Nebraska Gets Scenic

Here we are with our first access to broadband Internet speeds, and we spent the entire day inside Nebraska. There are some stories to tell, anyway. Broadband abuse means that we finally both update on the same day. Please bear with the He Said, She Said.

We left Omaha determined to get as far as possible. We ended for the first time this trip in the same state we started in, and with another 500 or so miles behind us and a hotel room a mere 3 miles from the Carhenge thing we can't stop talking about.

Making our own fun in Eastern Nebraska

More "beer tourism" and lunch had us stopping in the college town of Kearney. Students greeted professors as they walked in. I liked it enough to add to my tiny souvenir pint glass collection. Kearney is also known for a weird Archway over Route 80 that is an expensive Nebraska History Museum. We decided to skip it.

The highway speed limit in Nebraska is 75 miles per hour, about 10 more than everywhere else we've been. This is both refreshing, because of the straight roads through nothing but farmland, and nerve-wracking, since the trucks now drive at least that fast. This did help us get as far as we wanted through Nebraska at least. Some stretches of the two-lane roads here have speed limits of 65, too.

We stopped in Gothenburg, NE, home to an original Pony Express way station. (They moved it from it's original location, probably in current farmland, to the town park...to "preserve it.") The Pony Express was an early version of the US postal system, sending letters from the Midwest to Sacramento, CA. It only lasted a year and a half from 1860 to 1861, and the original two investors lost about $100,000 on the idea. The US government never produced its subsidy, and the railroad put them out of business. It's a nifty piece of history, though.

We also crossed into the Mountain Time Zone, so we're confused again.

Ogallalalalalala!

Fighting with Gnaw Bone, IN for funniest town name of the trip is Ogallala, NE. We exited Route 80 here to begin a tour of the northwest corner of Nebraska and leading eventually into South Dakota. Guide books and Historical Markers on the roadside pointed out that we appropriately were following a portion of the Oregon trail used by one of the first groups of US settlers moving west. The Pony Express route followed the trail, so we've seen signs marking both.

We passed many farms advertising their particular breed of cattle in the farm's name. All the tasty varieties were on display: Red Angus, Hereford.

We detoured about 30 miles back and forth to see Chimney Rock, a low dome-shaped rock with a spire on top. It was a landmark for those Oregon Trail folks on their way west.

We are currently sitting right off Route 385 in Alliance, NE and had dinner at Elm's Restaurant. I finally got my steak. The d