[snowbimmer]

Post 14 of 17


Day 29: Cedar Rapids to Gretna, Nebraska (Omaha-ish) - 309 Miles


Week 5 - Heading home, and ramping up the mileage. Today we make some serious westerly headway.

But first, we have to see downtown Cedar Rapids. It is a fair sized city of just under 140,000. Several large employers are here including Collins Aerospace and Cargill. Cedar Rapids is also one of the largest cities in the world for corn processing and other grains by companies such as General Mills (Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Bisquick), Quaker Oats and Archer Daniels Midland.

Pepsico / Quaker Oats processing plant




A run through downtown








Veterans Memorial Building on Mays Island in the Cedar River


It's too early for anything to be open, so we set sail down Hwy 30 for Ames, Iowa - home to Iowa State. But we soon realize that the Cyclones ain't gonna make the list today either and we veer off to Des Moines, the state capital, two hours from Cedar Rapids.

We park and head to the Iowa Statehouse. Man, what a treat this place was.


After 15 years of construction, the building was completed in 1886. Built in a refined Renaissance style, it's footprint measures 364' x 247'. The capitol's commanding feature is the towering dome, constructed with iron and brick and covered in thin sheets of pure 23-carat gold. There is a protective layer sealing the gold from the weather. The most recent regilding was done in 1999 at a cost of $482,000.


The interior rotunda measures 80' in diameter and the interior dome is a work of art. The craftsmanship is these buildings is unbelievable.





There is also an exhibit featuring the USS Iowa (BB-61), an 887' WWII battleship now permanently docked as a museum in Los Angeles.


The beauty of the interior derives from incredible attention to detail, with the use of 29 types of marble and five types of wood. The second floor above the rotunda shows it all.



"Westward" - an iconic 1905 mural by Edwin H. Blashfield depicts Iowa's pioneer history.



The Iowa House of Representatives


The highlight of the 2nd floor is the 4-story Victorian Law Library. Simply stunning, especially the spiral staircase.




The capitol is perched on a hill overlooking downtown Des Moines, the largest city in Iowa, with a population of around 215,000.


Abe and Tad


The front view of the capitol


The lookout lantern on top can be reached by a long and winding staircase.


Easily one of our favorite capitol buildings.

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the south capitol grounds.


Downtown Des Moines




The wife's philanthropical organization, P.E.O., is headquartered in Des Moines. It's on the way out of town and we drop by for a tour.




We leave Des Moines around 1 o'clock and find our way to I-80. A nice side trip would have taken us south 20 miles to Winterset. It is the birthplace of John Wayne and the location for the movie The Bridges of Madison County. Sadly, we chose to push on to Omaha, a decision we regretted later. Oh, well.

We cross the Missouri River and reach Omaha, Nebraska in just over two hours and head to Lewis & Clark Landing. We thought there was a Lewis & Clark Museum there, but it just turned out to be a National Park Service Regional office. See, we coulda seen John Wayne.

Outside, it is getting quite hot, but we walk along the riverfront and hike out onto the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge.


It is another cable stayed design, spanning 3,000 feet, connecting Omaha to Council Bluffs, IA. Very impressive.




The Missouri River


We snake our way through Omaha toward Gretna, a suburb about 20 miles southwest. Rush hour traffic crawls, because Omaha is the largest city in Nebraska (Pop. 490,000), and it seems like people actually work here. Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

Gretna, Nebraska (Omaha-ish)

Total Miles: 8,525
Daily Avg: 294 Miles



Day 30: Gretna to Watertown, South Dakota - 349 Miles


Our westward migration takes a detour today as we head north for the next 450 miles of our journey toward Fargo, North Dakota. And pick up a couple of Siouxs along the way: Sioux City and Sioux Falls.

But we start out by going a little further south on I-80 to the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum. We end up being only 30 miles from Lincoln - which was night 3, 27 days ago.

The approach to the museum yields a real beauty - a Rockwell International B-1A Lancer - the 4th, and last, prototype built. First flown in 1979, the B-1 was designed as a Mach 2.2 high altitude strategic bomber. They still fly today as a B-1B variant. There are about 45 in use.


Also on display out front is a Douglas PGM -17A Thor intermediate range ballistic missile.


No matter how many times I see one, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird remains a stunning aeronautical achievement. It replaced the slower U-2 as a long range high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. It could fly at Mach 3.2 (2,500 mph) at 85,000' and used early stealth technology.


There are a couple hangers of static displays spanning all types of aircraft.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress - only plane to drop nuclear weapons.


Lockheed U-2, Boeing B-17 and Boeing B-52


The massive Convair B-36 Peacemaker


And it's little buddy, the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, that would deploy from the bomb bay of the B-36 as a parasite fighter. Only two built before the program was abandoned. Yeah.... I don't think so.


The delta winged Convair B-58 Hustler, supersonic Mach 2 strategic bomber


McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom supersonic fighter bomber. 5,195 built between 1958 and 1981. Heavy use in Vietnam.


Also some fun exhibits of space TV culture


And Lost in Space


Bombs away..............


After finishing up, we reverse course and head back down to Omaha. We try to get near Charles Schwab Field, but it is June and that means one thing: The College World Series. It is June 11 and it looks like a mad dash in preparations, as the tournament gets started in just two days. Can't really get near it. So, we get a picture of the Omaha Convention Center instead.




This whole area is completely repurposed with new hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues. It is party central.

The Omaha skyline.


We say goodbye to Omaha and cross the Missouri back into Iowa on I-29 north. We reach Sioux City, Iowa in an hour and a half, grab a quick lunch and head to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. Hey, there's actually something here this time.


The Lewis & Clark Expedition set out from St. Louis in May 1804 to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase and to find a practical travel route to the west coast that would avoid the hot and desolate desert of the Southwest. They travelled up the Missouri River, who's confluence with the Mississippi, just north of St. Louis, was their official starting point. President Jefferson persuaded Congress to appropriate all of $2,324 for food and supplies. Jeez, go crazy, guys. Yer only gonna be gone two years.






The keelboat used in the early part of the journey was built near Pittsburgh to Lewis' specifications. When completed, it was loaded with supplies and Lewis travelled down the Ohio River to meet Clark at Louisville. The Corps of Discovery Expedition met up in St. Louis, where they acquired their final members and supplies and departed on their two year quest.




By the time they reached what is now known as Sioux City, Sergeant Charles Floyd had died from acute appendicitis, the only member to die during the expedition. And, he didn't even get all that far.

Although its a nice museum, it's a bit sparse. We move on to look around downtown Sioux City.






Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota all merge here. We jump back on I-29 and cross the Big Sioux River into South Dakota.


It's only 90 miles to Sioux Falls, the largest city in South Dakota at 210,000. Most of the city's early growth came from meat packing and agriculture and the surrounding area contains one third of the state's population.

Downtown was bustling and spiffed up.




But, the main tourist draw in the area is, well, Sioux Falls. The Falls of the Big Sioux River cascade through quartzite terraces, creating a stunning visual in Falls Park. The city has done a nice job here preserving it's natural beauty.














Falls Overlook Cafe - located in a restored 1908 hydroelectric plant



Once again, it's after 5 o'clock and we are still 105 miles from the hotel. But, STi from DSM kindly offered up his favorite Chinese food place in Brookings for us to try (I had a thread going at the time stating my car had seen both coasts last May), and it's only an hour away - and on the way. We'll give it a go.

Uhhhhmmmm, no. Sorry man. The place was slammed, most of the buffet items were empty and it was kinda dirty. But, hey - we gave it a shot.

We hit Watertown, SD at 7:30. The hotel is nice and fairly new.

Watertown, South Dakota

Total Miles: 8,874
Daily Avg: 296 Miles