We had a different kind of puzzle packing to do on this morning. Cousin Eddie and Aunt Edna were leaving their big suitcases with us so they didn't have to check luggage. We checked out of the hotel and headed to Hardees across the street. We ate breakfast and then hunted for the closest Starbucks. Once everyone had what they wanted, we thought we were ready to head out.
As we were getting back to the interstate, we saw a rabbit cross the road. Then, we drove by a park called War Eagle Park. Robin begged to go see what it was since it had the name War Eagle in it for Auburn. We drove through the park, which was a nice, wooded area. The road made a small loop. As we were coming to the end of the loop, a wild turkey was on the unpaved road. When he saw our van coming, he dashed into the woods. We were able to snap a quick photo, but only caught his head in the grass. Better a head than nothing!
When we finally made it to the interstate, we got on and saw Sergeant Floyd Welcome Center for Sioux City. Since we had arrive the night before in the dark, we hadn't seen it on the Missouri River. We took a quick turn to quickly check it out. There were statues on display outside. One statue was of Lewis, Clark, and their dog, Seaman. Other statues included an elk, a bison, and a bear. We got a nice view of the Missouri River and the bridge crossing it.
Finally, we left Sioux City to set out for Omaha, NE. It was about 90 miles and was supposed to take us about 1.5 hours. Richard and Sharon's airplane wasn't until the afternoon, but we wanted to make sure we got them to the airport in time.
State #15 - Nebraska
The road that we took somehow took us to Eppley Airport in Omaha by way of the back roads. We hesitated, thinking we weren't going the right way, until we finally saw a plane coming in to land. Richard and Sharon just wanted us to drop them off curbside since they knew we still had a ways to go for the day. We said our goodbyes, got the luggage they were taking, and drove off. We were very sad that they were leaving because we had such a fun time traveling with them.
The grounds were very pretty and had lots of different statues and displays about President Ford and the First Lady. There was an enclosed gazebo display with pictures and items President Ford had donated to the site. One was a set o golf clubs with symbols of the Liberty Bell on the irons and the Presidential Seal on the bag.
Finally, we got back on the road and arrived at the Strategic Air and Space Museum. Although it looked large from the front, it seemed much smaller than the other museums we had been to on this trip. Hanging in the big, glass geodesic dome at the entrance was a SR-71 Blackbird. It was so majestic hanging in flight position. We watched 4 different movies while we were there. Clayton Anderson, one of Robin's favorite astronauts, had a big display area in the museum because he is Nebraska's only astronaut as of now. We also saw the Atlantis training cockpit simulator.
After we left the museum, we got peanut butter crackers out of the back and ate those while we were driving. We still had just under 200 miles left to drive before we reached our destination for the night.
As we were driving, we ran across a festival that caught our attention. We know everyone has different tastes, but this festival was not for us! Besides, it wasn't happening for another week.
After we stopped laughing, we stopped to get gas. In the grass, we saw a huge nutcracker. Why? We still don't know. This area had some really interesting sights.
While we were driving, we heard a noise so loud that it was drowning out the radio with the windows up. Robin asked Dean what the noise was because she thought there was something wrong with the car. He heard it too. We stopped and rolled down the window. When we did, we heard cicadas. Then we looked around and there were cicadas flying everywhere. We quickly rolled up the window and moved on. Amazingly, the noise stopped as we got down the road a little bit.
Dean developed a real love-hate relationship with the GPS system early on. When "Jane" would give him directions, he chose not to take her directions quite often. "Jane" did have a problem telling left from right so we had to try to figure out on our own. He would talk back to her multiple times per day, making her recalculate "his" chosen route. Well, we figured today was the day, "Jane" got back at him We were definitely in unknown waters on this drive so he was really taking "Jane" seriously. However, "Jane" decided today was the day to take him on all of the back roads, through interesting sights, tiny towns, roads under construction, and more. Time was of no concern to "Jane" today.
National Historic Site #31 - Lewis and Clark Trail
Following "Jane's" instructions, we came upon the Missouri River Basin Lewis and Clark Center. After driving the back roads, we decided we needed a break. It looked interesting from the outside. We looked at the replica of the keelboats used. As we were going inside, we could see a wedding taking place outside in the backyard area. The bride and groom were just taking their vows. What a beautiful setting for a wedding! We continued on inside and showed our National Park pass. We were told that even though the National Park Service logo was on the sign, they were a private organization so our pass was not valid. When we questioned that, it was explained that the NPS logo was displayed because they are on the Lewis and Clark Trail, which is a National Historic Site. However, the center was not. We paid our admission and began exploring. There were 3 floors to explore and the exhibits were quite interesting. We liked the 32 foot white pirogue (French name for the 2 smaller, flat-bottom boats that went with the keelboat) with the dog statue of Seaman. It had oars that could be manipulated to feel the strength needed to row the boat loaded with cargo. There were many wonderful exhibits, especially about the animals that Lewis and Clark experienced. We were very glad we went.
We continued on the road, refreshed. This time we went on interstate as we crossed over the Missouri River and back into Iowa, the state we started in this morning. One thing we found very interesting on this stretch of interstate was the identification of the roads. The road signs showed the exit roads labeled by letters.
State #17 - Missouri
After driving for about 20 minutes, we arrived in Missouri. Although we were just driving through now, we would end back up in Missouri for the night. However, our path was going to take us to Kansas first.
State #18 - Kansas
Richard had told us about a good barbecue place in Kansas City, KS called Arthur Bryant's. We thought we were going to the original restaurant. However, we later found out that the original was actually in Kansas City, MO. The food was good, but not outstanding in our book. We did enjoy the meal.
We then crossed the Missouri River again and went back into Missouri. We arrived at the Courtyard Marriott and relaxed in the room. We had driven about 340 miles and 5.5 hours in actual driving time. In addition, we had spent time in 2 museums. No wonder we were tired!
