1st Inn Gold Kearney

We left Omaha in the  morning and decided to travel the back roads that most closely followed the original settlers and their wagon trains as they headed west. In the  evening we arrived at Kearney and stayed at a very nice state park adjacent to the old fort.Nebraska is already surprising us, and we are thoroughly enjoying our time here. <br>So the town is called Kearney but it is pronounce ...

... pea sized hail for about 20 minutes. <br><br>From Chimney Rock I went up to Carhenge in Alliance NE. This is a replica of Stonehenge but it is made of cars, to the correct dimensions of Stonehenge. Kind of tacky but definitely an icon of western Nebraska. <br><br>After Carhenge I continued east, again getting more rain, and spent the night in Kearney NE.

... with period dress and pioneer demonstrations. (At least that's what Tish told Tom.) So we made the trek south of I-80, our concerns growing as we passed a series of cheesy signs for "Harold Warp's Pioneer Village." (Harold Warp made big money as the inventor of Flex-o-glass, for those of you trivia buffs in the crowd.)<br> <br>Well...our fears were realized ...

The drive to Kearney, NB today was very long. This was the first time in three trips West that I have encountered extended traffic stops on the interstate. My luck finally ran out. We stopped at Cabela's. This is my second trip to this store. It is fabulous. I bought some new assault rifles to defend myself when I get to California. Check out my photo with the bear. It is in the entrance of Cabela's store.<br>

... next stop was Kearney. I stopped at the Cabelas - a huge sporting goods store. This place has more guns than a small army. The customers at this store were real men. I heard on the radio that it might snow tomorrow. I hate snow. Who would live where it snows?

So after five weeks of enduring America's public transport system, it comes as a relief to head west from Chicago in a car. I'm sharing the petrol and driving with a fella moving West from Chicago, who turns out to be a bit of a character. The first day takes us 800 miles over the Great Plains through Iowa to Western Nebraska - thoroughly uninteresting landscape but pretty stunning skies.

... past 110 on a straight stretch of freeway, trying to get ahead of the storm as the first few golfball-sized hailstones fell around us. Got past it just before it crossed the freeway. Didn't need a broken windshield and dented up car a few hours after fixing the oil leak. Once we were past it, it put on a spectacular lightning show and gave us a chance to stop for some dramatic photographs.

Today's blog is pretty boring. I left Dubois this morning and did get to enjoy some beautiful scenery for a couple of hours - cattle country straight out of the Western movies. By 1pm though I was on the I-80 heading east and after that there was nothing worth seeing, or taking pictures of for that matter. The only thing on my mind was making as much distance as possible. I hit two bad thunderstorms ...

Today was a long long drive. To make it worse, I was just plain sick. I did make a run by the famous "Rock City" that I always saw the "See Rock City" signs as a kid. I did not bother to pay to go in. I was not feeling well. I got to the hotel and crashed hard.

... or just because the locals have never seen us before, but we are definitely not one of the middle Americans we are surrounded by. My brother will be pleased to know that we are not going to the Field of Dreams tomorrow. Although we had hoped to stop by (and when I say we, I mean me), it would add too much time onto our trip. So instead we will be driving further into the mid-west: out of Nebraska and into Iowa ...