3:45 and we took the kids to a neighborhood park - Brookhaven Park - to let them expend some energy before sitting back down at dinner with Alyssa (Michael’s cousin) and Connor. The park had two playgrounds which included a seesaw and one of those zip-bars - so the kids had fun; but it was hot (low 90s but humid) and the kids were sweaty and exhausted after only 30 minutes or so. Andrew's main mission was to climb a tree that didn't have low branches for easy access - he finally accomplished it!









We met Alyssa and Connor - and their two kids - Max (2) and Halle (1) - at Tanner’s Bar and Grill. It was the perfect spot for 6 kids - lots of TVs and open space and an arcade. Of course, the large TV right in front of us had UFC on it and I think all of our kids were astounded by the all the hitting (and that it was allowed!). Carolyn's face contorted up most of the time in disbelief/disgust, but she was mesmerized (or she was really out of it from the heat...). 



Anyway... it was great catching up with Alyssa and Connor and learning about their life/jobs in Omaha. Max, who’s almost 3, likes a lot of the same things as Dani and even brought his Paw Patrol figures to dinner. The kids loved the arcade. Carolyn spent a few bucks fruitlessly trying to retrieve jam-packed large stuffed animals out of the claw-machine. Andrew had more success grabbing the rubber Pop-Its from a different claw-machine. He won three but who knows how many attempts he made. He initially asked us to give him 20 $1 bills for his $20 bill, but we didn’t have that so we sent him to the bar to ask for change. After spending his 5 $1 bills, he went straight back to the bar like a pro (completely bypassing us). Matthew liked a race-car driving game and the darts game. Connor was a trooper and manned the arcade with the kids while we talked with Alyssa at the table. 





Throwing darts


We discovered the arcade when Matthew went missing. We thought he was in the bathroom but he had been in there awhile (not too uncommon for Matthew) so we sent Andrew to check on him. Andrew reported back he wasn’t in there and we didn’t immediately see him around the restaurant. We then noticed that Connor, Max, and Halle were also gone, so we assumed they were all together. The waitress could tell we were looking for them so she kindly pointed us to the arcade and sure enough - they were there. The arcade was definitely the highlight of the dinner for the kids. 


We finished dinner around 7 pm and got back on the road with the goal of making it another couple of hours to Des Moines so our trip to Peoria wouldn’t be as long. 


Entering Iowa shortly after leaving Omaha, NE

Seeing a beautiful sunset while driving through IA to Des Moines

Michael somehow agreed to let me pick the hotel since he was driving, but he asked several questions about my process (did you look at the map to see what’s around it, did you read lots of reviews, etc). I picked the Microtel since we had a good experience with Microtel in Vernal (and we hadn’t needed extra air mattresses because of the couch); however, this room didn’t have a couch and was more limited on space. It also didn’t have a refrigerator or a microwave even though I’m pretty sure the description indicated the rooms had those. But, it was a comfortable room and not next to a prison - so there’s that. 


The room had the bench seat that all the kids had fought over at the last Microtel. We agreed to let either Andrew or Carolyn have it since they had been on the air mattress the night before and should get “first dibs” on bedding. They did best out of three on guessing the randomly selected number between 1 and 10. Andrew won - Carolyn cried. I think she was tired but she was REALLY upset that she didn’t get it - saying “I NEVER win ANYTHING!!” True, she didn’t win the top bunk, but that’s the only thing she hasn’t won recently. She was upset for awhile with little consolation. After only 20 minutes of trying to go to sleep, Andrew sheepishly says “Can I trade with Carolyn?” because he was uncomfortable. She excitedly took it and, as if to prove a point, said indulgently as she laid down, “Ahhh…this is SO comfortable.” To her credit, she didn’t complain at any point or wake up during the night - so I guess it all worked out in the end. 





Next Stop - Peoria!!