South Dakota Trip 2013 - Day 7

Goodbye South Dakota - time to depart.

6:30am. Georgy Girl by The Seekers is blaring through the speakers in the city square as we walk past with our luggage to the parking garage.  The fountains are going and there is no one around.

Our hotel reservation for tonight is in Salina, KS.  We decide to go a different route than the drive up and strike out south down highway 79 to 385, then to 26, then I-80,



At 8:30am we reached Chadron, NE.  We had breakfast at McDonalds and got gas in town.  We probably got gas from McDonald's as well.  I had a sausage, egg and cheese McGriddle, hash browns and a decaf coffee.

We arrive in Gothenburg, NE at 2:30pm.  Today is a McDonald's kind of day as we stop there for a late lunch.  I have a quarter pounder with cheese, fries, sprite, and a strawberry pie.

From Gothenburg we drop down 183 to I-70, then take that on into Salina.  We arrive in Salina around 7pm, and check into our hotel, which fairly new, and fairly nice.  The room is huge.  After checking out the local guide for dinner choices, we opt for the Cozy Inn, which is apparently known for its sliders.

It's a short drive to downtown Salina where we find the Cozy Inn.  It turns out to be a small white building with a walk-up window, a few umbrella covered tables outdoors by the parking lot, and a counter inside by the grill with 6 stools.  We head inside where there are 2 teens manning the grill operation, and another one running back and forth to the order window.

Good things come in small packages

Three of the stools are occupied by a father and his sons, who are in baseball uniforms, so we take the two seats next to them by the door.  As we sit there a woman comes in and fills the last stool, waiting to pick up a large to-go order.

Photo credited to Tom Dobbe, from the urbanspoon.com website

The burgers are prepared on the grill with onion, bunches at a time, are very simple and good.  We get a bag of six and split them, with chips and root beer.

Photo credited to Cliff Strutz, from the roadfood.com website

On the way to dinner we passed a Dairy Queen, so we decide to go there for dessert.  I have a medium double fudge cookie dough blizzard (which is delicious).  Like the Cozy Inn, this Dairy Queen is another walk-up window, outdoor-seating type operation, so we sit at a table while we out our treats.  It strikes me that from what I've seen, Salina looks like a nice little small town, similar to where I grew up.

A couple of people ask about my car, and there's another traveling couple there who, like us, are nervous about the storms and tornados that are going on at that moment in Oklahoma, where we will be driving through tomorrow.  Obviously no one wants that area to have to suffer additional damage and destruction, but our immediate concern is with how to get home if that does happen.

Back at the hotel we watch the weather for a bit before calling it a night.