Blogs from Nebraska, United States, North America - page 2

June 24 Oh the dogs woke us up early this morning 6:30. I could hear Dottie scratching at her crate. She rarely gets up before Red but then he went out about midnight last night. I got up and put my robe on telling both the dogs and David I’m going to go back to bed. It was a quick trip for them and I had Dot go right back to her crate. Red followed as did David shortly thereafter. I was asleep I’m sure by 6:45. When I finally woke up it was 8:16 and everyone was still asleep. I got the dogs and just put my cloths on and closed the bedroom door as David was still fast asleep. The dogs and I went outside and there it was, the most glorious, warm sunshiny ... read more

INSTAGRAM- @vangogh50states Weather: Sunny and 30s States: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska Miles: 747 Hours: 10 hours and 22 minutes Capitals: Drove through Lansing University Campus:Creighton University Omaha Restaurant: Cottage Inn Pizza Hotel/Home: Springhill Suites Marriott Movies: Audible: A Phone call from Heaven by Mitch Albom Paul and I began the last hour before our departure with the usual scramble of gathering, shoving, remembering forgotten things, consoling shaking dogs that think we are abandoning them and cleaning up the house. Kind of like when you are moving to a new house. Except, our new (but temporary) home has four wheels, captain chairs with Sparty printed on the headrests and a 26 inch tv. We raced to grab a pizza (cheese pizza of course-Lent) on the way to pick the kids up at school. I had ... read more

Mileage: 240 miles Des Moines, IA – Lincoln NE Last night’s hotel (Hyatt Place) was using Claire’s Hyatt points. Another free hotel. Susan had a rough night sleeping, she slept in the black hole bed. It sunk into the middle from all directions and she said it was like sleeping in a hammock and Pam noticed that the fitted sheets had also come up off her bed. I’m glad Susan didn’t pass thru the event horizon. Susan and Claire also had really weird dreams. After we got up, Pam had to primp. She did her nails and ironed her shorts. Susan and Claire told her no one would care. We couldn’t take our suitcases down before breakfast (remember we had to valet last night). At breakfast, Pam tried to get hot water and it had coffee ... read more

Homestead National Monument of America, Beatrice, NE In 1862, while the country was embroiled in civil war controversy, Congress passed and Lincoln signed, the Homestead Act. It was intended to serve as a kind of relief valve by siphoning off the disaffected and unlucky, including released black slaves, and send them into America’s hinterland by offering up free land. 160-acre parcels were available to anyone - all you had to do was build a home on it and farm it (they called that ‘proving it’) within five years of staking your claim. Over the next several decades, 160 million claims were filed, giving away one third of the American landmass in 30 states - pretty much from Indiana westward. (Texas was the only western state that did not participate in this rush). Although the portion of ... read more

We continued our back roads trip through the Nebraska Sandhills this morning, passing through several small towns, then stopped for lunch in Grand Island, Nebraska. We started east on I-80 from there but in the afternoon the wind picked up, and with all the passing trucks on the interstate it made for difficult driving, so we checked into a campground a little earlier than we planned. ... read more