APRIL 5TH, 2017 – DRIVE TO NEBRASKA
Total miles traveled on Dive and Drive USA in eleven days: 2,887
All night at our perfect campsite in Daisy State Park, we were woken up with violent flashes of lightning, periods of pouring rain, and explosions of thunder! It was not a peaceful night of sleep, but our little Wal-Mart tent held back the commotion and kept us safe and dry!
Finally we decided it was all too much and started to get ready to go about 5am. We packed up the tent, took quick showers and hit the road. Today was 12-13 hours of straight driving! We were going from Southern Arkansas to middle Nebraska in one shot. It would be a long drive to Nebraska.
All morning we drove through rain and at times it was an actually storm. The twisting mountain roads gave way to Interstate 49. When we finally stopped for gas in Fayetteville we made two discoveries.
First off, we had no idea Fayetteville was home to Wal-Mart! It has some Sam Walton streets, several Wal-Mart stores, and even a Wal-Mart music arena! Second, and this was bad, it was no longer warm outside! It was freezing. Rain was now sleet. I realized that my board short and flip flop wardrobe was massively inappropriate! I left Christine outside to fill up with gas! It was nasty out! Strong winds, sleet, and SO cold. I went in “to pee” and watched her fill up from the safety of the warm station. I waited until she was done and then ran back outside. She was not impressed! I understood.
We pushed on through Arkansas, into Missouri and Iowa and finally ended our drive to Nebraska when we hit Kearney. After 11 days, 9 states, and nearly 2,900 miles we reached Kearney, NE. We planned to stop here for a few weeks and run a program for our non-profit foundation, the Sea Star Foundation. It would be a busy 3 weeks!
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