Travel Days - Saturday 01/11/14 - Tuesday 01/14/14

We started our trip on Saturday morning at 6:30am heading for Columbus

Ohio. As we reached the Pennsylvania border, it started to rain and plenty of FOG.

Thank goodness temps were in the low 40s. The rain followed us thru Pennsylvania,

West Virginia and to our stop in Columbus Ohio. We covered 534 miles and stayed

at the Hawthorne Suites. Gas prices were $3.55 a gallon

 

On Sunday we started our day at 8:30am. It was a sunny and mild day as we

travelled thru Indiana, Illinois and Missouri reaching our destination in Columbia

Missouri around 3:30pm (we gained an hour by crossing over in CDT). The mileage

for the day was 520. We stayed at the Drury Inn which has FREE cocktails in the

evening along with hot dogs and baked potatoes. In the morning they have a FREE

breakfast. We are more than half way. Gas prices were between $2.92 an $3.33

 

On Monday, we again started at 8:30 and it was another sunny and mild day. We travelled

ONLY 405 miles reaching our destination in Hays Kansas where we stayed

at the Comfort Inn and had had dinner and cocktails at the Whiskey Creek Saloon.

Gas prices were between $3.13 and $3.23

 

On Tuesday the weather changed. We started at 8:15am with a high wind warning

for Kansas and Colorado travelling along Rt 70. Winds were blowing at a constant

30-35 mph with gusts over 45 mph. While that was bad enough, after we crossed over into Colorado, it started to snow. At times we had white-out conditions. It was a

slow go for about 200 miles. As we got closer to Denver, the winds subsided and

travel improved. But once we started the trip up into the mountains (the last 60 miles) it

again became windy and the snow came down even harder. Trucks were required

to have chains on their tires. At every chain station there were 40-50 trucks either

waiting it out or having chains put on. As we approached the Eisenhower tunnel traffic

in both directions were at a complete stand still. Once we made our way thru the tunnel

there is a steep decline from the 12,000 ft level the tunnel is at. We travelled at about

15mph down to our exit at Silverthorne. Once down we went to our friends house to

stay for the evening.