Nebraska and Missouri

We left Wyoming and spent the next day in Nebraska. We crossed under the arch that leads to the West. I guess NE was wishing they had an arch like MO. Anyway, it crosses the interstate and you can stop and see museums and exhibits about the west, mostly Pony Express and the Railroad, but other stuff too. We didn't stop. We did stop in Gothenburg to see the Pony Express Station, though. It is a log structure that houses a station. The Pony Express only lasted about 18 months, and then went bankrupt. The railroad put them out of business. However, they only lost the mail once, and given our mail carrier's record I might wish them to come back. While in Gothenburg, we ate at a restaurant called Runza. When we went on the Cowboy Cookout, we met some other tourists from Nebraska. They said you have to eat at Runza when you go through. We ordered the original Runza with cheese. You can see the boys' faces in the collage. It didn't go well with us. It is sort of like a sloppy joe, but baked into the bread instead of on a bun. The meat is cooked with cabbage, onions, and spices. You really couldn't taste the cabbage and onions, but that did the boys in. They were sure you could. It didn't taste bad, but we all decided it must be one of those regional foods that you have to grow up on to love. Then we went to Grand Island, Nebraska to visit the Stuhr Museum. They had a lot of neat exhibits and we wished we had more time there. We started in the rotunda museum where they have travelling exhibits. This one was on sports, and the boys really enjoyed it. They had lots of memorabilia about local historical sports, old gym uniforms and things like that. There was a section on basketball that was of interest to us since #1 had just given a speech on basketball for his 4-H presentation. There were also a lot of games available to play, and the boys liked Shoot the Moon and Shut the Door. Their grandfather bought a couple of them, and now the boys are looking forward to visiting WV so they can play. They spent the other hotel nights playing the games. We also vsited the Native American museum, the Railroad Town (a reenactment town of the 1890s), and the Pawnee Earth Lodge, which was very cool on our first HOT day of the whole trip. The Railroad Town was interesting, and people were located along the way to tell us what was going on. I enjoyed the millinery where I was allowed to try on a hat. The milliner sells the hats she makes, and some bought them to go to the KY Derby! The tinsmith was also interesting, and he let the boys make a Christmas ornament out of tin. The drive through Nebraska was not awestriking as other states had been. There were still some of the cross bars that block the road when there is snow and tell you to turn back. The land is flat, and though I had wanted to get some NE corn to eat, the crop didn't seem to be growing well. We spent the night in Lincoln, and then headed to Missouri.

Our first stop in MO was in Hannibal, the hometown of Mark Twain. On the drive we had been listening to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and I think that really helped us to enjoy the visit. We went through a couple of museums to look at his works, and now we want to read more of his books. We saw the river where he played, the statues dedicated to his characters, his home, his father's law office, etc. Then we went through the Mark Twain Cave. It was fun to go through and think about Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher. The cave was different from the ones I am used to in the East. Instead of a bunch of stalagmites and stalactites forming columns, the water went through the cave and cut out tunnels. The rocks are in a shelf-like form. Until 1972 you were allowed to go in and write your name on the walls, and so it is covered with names, drawings, and markings. People drew with smoke, pencil, or berries. One notable name is Jesse James, dated September 22, 1879. He had robbed a bank nearby just a few days before that, so they think it is authentic. We had thought we would drive on down from Hannibal to St. Louis and spend the night, but we were running late. So we had dinner at the Mark Twain Dinette, and spent the night across the street at the Best Western.

The next morning we drove to The Gateway Arch in St. Louis. I had seen it before when I was travelling, but had never stopped to go through it. It is huge, especially up close. It is 630 feet tall, and you really can only photograph part of it from the actual park. We rode up in the "tram", and it was interesting. The tram holds five people and looks like a carnval ride. It is tight quarters and if you are at all claustrophobic, I would not recommend it. At the top you are inside the Arch and look out through tiny port windows. You certainly can see a lot of the city from there. Under the Arch is a museum about Westward Expansionism, and it was really nice. They showed the peace medals that presidents gave to Indians, had a great chronology exhibit about Lewis and Clark, a baseball exhibit, and more. We ate lunch on the river, and then headed out. It was a great vacation, but we were ready to go home.