Another hot, humid day (90 degrees) with hours of fierce
thunderstorms, but we got out in between them.
We went to Offutt AFB this morning to the commissary and
Base Exchange. This base was the headquarters of SAC (Strategic Air
Command) for 40 years and is now the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command
(USSTRATCOM). It is also home to the Air Force Weather Agency and the 55th
Wing, the largest wing of the Air Combat Command. It doesn’t appear to be
a big installation compared to the others we’ve been on but looks can be
deceiving. Our campground is about half a mile from the runways but we’ve
yet to hear a plane taking off or landing. We had an unpleasant dose of
planes going in and out at the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach a few
years ago so we’re very happy to find this place so quiet.
This afternoon we went to Camping World across the river
from Omaha in Council Bluffs, IA, to look for a water heater element which they
didn’t have in stock. (Our water heater is malfunctioning again, but it’s
only the electric side. It still heats by propane.) The Council
Bluffs/Omaha riverfronts are industrial and not attractive, but that’s not
unusual for city riverfronts.
We then went over the bridge to Omaha to the National Park
Service’s Lewis and Clark Historic Trail Headquarters on the river (low
building in the center of the picture below). It’s a small visitor center
but has interesting exhibits and lots of information about National Park
Service parks and monuments within reach of the L&C trail that stretches
from Illinois to Oregon. Next to it is the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge
linking Omaha with Council Bluffs. There are people who think it was a
waste of taxpayer money, but it’s the only way pedestrians and cyclists can
cross the river to make use of the large network of paved trails on both
sides. It’s the first ever pedestrian bridge to connect two states.
We never got in position to take a good picture so I’m including one from
Omaha.net’s website. It would be neat to see it lit up at night but we’re
not going to drive a 30-mile round trip to see it.
Taken from the I-80 bridge. Lewis and Clark visitor
center in middle, Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge looking like a line across the
middle of the picture.
This one is from the Omaha.net website, looking across to
the Iowa side.
The 65-year old Bellevue Toll Bridge between Bellevue (just
south of Omaha) and Iowa. There aren’t many bridges between Nebraska and
Iowa. This one has been supplanted by a new bridge which opened in
October 2014 at the south end of Bellevue (the one we came over to get to
our campground). This old bridge needs $1,000,000 in renovations which it
won’t get if the bond issue isn’t passed. For now it’s charging $1 per
car and $2 for a dually. The bridge is still needed but it’s going to be
difficult to fund repairs and maintenance. We’re so glad the new bridge
was finished before we got here.
Corn fields on the Iowa side of the toll bridge. Most
of the cornfields we’ve seen are uniform and healthy in appearance with thick,
high stalks but not this one. The uneven growth and yellowing plants are
suffering from an over-abundance of rain which is ponding in depressions and
swales. A lot of this field will either die or fail to produce good ears.
With all the rain the mid-west has had recently it’s amazing so many
fields still look healthy.
Healthy corn probably isn’t necessary when it’s being used
for ethanol. There’s a 110-million gallon per year ethanol plant just
south of Council Bluffs which is using over 44.6 million bushels of locally
grown corn annually.
Omaha skyline from the Iowa side of the river. I
couldn’t get a decent picture from where we were today so I borrowed one from
TripAdvisor. It’s a beautiful city. I was surprised to find out it
has nearly 900,000 people in its eight-county metropolitan area. It has
an illustrious history…..its stockyards were once the world’s largest…..and is
today home to a number of Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, including Warren
Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway.
We’re having a time adjusting to the change in daylight
here. We’re so much farther north it’s staying light till almost
9:30. It will really be weird when we get to Red Lake Falls on Saturday
and sunset is 9:30 (sunrise at 5:30).
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