Snow, rain, sleet . . . we must be in Wyoming

This is why I hate driving in southern Wyoming.

We drove about 630 miles today, which we thought good progress considering what we faced coming out of Laramie, WY, this morning (see above). Nothing like a winter storm in May. The Weather Channel is calling this one "Venus" although I tend to think of it in terms more in keeping with Pluto, the god of the underworld. It also has me wondering when we started naming winter storms with anything other than cuss terms.

The snow turned to heavy rain when we got to Cheyenne and lasted until Grand Island, NE. I had intended to stop in Ogallala, where I bought the truck, but we caught a strong wave train about then and decided to ride out the current.

Then I stepped out of the cockpit to use the bathroom and the co-pilot locked the door behind me and started changing our course and . . . Wait, that was another flight and thank God none of us were on it.

But when Kathy got done with her turn driving, she started poring over the course I had set for us along I-80. Wouldn't it be shorter to go south to Kansas City and use I-70 to complete the trip to Cincinnati? she asked. I didn't think so and when we used Google Maps to compare the routes, we found there was a difference of three miles. But if you give Google its head and let it pick a route for you instead of insisting you as a human jockey know best and that Kansas City must be on the way to the finish line, Mr. App finds a route that is 50 miles shorter.

We're planning to take that route tomorrow, figuring we have about 615 miles to go from here in St. Joseph, MO.

If we get an early start, we should be at my sister's by supper time. "She should kill the old rooster, when we come, when we come . . .  And we'll all have chicken and dumplings . . . " Oops, that would not be on our diet of clean, lean eating. "We will all have fresh, local greens, when we come . . ."

Just doesn't have the same ring.

How well do you know the Midwest? Have a look at this Buzzfeed video on how East and West Coasters did identifying Midwest states