10/02/11: Day 3: Lincoln to Alliance, NE
As our host had to get up and out for his own 2 week trip, we scurried into Lincoln's Market district and found a coffee house to charge up and check email.
We had to get up and out early in Lincoln, Nebraska because our host, Henry, had to get on the road himself. So I used my new Droid to search for a coffee house so we could charge up and log on. But the map search is not well designed for this purpose. On Sunday morning, we went downtown and parked, and then wandered past several closed coffee places before we finally found an open one.
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The Coffee House was hard to find; the door is not near the front window or awning, and so we wandered up and down the block before we found the unmarked entrance door to the hallway off of which its entrance actually exists.So here we consumed the Dutch Letter that we'd picked up in Pella yesterday. This is a marzipan pastry shaped as a swannish ess.
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Of course Karen spent serious study on the menu of The Coffee House in Lincoln, and we did buy some of their wares.
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Then on the road. Once out of Lincoln, we chose a route in between the two discussed in our initial route plan and still stayed off the interstates. This way we see more towns and mosey along at barely 70mph.
I mentioned before (in the daily text) that we chose a route in between the two discussed in our initial route plan. But there was some friction in arriving at the decision.We stopped in the town of Seward, NE to work it out. The name of this bank simply tickled me.
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Seward, NE is a county seat with the requisite architecture. But the farther north we go, the more surprise I feel at finding Civil War memorials.
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Window boxes, shadows, and a stork in Seward, NE.
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I chose not to share my pix of the cobweb contest in the town sqaure, nor other Halloweeny things already all over the town of Seward. But the movie marquis, graveyard tour sign, and road sign to Seward Alaska give an impression. The northern sister city is south of Anchorage.
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One problem of traveling out of season is finding these unwelcoming Welcome Centers. Karen also discovers that it was windy along NE-2
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All along route 2 the signs keep promising us the town of Broken Bow, Nebraska. When we arrived, we found that it was closed on Sunday. Every window was emblazoned, "Go Indians." Also the populace had turned out to stand along the highway along every block outside of the town center silently holding signs saying "Abortion Kills" and "Jesus Forgives." I'd like to think that they are saying that J-man forgives those who find themselves needing this unfortunate option. I neglected to take a snapshot of that vigil, but I got a store window.
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During the latter part of the day the marked-as-scenic-by-AAA NE Rt-2 finally hit the rolling dunes and sand hills of central Nebraska. But most of the way was flat fields, just as farmers were mowing down the corn stalks. We called it a day in Alliance Nebraska.
This middle road is popular with the trains. Mostly coal. Mile after mile of ton after ton of coal. We stopped to change drivers and I got up close to one of these nearly endless trains shaking the earth and squealing along.
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Really, many trains carrying coal stretching as far as the eye can follow.
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We arbitrarily decided to stop in Alliance, NE and picked an old roadside motel. The Rainbow Motel is run by Mexicans. The girl at the desk had some English, and Karen has some Spanish. It worked out.
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This motel appears to have been remodeled most recently in the 1970's. We like these older motels; they have more character. And parking is convenient.
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The overall trip so far: Avoiding interstates when reasonable. From Saint Louis, MO to Alliance, NE.
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If you want to see the map of the day in detail, here:
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