Colby, KS to Lincoln, NE

This morning I headed out early for the long-ish drive to Lincoln. I headed northeast as I am zigzagging my way north. I wanted to arrive in town early enough to grab an hour at the state history museum which will be closed tomorrow.

I stopped a few minutes into the drive to photograph yet another field with hay bales. When I got back in the car, I noticed that the low tire pressure icon was blinking. After inspecting the tires, I concluded that the freezing temperatures had lowered the pressure enough to trigger the alert, but I did not have a flat or even low tire. I decided to keep a watch on it and stop by the Firestone in Lincoln when I arrived.

I made a short detour through Lebanon, KS to mark the geographic center of the contiguous U.S. Like many of these spots, it is close, but not exact. In this case, the true center is about half a mile a way on a pig farm. Nevertheless, they’ve put together a nice little spot, complete with aflag, marker and even a small chapel.

I was keeping a half an eye out for the partial annular eclipse, but the sky was completely clouded over, generating intermittent rain showers, so the sun was not even visible. If got darker for a short time, it was not evident.

The low pressure indicator finally stopped blinking, however the maintenance light started blinking each time I started the car. The told me Lucy II was getting thirsty and wanted an oil change. I had scheduled one for a couple of weeks from now in Fargo, ND, but between that, the tire pressure, and a door issue that had arisen when the high winds slammed my door open yesterday, I decided to stop at the Firestone in Lincoln on my way in. The Firestone Complete Auto Care locations have really been very useful throughout this trip. They are reliable, available on short notice, and the mechanics seem good. Some locations are even open on Sundays. We decided that I would drop my car off tomorrow for an oil change and to sort out the tire pressure. The mechanic looked at my door and determined that the stop had broken off. The main hinge is fine, but there is no longer an incremental stop on opening and closing. He didn’t think he could do the repair tomorrow, so I will call ahead and hope to get that done in Fargo.

I checked in to my hotel, conveniently a few blocks from the Firestone, and immediately walked the half mile to the Nebraska History museum. One of the reasons I wanted to arrive early was that I knew they would be closed tomorrow, and that they would close at 4 PM today. I arrived in sufficient time to view the exhibits without rushing. I’m going to save discussing the details of Nebraska history for tomorrow as it has been a very long day and I have few plans for tomorrow.

Because I am staying in a nominal Marriott - the Lincoln Cornhuskers (remarkably inexpensive) - I decided to go down to the bar for a drink, a light dinner and some conversation. I met Katie and Eric, in town from Omaha to celebrate their honeymoon. We enjoyed chatting about both of our trips.

Tomorrow will be devoted mainly to housekeeping tasks - auto maintenance, laundry etc. then I’ll be meeting friends who live here for dinner.