Our Adventure: Nebraska

We had an awful night at the motel in Missouri last night. It was hot, noisy, stormy... The sheets were scratchy and the AC was LOUD, and while that helped drown out the neighbors, it was still hard to sleep. Our littlest guy didn't like the hotel crib, so he was fussy until his daddy got his pack 'n play out of the car.

Despite a rude awakening by someone seemingly beating the ice machine at 5:45, we didn't get up until 7:30. We were on the road at 10, headed north. That north west corner of Missouri is pretty!

Soon we were crossing into Iowa, of all things. Felt like we were going backward!

But soon we turned west and crossed the Missouri River.

 Finally we were in Nebraska!

We had a somewhat cooler (mid-90s) day with safe travels, no car problems and no other hassles to deal with. Just a big blue sky and big white clouds.

 We ate lunch in Lincoln where my husband went to school for a few years. I visited Lincoln a couple times as a little girl, and my mom was texting me with details of other family connections to Nebraska.

My father-in-law taught at a school in Grand Island where my husband was a student, then they moved out near Kearney to teach at a high school there, which my husband also attended. It turns out my dad was also born in Kearney! Small world.

Despite the drought in the Midwest this year, this corn (behind the hay) looked nice a green. That's because it's watered! Sprinklers were running all over--much to our 3-year-old's delight! He loved shouting, "Wrinkler!!!!" every time he saw one.

This is what I do when my husband drives (and because we're not doing long days and we're hauling a trailer, he's been driving the whole time). I have the atlas open on my lap so I can follow our progress, and I have a notepad where I write down states I see on license plates. I saw 28 states and 3 provinces today!

Our boys napped for a couple hours, and they watched a National Geographic movie (thanks Grandma!). Other than that, we're not doing much to entertain them. I packed some coloring books and magazines, but we haven't pulled them out. We sing sometimes, talk about what we can see, plan for what we'll do later... They're good little travelers.

We were about an hour short of our destination and had to stop at a rest area. We saw a red minivan with Iowa plates and as we piled out of the car, a woman approached me. She said they were from Benton County too! We chatted a little about our travels and discovered we were both headed to the same town to spend the night. Again with the small world!

There were a few splatters of rain in the late afternoon, but it didn't even get the ground wet. We were feeling like we were running a little late to eat supper and enjoy the pool, but then passed a sign that said we were entering Mountain Time! Score for the extra hour!

We did enjoy the pool for a little bit this evening. It was a little cold--but how nice to feel cold after being so hot this summer! Oh, you know who we saw at the pool? Mrs. Benton County Red Minivan and family. Ha!


This hotel is much nicer. Cleaner, quieter, bigger beds--and the sheets aren't scratchy! We're hoping for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow: Wyoming!