November 20: North Platte, NE to Gillette, WY . . .
Read MoreThis 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.
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.
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.