2020, Day -2(again): Remembering

OK, So I told you yesterday that they had two days of driving to the starting point, but I was wrong. There were three. But I also mentioned that my geographical estimations are not to be trusted, so this is now on you for continuing to believe an ill-reputed source.

Here we are again, with another day of uneventful driving through the great plain-and-borings of the USA. Mom's already burned an entire audiobook. Things aren't looking promising for her reading list's endurance, though fortunately tech has progressed somewhat since the start of this undertaking, and now mom effectively has the entirety of the internet's vault of audiobooks at her fingertips. There's a library app for that!

As they re-traversed the cornfields, mom and dad made a few detours to re-visit some old places like Winter Quarters (an old pioneer historical spot, they visited here ~14 years ago with two brats in tow), and paid tribute to the original trailblazers that crossed the plains looking for... something more interesting than they found there, apparently.

What better way to honor our ancestors than build a great trans-freeway museum where the townsfolk can spend hours on end looking at old things? Sounds like my idea of a good time!

Still one more day ahead of trudging through this year's exposition before we can get to the rising action, so we'll not go on too long. Best save our breath for the hills.

From dad:

100 miles down the road from North Platte, we topped in Kearney at the Gateway museum. It has one of the most amazing historical displays I have seen, touching on all the progress from the 1800’s to today. Starting with the mountain man, it progresses through California, Oregon, and Mormon trails; Pony Express; Telegraph; railroads; early highways; and finally, the Interstate Highway system--all of which passed through Kearney in their time. The museum arches over the freeway and is 2 stories tall, so you can’t miss it. We spent about 2 hours there with an audio-guided tour. A very well-spent two hours. So glad we stopped.

On to Omaha where we stopped at the Winter Quarters cemetery, temple and visitors center. The visitors center is closed due to Covid, but we were able to stroll around the grounds.

Then we went downtown past the Berkshire Hathaway corporate office building. There are NO identifying signs on the building. I had to google it to make sure I took pictures of the right building. I did. Then we tried to google Warren Buffet’s house, but got no help on that one.

And a couple hours more, we were at our motel in Des Moines.