The Long Way Home

Denver,CO to Madison,WI
966 miles | 14 hours 11 minutes

Sorry it took me a couple days to get my act together, the trip home is never quite as much fun as the drive out. Late Friday morning, I left Silverthorne,CO, which is in the the Rocky Mountains where my friends Kent and Lisa live, and the Suburban ran great on E-85 in the high elevation of the Rockies. Although I did get pulled over in Idaho Springs,CO. It seems I wasn't watching my speedometer while driving to another E-85 station. The officer asked me what I was doing in Idaho Springs and I said that I stopped to fill up on E-85 and rather than asking me about my driving habits the discussion turned to corn. I told him all about my trip then he promptly told me he had two choses; Either to write me a speeding ticket or give me his official business card. He handed me his card and told me to have a nice day.

Saturday Morning, I decided to go through Nebraska because the trip is a little faster down I-80. I filled up with E-85 in Sterling in Northeast Colorado which is a very desolate part of the State but I was still able to find E-85 stations. Saturday Night I stayed in North Platte, NE, what a great town. I went to an old restaurant called the Depot. It's ironic that the Nebraska Corn Huskers were playing their first game of the season that night. Everyone was chanting, "Go Big Red!" but it made me really think about how important corn is to the Upper Midwest. Sunday was a long driving day but it felt great knowing that over the course of the trip I had help support the small towns along the way. I also saved about $175 in fuel costs. An average of about 75 cents per gallon. It's been an honor to work with the Wisconsin Corn Growers on this trip. I've been using ethanol in my Suburban for the last year and a half and will continue to do so but now I hope I can be a better advocate for the ethanol cause.