We left Kearney behind in an upbeat mood. For me, this was going to be an interesting day because of the short cut through Nebraska City that would help us avoid Omaha.
I took the lead as we approached Lincoln, which was where our route diverged from Interstate 80, and as I watched for our exit, a driver pulled in behind me but in front of Chris, thus making it difficult for Chris to anticipate what I was going to do. I drove slowly for some miles trying to persuade this interloper to pass me, but it took coming to an almost complete stop and waving angrily out the window before she got the message.
And for all that I wound up taking the wrong exit.
We had the only two vehicles in all of Nebraska with Alaska license plates. Couldn’t that @#$!! have figured out from that, that we were together and that she would be profoundly unwelcome getting between us? What kind of morons live in Lincoln, Nebraska? Hmm. Must be state workers. I guess it’s kind of reassuring to see that some things are the same in every state…
The route through Lincoln took us right through downtown, which we could have done without. Nor was there any reasonable alternative — it was either this or Omaha. But we managed it, and survived, and soon were safely on our way east on U.S. 34 across the Missouri River plain.
Past rolling farmland and small towns we drove, and then after a couple of turns we reached Nebraska City — on the business route of the highway, I discovered — and then wended our way to the bridge connecting that town with Iowa. This was the second of five crossings of the Missouri River on this trip, the first having been as we left Great Falls headed for Sheridan. Not far from the river was Interstate 29, which we boarded for the trip to the Kansas City area. The Missouri line came after just ten miles as we drove between the great river and the bluffs overlooking it, and after a gas stop some miles past Rock Port we settled in on I-29 under skies still cloudy and occasionally wet.
We had no more navigational snafus as we bypassed St. Joseph, then the Kansas City airport. Finding and getting on Interstate 435 posed no great problems, and taking the prescribed road to our hotel in Liberty was easy.
Checking in at the Best Western Hallmark Inn proved to be problematic, however. Despite the fact the reservation clerk at Best Western had made no mention of any pet charges, we were told we would be charged a “non-refundable deposit” of $20.00. When Chris argued with the clerk, we were told the manager of the hotel had told her just that morning that the “deposit” would be required. I said we’d take it up with the Best Western corporation, and we did. To Best Western’s credit, they agreed wholeheartedly that this action by the hotel management was unacceptable, and after some wrangling we succeeded in getting the “deposit” dropped.
Only later did I read the little card on the inside of the door of our room that discusses the state law regarding lodgings, and discover that according to Missouri state law non-refundable “deposits” are illegal.
If we ever travel through the Kansas City area again with our two cats, we will not stay at the Hallmark.
