It’s been 3 days since we started this road trip. When we are getting tired a little bit, here comes the hardest, crossing Nebraska. Total distance of 437 miles and 7 hours 50 min drive. Today would be the longest travel in the whole trip.
We wanted to make the trip shorter, but we were kinda royal to Marriott hotels and had to look for a hotel that also accepts pets. So after Lincoln, NE, the first hotel we could find was in Cheyenne, WY.
The view from the car was everlasting this (pic below). The freeway I-80 goes through farms. If you find animals, you are lucky LOL It’ll wake you up a bit.
We passed a bridge named Archway near a town called Kearney. We saw this in our previous road trip (Los Angeles to Illinois) back in 2018, but we didn’t stop there either. So I looked it up. It seems like there is a shop and historical exhibit that tells the story of the adventurers who followed the Great Platte River Road back in 19th century. If you are interested in American history, it could be a good stop to get off the car.
Their website can be access from here. The entrance fee is $12 for adults and $6 for kids between 6 to 12 years old.
We took a break somewhere in the middle of Nebraska. On I-80, there are many rest areas that you can use a restroom at and/or eat at picnic area. You can buy a drink from a vending machine, but there is no restaurant to purchase food. At the rest area where we stopped at, there was tables and chairs outside and dog area was established as well.
We decided to have a lunch break in North Platte. It was about an hour drive from the rest area. Another reason that I wanted to pick this town was to visit Golden Spike Tower. You can see a wide view of world’s largest railyard once you go up the tower. Of course, as we were with Orbit, we couldn’t enter the tower. So I just took photos from the bottom. Their website is here.
In North Platte, we found a Quizno’s Sub!!! Back in Hawaii, I remember there was one store in Pearlridge. But at some point, the store just closed permanently. I thought Quizno’s filed a bankruptcy or something, but here it is!! It still exists!! So why not? We decided to have lunch from here.
Then, we stopped at Flying J Travel Center in Big Springs to fill up gas. The road splits into two after Big Springs. One goes to Colorado and the other continues Nebraska and enter Wyoming. Our plan was to go Wyoming, so we stayed on I-80. Last time when we did a road trip, we came through Colorado, so we were on I-76, then joined I-80 in Nebraska.
Anyways, we stuck on I-80 for about an hour and a half. Then finally entered Wyoming. Sadly, the sun was already down so I couldn’t take a nice picture of the border sign with my phone…
In about 40min after crossing the border, we arrived at the hotel. It’s already 7pm. This time, we stayed at Town Place by Marriott. Just like Residence Inn, you can stay with a dog at Town Place as well as including complimentary breakfast and a kitchen. Oh and also you can borrow a crib if available.
After a long drive, everybody was pretty exhausted. Luckily we got an upgraded room. Probably a slightly larger living room with 2 bedrooms. Although, we didn’t really need 2 beds LOL Well, I’m happy anyway though 💛
The breakfast was also similar to Residence Inn. We got egg, ham muffin, and a bagel. Oh and my favorite yogurt, Activia. haha
Tomorrow is gonna be a long drive again, but the worst part is over! I hope my husband can get a good sleep and we’d plan to leave the hotel by 9 am tomorrow.
Trip continues.