Misadventures in the Midwest

The next day we drove through Rugby, North Dakota, and viewed the marker of the Geographical center of North America.

Then we drove up to the US/Canadian Border to the International Peace Garden.  We were planning on tent camping there, but the campground didn't have the water turned on yet, so they had us stay in one of the dorm rooms.  We felt like we were in camp luxury!  The next morning we drove out and back through US customs.

We drove to the Blanchard, North Dakota area to see the world's third tallest structure.  It once was a radio tower and now is a TV tower.

Then  we drove on down to De Smet, South Dakota to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead and Memorial.  This was a lot of fun!  Not only did we get to walk around the land Charles Ingalls homesteaded on the prairie, we visited several examples of the houses Laura lived in.  They had a prairie house, a sod house, and a shanty.  They also had a school house, a church, and a building with information all about the different books she wrote and places she lived.  Then we drove through the town and saw the church where Laura and Almanzo were married, their first home, the first home of the Ingalls family that Pa built, and where the town school was. 

"Pa's grass roofed barn"

the little house on the prairie

From there we drove on to Mitchell to see the Corn Palace.  What a unique building this is.  They pick a theme and decorate the outside mostly with corn cobs and a few grains every year.  Inside they have pictures of every year's decorations, and in the arena area they have permanent murals also done with corn.  We enjoyed seeing this!

a closer view of the outside murals

 the inside murals

Then it was time to head south.  We drove through miles and miles of yellow prairie grass and brown farm fields with ramshackle homes and barns, to Hastings, Nebraska.  We stopped at Runza, a local chain specializing in Runza sandwiches.  They are meat and vegetable, and cheese filled pastries, and were delicious! 

Then we went to the Hastings Museum to see the Kool-Aid exhibit.  Although they are remodeling, we got to see part of it.  Kool-Aid was invented by a man from this area.  They also had very nice displays of all the local Nebraska animals as well as animals in all of North America.  We also sat in the planetarium and had a personal showing about stars in the night sky.  It was interactive with a local astronomer, who was excited to tell us all about the currently visible constellations in the sky, and point them out.

From there we drove to Kansas to see the Hollenberg Pony Express Station.  It is the only station left in its original spot.  It was fascinating to see.  This was also the first area where we saw tall grass prairie.

see how the grass is almost as tall as I am?

this is the original Pony Express stop building

From here we went  just over the state line into Iowa and the Waubonsie State Park.  It was a very nice park on a loess hill along the Mississippi River overlooking Iowa and Nebraska.  It was so good to see green again! There were lots of birds singing in the trees in the morning. 

this is a portion of the view of Iowa to the right and Nebraska to the left

Our next stop was just as beautiful and green!  We went back into Nebraska to Bellevue and visited the Fontenelle Forest Nature Center.  We went for a mile hike through the forest and really enjoyed the forest, and the coolness under the trees, although it was still pretty humid.

Next, we headed to the Omaha area.  We set up our tent for the night and were watching a tv program on the computer when the local police came by to warn us of severe thunderstorms, lightning, and possibly hail coming real soon and that it wasn't safe to camp.  So we quickly packed up and headed to a motel.  As we were driving into town, the storm hit.  We finally made it to the motel, and were glad we made that decision!  The weather channel talked of continued severe weather, with severe thunderstorms at night, so we decided to stay in the motel another night. We went out during the day and toured the sights of Omaha.

the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge across the Missouri River from Omaha to Council Bluffs, the longest pedestrian bridge linking two states

I lost the pictures we took of these, so here are pictures from the web similar to the ones we took.

First National Bank's Spirit of Nebraska and Pioneer Courage

the Chef Boyardee statue in front of ConAgra foods

 The weather didn't seem to be getting any better.  All over the state and in the direction we were heading was tornado watches, hot air and severe thunderstorms.  We decided to get out of the area and head to the northeast, where there were no severe weather alerts.  We drove the next day to the Chicago area, spent the night, and started driving to the Cleveland area the next day.  We were going to spend the night there and head to New York.

We made it into Ohio and were on the turnpike when suddenly it was pouring rain and I found it difficult to drive.  I moved over to the slow lane, but all of a sudden we were hydroplaning and then we spun to the left.  We were hit by a semi truck on the driver's side, and then smashed into the center divider on the driver's side.  We were stunned for a few minutes, but we were okay.  The rain slowed down so we climbed out of the car while we waited for the state trooper, tow truck, and an ambulance. The trooper wasn't the most friendly and gave me a ticket for not staying in my lane! We went to the hospital where I was diagnosed with a cracked rib.  We both have abrasions, bruises and are sore, but we are okay.  Rebekah chipped two teeth. We are staying in a motel in the Fremont, Ohio, area.  AAA gave us a rental car to get around while we wait on the disposition of the car. I think it is totaled, but we shall wait and see.