Jim and Lyndi's 2018 ZR-1 Road Trip to Glacier NP, Western Canada and the Rocky Mtns

[QB93Z]

Day 34 - On Sunday we drove from Kearney, NE to Iowa City, Iowa. On the return trip to home, our plan is to drive about 400 to 450 miles per day. This is a slower pace than in the past and we are finding it more relaxing.


Along the way we found a very creative water tower advertising a business:







Half way between Kearney and Iowa City is Omaha. We decided to stop at the Omaha Zoo:





The Omaha Zoo is a very nice zoo. There is convenient parking and the facilities are in excellent condition. The zoo also contains an aquarium, but we did not visit it. In addition to the animal exhibits, there is a narrow gauge railroad with a restored steam locomotive, a motorized tram to get around the zoo and a chair lift style ride called the Skyfari which we enjoyed a lot.





From the over head ride we got some great pictures:





Other exhibits we enjoyed were:


Ring Tail Lemur:





and the Red Panda:





The Zoo includes a desert habitat housed in the largest geodesic dome in the world:










After the Zoo, we drove on and crossed into Iowa:






Jim

[jrd1990zr1]

Jim/Lyndi,

Wonderful photography, looks like you are enjoying yourselves. Safe travels.

John

[QB93Z]

Day 35 - Iowa City to Richmond, Indiana: We drove south east and east across Illinois and Indiana. Our only sight seeing for the day was a stop in Bloomington, IL where I-74 crosses the historic route of US-66.


At a Visitor Information Center, Lyndi found this extra-large chair:





When we got to Bloomington, we found another bench to sit in, this time with Abraham Lincoln:





At the McClean County Museum of History and Route 66 Visitors Center we found a lot of information and helpful advisors that told us about the alignment of Historic US-66 in McClean County and some of the "original" RT-66 businesses:








This building is one of the original store, gas station and restaurant businesses from the late 1930's. It was purchased by a history buff who had it restored and is now a museum and gift shop. Unfortunately, it was closed on Mondays.





We drove south of Bloomington to see a truck stop that claims to be the first truck stop in the nation. It has been rebuilt several times:





Jim

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

Jim and Lyndi,
Thank you, thank you, and thank you!
I continue to enjoy each and every picture and post.
It is wonderful that you are sharing this with us all!
Enjoy and have fun!

Marty

[WARP TEN]

Always love to see and hear about the many unusual places you and Lyndi visit on your trips. How do you find all of them and work them into your itinerary? Is there a particularly good tool to use to set up a leg of the itinerary and search for points of interest on each leg? AAA? Trip advisor? Google etc --Bob

[QB93Z]

Day 36 - We drove from Richmond, IN to Westminster, Maryland.


Home. We drove most of the way on I-70, with a short cut down I-79 to Morgantown, WV and across I-68 to get back on I-70.


The trip was 36 days covering 8,379 miles. The Purple Z ran flawlessly and we did not have any route or lodging problems.


We made a few adjustments to our itinerary along the way and it all worked out well.


This is the most days we have been on the road for a trip and it was a lot of fun, but it is also good to be home.


Jim

[A26B]

Jim & Lyndi,
A real testament to excellent preparation, planning & execution and proof that the ZR-1 is a viable & reliable Corvette, still after all these years.

Well done,

[Ccmano]

Originally Posted by QB93Z

Day 36 - We drove from Richmond, IN to Westminster, Maryland.


Home. We drove most of the way on I-70, with a short cut down I-79 to Morgantown, WV and across I-68 to get back on I-70.


The trip was 36 days covering 8,379 miles. The Purple Z ran flawlessly and we did not have any route or lodging problems.


We made a few adjustments to our itinerary along the way and it all worked out well.


This is the most days we have been on the road for a trip and it was a lot of fun, but it is also good to be home.


Jim

Congrats on making it back! It was great to see you guys again in Colorado. Hope to get together again sometime soon. Your always welcome in Reno.
Hans

[QB93Z]

Originally Posted by WARP TEN

Always love to see and hear about the many unusual places you and Lyndi visit on your trips. How do you find all of them and work them into your itinerary? Is there a particularly good tool to use to set up a leg of the itinerary and search for points of interest on each leg? AAA? Trip advisor? Google etc --Bob

Hi Bob,


Yes, there are several tools that I use to plan these trips.


I spend lot of time planning a trip. This trip was in planning for almost 15 months. In order to get to stay in the National Park Lodges as we did in Glacier National Park, the reservations have to be made 12 months in advance, so I have to work out the trip dates and NP stays before the reservation deadline.


I use two custom Excel spreadsheets to keep track of the plans and to use while we are traveling. This is the Summary page of the Trip Plan:





Most of the data on the summary page comes from the Day Sheets:





I use the summary sheet to figure out where we will be each day and the mileage and travel time for each day. Then I use the Day Sheet to keep track of the lodging each night and the daily itinerary and attractions along the way.


We choose the Main Event locations (such as Glacier NP and Victoria, BC) and the special locations (such as the visit to Reactor B at Hanford, WA). This creates the overall track and date requirements for the trip.


For the route, I use Google Map. It is the best trip planning tool there is. I sometimes use Trip Advisor to find hotels, but I always make the reservations through the hotel website or central hotel reservation number. It is important to me to get reservations that I can easily cancel, because a lot of changes occur during the planning and during the trip.


I also use Google Map to find hotels, especially on "transit" days where are getting from one place to another for several days.


After the trip sequence and lodging locations are selected, I look at all the cities along the track to find interesting things to do. The Day Sheet with a lot of map links and attractions links, is used to list these so Lyndi can select what we will do each day. She usually does this on an iPad while we are driving when there is cell coverage. She is also good at finding interesting things on the fly such as the rail road observation tower in North Platte, NE.


I also use a Web tool called TripIt to make a quick outline type list of the trip. TripIt has a version for PC and an App version that runs well on an iPad and on a phone. Reservation data is easy to enter into TripIt by forwarding the reservation confirmation email to plans@TripIt.com:





Jim

[Dynomite]

Great Trip Photographs and Descriptions as always....Thank You

What Spare parts if any and specific tools did you take this trip?

Has that changed from last trip and does it change depending on which Z you take?

Thank you again for taking us along with your great Photographs and Descriptions

Your Trip Planning is EXCEPTIONAL.