Travel fatigue has definitely set in.
I started the day off in great spirits. Rested. Vibrant. Happy to be on the road again. I made it all the way toOmaha, singing and dancing (yeah, dancing). And then.
And then, I hit the wall.
Hard.
Now, there are two key factoids that might put this in perspective. 1) I have not just been traveling these past couple of days. Starting August 6th, I have been going, going, going. First, Outer Banks; next, Key West; now, driving, driving, driving. 2) Until today, I have been very well stocked on media with which to keep myself uber entertained. Road trip 101. I burned a handful of music mixes and caught up on all of the NPR podcasts I missed while I've been traveling. So, happily cruising along whilst laughing along with Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, Car Talk, and (of course, my personal favorite) This American Life. But, I may have gone forward with a bit too much gusto, as my supply was exhausted as I pulled into Nauvoo yesterday.
Knowing that the above was the case, I tried to mitigate the damage. I purchased a CD of a fireside about Porter Rockwell, the original Mormon bad boy (now there's an oxymoron), which kept me enormously entertained for its entire 2 hours. Then I sang for a little while. Then I turned on the first of my previously downloaded audiobooks, Youth in Revolt. Definitely do not recommend. It only took 11.2 minutes, 3 times thinking to myself Do Boys Really Think This Stuff?, and 5 head-shaking Eeeeuuuck!s to get me to turn it off.
But! Lo and behold! Cracker Barrel has incredible reviving powers! I rented Stick by the Heath brothers and they had - miracle of miracles! - the only Blues Brothers CD I have ever been able to find! YESSSSSSSS...
Okay. Enough of that. I went to a few amazing places today. Take a look...
When I got off the highway at Council Bluffs toward Omaha, there was a sign for an orchard. Of course, I went, I saw, I conquered (by purchasing apple and pumpkin butters - not by completing the corn maze above).
As a side note, there have been so many times I have thought to myself today the following two thoughts: 1) Well, this certainly is the Heartland, eh? 2) This is exactly what eastern coast people think of when they hear "mid-west."
I stopped in Omaha, Nebraska for lunch and a nice mid-day walk across America's longest pedestrian bridge, the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. It extends over the Missouri River from the state of Nebraska to the state of Iowa. (See below!)
I was in two places at once!
And then, I got to Kearney, NE - clear across the state - and saw this. amazing. museum. (A museum, by the way, that extends above and over Interstate 80.) It's a museum/interactive exhibit about the pioneers that came through Nebraska on the westward expansion.
One thing you need to know about mid-westerners: they're serious about their pioneers.
And again, I say, "Lo! And behold!" An sixth of the museum was dedicated to the Mormon pioneers! Above, a picture of a statue (almost Madame Tussaud-ian) of an early Saint with a handcart in the Missouri River.
Amazing day! Another 479 miles. Day and a half to go.
Amazing day! Another 479 miles. Day and a half to go.
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