Blogs from Nebraska, United States, North America

Today was pretty easy and tonight we are staying at a nice Residence Inn on the south side of Lincoln, NE. Although I had a Trip Tik by AAA printed before the trip, our Garmin suggested a different route today that was 50 miles shorter than the AAA route. We decided to go for it, and it worked out well. We spent a lot of the day on US 36 which did not have a lot of traffic, but was still 65 mph most of the way. This made it for a pleasant day of driving.... read more

So, last post (December 2), I interrupted our Big Ball of String roadtrip to go see ZooLights Calgary! But, the post before that (November 28), I was trying to get to Chimney Rock, Nebraska... Chimney Rock was a landmark along the Oregon Trail (also The Mormon Trail and the California Trail.) Back in the Pioneer days, they say the Spire could be seen for approximately 40 miles. Since the people had been travelling who-knows-how long, over flat, flat ground, it was probably a huge relief to see Chimney Rock! At least, they'd know that they weren't going in circles!! (Or, I suppose, they'd know they WERE going in circles, if they passed it more than once...) url=http://biggestballofstring.files.wordpr... read more

"An inauspicious beginning!" That's what football's Dan Dierdorf yells Martin Grammatica booted the opening kick-off out of bounds. Today I ate a Piezano's personal pizza and afterwards spent more time in the bathroom than was absolutely necessary. The thing is, I was on the clock -- I had to get to the Omaha airport so I could catch a plane to Fargo. There my dad (of the Tour de Dad) would be waiting. I would have deplaned at 12:40 AM, September 17, but I didn't because I missed my flight. So, "An inauspicious beginning!" I will try again tomorrow. I know that Montana is full of deadly predators: cougars, grizzly bears, and tractor trailers. I have faith that the Tour De Dad will be an epic journey and that the two lycra-girt protagonists will overcome all ... read more

We got an early start from Joliet and were optimistic that we were going to have a good day riding, it was a little cool, but not cold, and not a cloud in the sky. The weather report said that the temperature along out route would be in the mid to high 70’s – perfect riding weather. After we got on the highway we discovered what the weather report didn’t tell us – it was really, really windy – horrible conditions for riding. There weren’t as many trucks as there were near Chicago, but there were enough to be a real nuisance. We tucked in our elbows, ducked our heads and continued on, stopping more frequently than we had on the previous days. As we moved across Iowa, the scenery became more beautiful, which made the ... read more

Well we took off from Grand Rapids, Mi. yesterday @ 6:37am. Hopped in the car and away we went. Car is way overpacked and not much room left for the 3 of us. This didn't keep my 12yr old grandson Brody from falling right back to sleep though. 1st stop was Micky D's for breakfast sandwich.. Still cool at this time but 4 hours later when we stopped in Central Iowa it was 104 degrees. Hope the whole week isn't going to be this hot? No issues traveling except for the ton of traffic around Des Moines. Was cool to see all the windmills in Western Iowa though. Stopped in Blair NE, just across the border from Iowa for an Ice Cream at the DQ. nice break after 11 hours of driving. Drove for another hour ... read more

Everywhere I go, it seems I know someone who lives there or has lived there. It's one of the perks of having a large family. Oliver and Jo slept the whole way to Omaha, so, as we headed west from there, we knew we wouldn't be able to drive long before needing to stop again. We decided we'd push the kids as far as Lincoln, and then we'd make a long stop so that they'd be ready to nap when we left Lincoln. My cousin, David, and his wife recommended a couple places for us to stop. We decided to check out the Sunken Gardens, and after running around and getting some fresh air, we'd stop at an ice cream parlor called Ivanna Cone before hopping back onto I-80. Unfortunately, the whole city of Lincoln appeared ... read more

We arrived in Omaha way too late last night. We probably should have stopped in York, but we pushed through because we had reservations set in Omaha. I just laid my head on the bed of our hotel room at the Element on 33rd and Dodge and fell straight to sleep. A few hours later, Joanna decided to get up for the day. My parents had pulled into Omaha around dinner time the evening before, so I gave them a call and begged them to watch their granddaughter so that we could get a few more precious hours of sleep. When I awoke for the second time a few hours later, Andrew told me to look out the window. Across the street at the Mutual of Omaha building was a giant statue of an Olympic swimmer. ... read more