Day 1, July 5th
We left this morning in warm muggy weather even at the early hour of 7:30 a.m. I think it was 80 degrees with the promise of it only getting hotter. Needless to say the windows were already rolled down for maximum cooling.
We aren’t driving the back roads like usual because of the distance to Santa Fe. The back roads are a lot more fun, but it would take twice as long to get there. Luckily the roads we drove on were all 4 lanes so we didn’t slow anyone down, besides Steve has his red slow moving vehicle sign on the back of the A.
Our first stop was in downtown Mankato where we met Scott and Stephanie for breakfast at a cute café called the Fillin Station.
From there we made our way to the Ice Cream Capital of the World in Le Mars, Iowa. There is more ice cream made in the city of Le Mars than at any location on earth. 150 million gallons a year, to be precise. This is the home of Blue Bunny ice cream, which got its name in 1935 from a name that ice cream contest. The place was packed, but it was 90+ degrees by then. I had my picture taken with my ice cream cone outside the store by the big ice cream sundae, but then quickly retreated inside to the refreshing air-conditioned store. It was an interesting place with lots of memorabilia.
We drove another couple of hours and stopped for the night in Johnny Carson’s hometown of Norfolk, NE. The temperature was 93 degrees. HOT!
I bought something called a cooling scarf which we wore this afternoon while driving. It’s a scarf that has gel beads that soak up water. After it’s hydrated you keep it in the refrigerator or cooler in our case until you need it. Then you tie it around your neck and it really does help!
Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler – high 80’s!
Steve drove 340 miles today.
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