Nebraska - Day 1 - getting there

Gretna/West Omaha KOA, Gretna

Saturday, 1 October 2022

today's route

As you can see, today's drive was almost due south for most of the way.  And about half of it was in Iowa.  I'd really wanted to do Iowa next, just for logistical reasons, but the campgrounds in Nebraska said they were closing down earlier than those in Iowa, and I need a place to stay, after all.

I'd come back to Blue Mounds yesterday specifically to cut 2 hours off of today's drive time, which Google said would now be 3 hours 38 minutes.  Since I always have to add at least half that much again to Google's estimate, that meant today would be a long drive even from Blue Mounds.  It was all that driving in Iowa that made the difference.  I figured I'd be back to this area next month when I come back for my Iowa month, so I didn't make many notes about what I saw before Nebraska.

For some reason, I didn't get us out of the campground until 8:30 this morning.  Luverne was about 5 miles away and the Iowa border was less than 10 miles farther.

"The People of Iowa Welcome You," the sign said, and "Fields of Opportunity."  That slogan struck me as a little ambiguous (aside from the pun), but I was glad to have the people welcoming me.  I'll look forward to meeting some of them next month.

At the first town of Rock Rapids, gas was $3.39/gallon, substantially less than in MN.

I passed vast corn fields in various stages of harvest.

The town of Maurice says it's "Small in Size but on the Rise."

Then we crossed the Missouri River and we were in Nebraska - "The Good Life."  (They didn't welcome me, though.)

Nebraska - my 43rd state

By then we'd been driving for 2 hours and we all wanted a break.  At Dakota City, pop. 2,081, I found the Dakota County Courthouse - closed today of course - so we stopped there.

Dakota County Courthouse

It was built 1940-41 in the Art Deco style.  You can just see on the left that there's an addition that seems to be a jail/law enforcement facility.  That addition was pretty blah but there was lawn art.

I'm assuming this is chainsaw art, and I was really impressed.

Back on the road, we came to the town of Homer - "Little But Lively."  (I swear.)

A sign said we entered the Winnebago Indian Reservation, followed by a sign for Thurston County (there's at least one more in the US because that's who I worked for in WA), and then a sign saying "Now Entering Winnebago Nation."  I passed a historical marker titled "Winnebago Scouts" and didn't stop then but was curious enough to look it up online.  It talks about the tribe's displacement to South Dakota and subsequent unauthorized relocation to Nebraska.  The "scouts" refers to their military service in the 1860s.  Here's the link.   http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/Winnebago-Scouts

The land around here is pretty flat, and most of what covered it was corn.

At Oakland, pop. 1,244, a sign told me "Willkommen Till Oakland."  And they have a Swedish Heritage Center there.  At some point (I can't find when) the Swedish Consul-General and the Governor of Nebraska issued a joint proclamation naming Oakland "Swedish Capital of Nebraska."  This should not be confused with a 1966 proclamation by the Governor of Nebraska naming Stromsburg "Swede Capital of Nebraska."  I never knew something like this could be the subject of controversy.

I crossed the Elkhorn River twice and was surprised to find that the 2nd time it held an appreciable amount of water more than the 1st time.

Google routed me away from Omaha's traffic so most of what I passed were small towns, like Uehling, pop. 235.  When I got to Gretna, pop. 4,905, I stopped for gas and was tired enough to go on to the campground where I planned to stay for several nights