Day 7 – Back to base…

After last night’s fireworks in Murdo, South Dakota its back to the mundane business of the return home; this really starts now. We may drive through some minor storms in western Kansas (we actually don’t) but will have no time for chasing such is the drive back to Oklahoma City, some 750 miles. My first ever day on the Plains in 2006 was a drive in the opposite direction; Alex’s last day of his first trip is a mirror image of that day. I’m not looking forward to the next couple of days:

·         15 hour drive, including stops, to Oklahoma City then tomorrow…

·         2+ hours flight to Atlanta with a 3 hour stop over before…

·         8+ hour transatlantic red eye special to Manchester then…

·         3 hour train ride home

We had a decent, if standard breakfast at The Covered Wagon Café next to the hotel and we are on our way south on the US83. The US83 is a great chaser north-south route stretching from southern Texas to well into North Dakota. We get a bit held up by roadworks then cross into Nebraska for a pit stop at Valentine then into North Platte for a beef taco at Taco John’s. I’m not entirely sure I’ve had a taco before, I’m not entirely sure I’ll have one again.

It’s really hot in North Platte, slated to be 40c/104f today and at 13:30 it felt most of that. The flaky aircon has been behaving itself over the last few days; perhaps some dirt road driving has freed something up? We continue south.

The Yukon chews through the miles; it’s blisteringly hot and 111f outside…in the shade We have a stop for a cold can of treble expresso in Hoxie, Kansas and it has cooled down to an unmanageable 108f. Dust blows off the fields and across the road; we pass through Gove with a guy stood in his porch seemingly oblivious to the blow torch temperatures. A tank is on display at the side of the road…WW2 Chaffee? Onward with Dodge City in our sights.

We arrive at Dodge City and it’s now only 101f and head into the Central Station Bar and Grill for dinner. There’s chicken parmesan on the menu but I have the 8oz sirloin, Alex the 12oz rib-eye both with thick cut chips and green beans. The green beans were very soggy, but the steaks were superb as was my Goose Island IPA and Alex’s Amber Bock of which he ordered two at a very reasonable $4.25 a pint. Sadly the Plains gluttony has caught up with us and most of the fries and beans are left behind. It is time to get rid of our US$ cash and 16 of the amassed quarters. The utterly unreliable app that came with my traveller’s cash prepayment card eventually works and contains sufficient cash for a couple of pints at the airport. A quick bit of mental arithmetic and we’ve underspent vs budget which is always a good thing.

We retrace our route from Tuesday with an ETA at Oklahoma City of around 23:30. We’ll order the courtesy bus for 09:00 to take us to the airport – which is not running, this hotel is falling apart – so we’ll book an Uber.

Total miles:  728