After Further Consideration…

… an epic trip to Nebraska might not be in the cards just yet. So, fun fact about the way I usually plan trips: I use a big online mapper, usually the one favored by the computational juggernaut based out of Redmond (it allows twenty-five locations, as opposed to the biggest search engine’s ten) to make a path from one county seat to the next. I do that for every part of the journey until I hit all the intended stops. Then I add up how many hours of driving is involved in the entire thing, how many hours of driving is needed to and from the beginning and end points, and then add thirty minutes for each county seat I stop in (fifteen minutes to photograph the courthouse, fifteen minutes to get a cache). I subtract the total from the time I have allotted for travel, and as long as I have some reasonable time remaining for rest, it’s a reasonable trip.

So, I pathed out completing the entirety of Nebraska over Thanksgiving. With all the driving and time involved, including one stop in South Dakota and two seats in Wyoming because I’d be right there, I would have about six hours free to sleep over the course of four and a half days. I push myself from time to time, but I know my limits, and that is so far beyond my limits that it no longer warrants serious consideration. I’ll have to break Nebraska up into two trips, and if I do that, I’m not only taking a bigger bite out of South Dakota on one of them, but I’m touching Minnesota. I passed on it the last time I was there, and I’m not going to get that close again and pass on it a second time. I sure as heck don’t want to wait until I start working Iowa. The second trip to Nebraska might have more Wyoming time and possibly even some extended South Dakota time to reach the more northerly Dakota. And to be terribly honest, I have a standing thing about not going north of Oklahoma when it starts getting cold because snow is not my thing from a vehicular perspective. I’ve done just enough snow driving to know I want no part of it. I almost plotzed^* in Flagstaff because of my fear of snow driving. Therefore, driving all the way to southern Canada the Dakotas in late November seems unwise.

Of course, my snow aversion severely restricts my options for that time of year. There are a few to choose from, but only a couple of “good” ones. So, even more consideration is before me. I’ve got some time, but time, like an arrow, flies fast and in only one direction. Or some kind of crap like that.

_{*I’m not a Yiddish linguist, so don’t @ me, bro!}