This was the longest driving day of the whole trip: 863 miles in 12 hours 22 minutes of driving time predicted GoogleMap. It was also the first day that we used the onboard navigation computer on our minivan, the Silver Bullet. It calculated a route that was two miles shorter, and took 40 minutes longer to drive. The onboard computer has every house and road in America programmed in, but doesn't have the speed limit information that Google has. It did take us along part of the Iowa "Scenic Byway" or something like that, so that time wasn't totally wasted. Iowa really does have some of the lovliest farm country to drive through.
Soon, though, we had crossed the Mississippi River into Nebraska, and a mere five hours later, having crossed the Missouri and the Platte Rivers while in Nebraska, were on the plains of Eastern Colorado. The kids, of course, were oblivious to the scenery, as they had the DVD player going non-stop. We did pause the player so they could watch a gorgeous sunset over the Rockies.
A couple hours short of midnight, we reached another major crossroads on the trip, the Continental Divide, which we reached on Loveland Pass, the highest paved road pass in the Rockies. (It was too dark and cold for a photo when we crossed, so we went up the next day to snap this one.)
The real highlight of the day came about 300 yards below the Summit of Loveland Pass, when we came across a family of shaggy white Mountain Goats, drinking from a rivulet of snowmelt by the side of the road. Four adults, and two little kids. Shy as they are, they allowed us to come within 15 feet of them, which was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, 15 feet is more than the range of our camera flash. Half an hour later, we arrived at "Bear Maximum," the home of Todd's aunt Joan and uncle Bill. We were also pleased to learn that Todd's uncle Larry and aunt Helene would also be there.
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