This looks familiar. Just like yesterday, I awoke to cold temperatures, (this time in the upper-teens), and frost on the roof. I don't mind, and even enjoy driving with the roof down in the cold weather. But even I have my limits. The roof would stay up for a bit, at least until the frost evaporated. Thankfully, I was headed into bright sunshine for the remainder of the journey.

Most of today's journey was going to take place on secondary roads. From North Platte, Nebraska, I would follow US Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, to the town of Ogallala and US Route 26. Two hundred miles later, Rt. 26 would meet up with Interstate 25 near the community of Dwyer Junction, Wyoming. The 50-mile stay on I-25 from Dwyer Junction to Douglas, Wyoming would be my only time on an interstate today. From Douglas, I would follow State Route 59 to my final destination of Gillette, Wyoming.

I hit the road just after 8 AM local time. My Athens, Georgia mentality is used to this being a crowded time of the morning. North Platte's population of around 25k residents, although small compared to what I'm used to, is still significant enough to produce some sort of "rush hour." I prepared for the worst.

Turns out that any preparation I had for "rush hour" traffic was unnecessary, which was fine by me !

I made my way to the Lincoln Highway and headed west out of town and was immediately distracted by a wonderful sight near the Lincoln County Fairgrounds.

This is a 6th generation Ford F-Series truck which was produced from 1973 to 1979.

This is a 1978 Lincoln Mark V, one of my all-time favorites !

I can't tell what price is/was written on the windshield. But this car looks to be in decent shape.

Next to the Mark V was a previous generation Lincoln Mark IV.

Like it's neighbor, the Mark IV looked to be in good shape as well.

Next to the two Mark Series Lincolns was a seldom seen Frazier Manhattan from 1947 or 1948.

It looks like it's been sitting in the weather for a while. But the body looked to be decent overall.

Next to the Frazier was a Farmall tractor.

Next to the tractor was another favorite, a 1977 Lincoln Town Car. I'm guessing the Lincolns belong to the house seen in the background of the photo above only because of the Mark VIII, Mark VI, and second generation Town Car in the driveway.

Like the other two Lincolns, this car seemed to be in good shape.

I'd own it !

Next to the Town Car was a 1965 Ford Thunderbird.

This car looked to be in decent shape and still sported its factory hubcaps.

1965 Ford Thunderbird.

I headed west out of North Platte, Nebraska on US Route 30 passing through more small communities with names like Hershey, (that's a familiar name for a Pennsylvania native !), Paxton, and Roscoe before arriving in Ogallala about 45 minutes later. US Route 26 would then take me into Wyoming. But first, I embarked on a scenic detour around nearby Lake McConaughy. Looking at a map before hand, I saw where State Route 61 would take me around the eastern side of the lake across the Kingsley Dam. This would add a few miles to the trip. But I figured the scenery would be worth it.

I headed north out of Ogallala on State Route and turned right onto State Route 61 and headed toward the lake.

The recurring theme of wide open spaces replayed itself here.

Even though it was approaching 12 noon local time, I had the road to myself.

The abundance of wide open spaces plays with your perception of distance when looking at a map. I was actually on this road longer than I expected to be.

Nebraska State Route 61 outside of Ogallala, Nebraska.

Soon enough, I saw blue off in the distance.

This is the eastern end of Lake McConaughy.

I pulled over in the parking lot of the Kingsley Lodge to snap a few pics.

This is the southeastern end of Lake McConaughy.

This area is actually referred to as Spillway Bay.

Panorama of Spillway Bay in the southeastern corner of Lake McConaughy.

Looking across Spillway Bay.

There are a lot of nice homes across Spillway Bay.

Panorama looking across Spillway Bay.

As is the case with just about any neighborhood next to a major state recreation area, real estate can get pretty expensive.

Nice home along Lake McConaughy.

Lakefront living at Lake McConaughy.

That would be cool to have cliff in your backyard.

Lake McConaughy.

Lake McConaughy.

I headed a few hundred feet up the road to another parking area that sits next to the Kingsley Dam.

Welcome to Lake McConaughy, locally known as "Big Mac."

Lake McConaughy was created in 1941 when construction of the Kingsley Dam was completed on the North Platte River. The lake was named after Charles W. McConaughy, a businessman, one time mayor of nearby Holdrege, Nebraska, and key supporter of the project.

At maximum capacity, Lake McConaughy is 22 miles long, 4 miles wide, and 142 feet deep which translates to more than 30,000 acres making it Nebraska's largest reservoir, (hence the nickname "Big Mac"). This also translates to 76 miles of shoreline known for fine-grained sand beaches. The lake also features a hydroelectric plant.

The photos above and below are of the outlet tower that is used to release water from the lake when necessary.

I believe this is the Morning Glory Spillway which is used for flood control.

Lake McConaughy outlet tower.

This is good advice.

The Morning Glory Spillway.