LA Trip Part 7: Nebraska

4648 Miles, 1 month, 80 hours of driving

Omaha, Nebraska (July 30, 2011- August 2, 2011)

Road Traveled in Red

Getting There

We left Missouri for Nebraska and had an interesting tour along the Missouri

Missouri River Flooding

River. The Heartland Flood took us by surprise. At first, I thought the river looked like the Florida Everglades with water vegetation emerging from the water. At a closer glance, we realized these were land trees and the river had flooded. A mile or so further down the road, we saw houses and barns submerged in river water up to the eaves; what should have been a road, we saw just barely the power lines above the water. It was surreal. With only a few other automobiles on the road, it seemed like we drove into a post apocalypses. Later, we found out that the Missouri River had flooded because Canada had released dam water at the same time the heartland was getting a lot of rain.

Wind in our Hair

After getting through the flooded part of the country (the water just once came close to the highway), we had to detour through Iowa; not sure if this was because of the flooding. We drove through isolated roads with Wind Mill Farms and pastures. We lost almost two hours, but we got to the Juarez Home safely.

Didn't Know the Glass Said That

I’m just grateful we stopped for lunch before we hit the detour. We happened upon a restaurant called the Mongolian Grill. The best way to describe it, is the lovechild of a buffet and hibachi. You essentially fill a bowl buffet style with veggies and raw meat, then watch the grill chefs cook it with pizazz. It was a healthy (Mongolian Grill Link) lunch alternative to fast food (still going strong!)

Following Lewis & Clark

The roads we have been taking have been following along the “Lewis and Clark” exploration trail. It’s interesting imagining the trek to the West and the awed feelings of the explorers. We followed the trail through Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. I’m going to try and read more about Lewis & Clark and the settling of the American Mid-West.

Family Fun

We arrived at Nate’s Aunt Lynelle and Uncle Jorge’s home to a warm welcome. We had dinner and talked for hours with his cousins, Maria and Tony, and Tony’s wife Chelsea. We also played a rousing game of house tag with Tony’s four-year old daughter, Morgan. It was nice spending the weekend with the Juarez Family. We were able to spend the following day work-free. We took Morgan to the Family Fun Center, where we played old-school arcade games. Nate spent a lot of our tokens playing “Star Wars”. Sadly, he was conquered by Darth Vader. I had fun playing Skee Ball, Crane Games, and racing games. I was disappointed that the Arcade did not have “House of the Dead”.

Star Wars (cue music)	Nate Using All the Tokens	Nate and his Uncle Jorge VS Star Wars
Score!	"Riding Around in My Automobile"	So Determined to Conquer Darth Vader

Warren Buffet Eats Here!

After we got our fill of games, and embarrassed ourselves enough on Dance Dance Revolution ( we got booed off the stage), the family headed to Gorats for dinner. Gorats is a traditional steak house that Warren Buffet loves to eat at. Of course, we had a steak, a T-Bone to be exact. Nate was a little disappointed it didn’t come out like a cartoon steak you can throw to a rabid dog to get him to stop chasing you. Gorats had quality steaks, but the seasoning had a lack of flare. We attributed this to the age-group of the patrons. The best part of the meal was being with Nate and his cousins, Aunt and Uncle.

Omaha Steaks....

The family fun did not stop- we tried beating Aunt Lynelle and Uncle Jorge at a game of Cranium. We held our own, but could not beat the couple. Nate was awesome at guessing my charades- he even got “Kindergarten” by my crawling on the floor and playing with a crayon.

Beat the Heat

One thing about the Mid-West is that it gets H-O-T in the summer time. Step outside and the humidity takes your breath away. To beat the 104-heat index, Nate, Tony, Maria and I went to Maria’s boyfriend’s home for an afternoon of swimming and fishing. His property includes a small lake. I say small, because I’m used to the Finger-Lakes region of Central New York, but it was a fairly large private lake. We floated around on tubes and got out a canoe. We played water catch with the same football that floated in the Atlantic Ocean. The lake swim was so nice, the surface felt like a hot tub, but the springs underneath kept cool spots that were always a pleasant surprise.

The three nights we spent with Lynelle, Jorge, the cousins flew by. Before we knew it, Morgan was begging us to stay and play for longer. As Nate packed the car, I played “Tornado Morgan” with the lego playhouse. We’ll have to make a plan to visit the Juarez Family again.

Old School Arcade Games!

Tony & Maria-- DDR Champs!

Morgan Enjoying Gorats.

To Topeka, Kansas…