Stefan's Shipping off to Boston: Day 3

First off, I dislike Nebraska. Its boring, and really hot.
But before anything else, I forgot some stuff from yesterday.
1) Denver has some really passive aggressive signs as you come out of the Rockies and into the Denver area. They are all aimed at truckers and say things like “You are NOT out of the mountains yet. There are still curves and steep grades ahead.” and “Don't relax yet. There are still hills.”
2) Lambda Alphians, if you are going to National Convention, (which I highly recommend) and you plan on driving, you could easily make it a really awesome trip. You could drive to Zion, which is a one day drive from Irvine. Then spend a day or so in Zion, because its awesome. Then drive to Arches like I did. Maybe stay in Moab and then continue on to Colorado Springs, which is a bit south of Denver. Just a suggestion if you were looking for a more extensive vacation.
The drive today was nothing exciting. The eastern part of Colorado is like a warning for Nebraska. Its kinda flat and boring, but nothing compared to Nebraska. Just so much corn and cows.

A few exceptionally weird things happened on the drive though.
First is the thing I tweeted about. Around noon I stopped in North Platte to grab some coffee, as I need to stay nice and caffeinated to drive for 8 hours. Just as I was about to pull into the Starbucks (yea I know, but its the only thing thats not gas station coffee.) I caught a flashing digital sign by a gas station about half a block down the road. It first flashed the price for gas, and normal things, but then it showed the gem; “The Best Looking Cashiers.” I was confused, scared and had an immediate flight or fight response. This turned into get coffee as fast as possible and get the hell out of North Platte.

I also got the dirtiest look I've ever gotten from a cop today! That was exciting.
So I was about 15 miles outside of Omaha on a 3 lane highway, going about 80 or so. (Speed limit was 75...) I'm in the far left lane, and I check my rear view and there is a Cop in a truck coming up fast behind be, lights blaring. I panic for a second, but realize that the middle red “I'm gonna pull you over” light wasn't on. Which is good. So I try to move to the left to let him by, but there is a huge big-rig in the next lane, completely blocking me in. I can't go anywhere. The cop then speeds up, tailgates me, and honks, before swerving into the breakdown lane and speeding by giving me the aforementioned dirty look. He was followed by another normal cop, who did not give me such a look. They speed off going at least 110, weaving through the bit of traffic.
About a minute later I see the two cops on the side of the road with another cop, who has pulled over a car. The cops however are gesturing wildly and sprinting back to their cars, which then hurriedly get in and speed off. I have no idea what they were after. But I didn't see them on the side of the road or anything agin. So that was pretty weird.

The one music related thing that I did today that is notable is I sort of re-discovered a really great Prog band called Frost*. I have one album by them, although they've apparently released a new one. But man they are great. Amazing keyboard/synth work, and the whole band is just insanely good. And they manage to make really complex and great music accessible and even catchy. Even if you aren’t into prog give this a listen.



Now for the numbers section of the blog!
Since I didn't have all of the info yesterday, lets recap.
Yesterday's mileage was 632 Miles. I used 19.55 gallons of gas, for a MPG total of 32.32. (I'm surprised that its that high, there were a lot of mountains and stuff.)

Today's Milage was 554. I used 15.25 gallons of gas, for a MPG total of 36.32. (Flat ground makes for better mileage!)

The plan tomorrow is to drive through Iowa and then into Chicago before dinner time.
I'm halfway there!