THURSDAY, JULY 30th - Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri

We are rested up from our two day stay at the campground in Iowa. Today we are traveling southwest into Nebraska, south to Kansas and then east to Missouri, with a two or three stops along the way.

Enjoy the pictures as we continue on this great adventure.


As we traveled through Nebraska, the terrain pretty well look the same as South Dakota, Minnesota, & Iowa. Corn and soy bean fields every where.

Oh yes, If I haven't already mentioned it, the stimulus money must be getting distributed because every interstate that we have been on since we left Florida has been under construction.


Our first stop was the Strategic Air & Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska. That is a SR71 jet behind Sharon. It is capable of Mach 3 speeds.
We enjoyed a 90 minute tour of the facilities narrated by an experienced WWII Wing Commander who had some interesting stories to tell.


This is a picture of the left wing of a B36 bomber. It has 3 pusher props and 2 jets on each wing. 284' wing tip to wing tip and the whole aircraft was in this building.
All of the aircraft on display have been meticulously restored and the displays around the aircraft were very informative.





After the tour, we left the museum and turn south to Beatrice, Nebraska to tour the Homestead National Monument.
This is located on the very first land parcels claimed under the Homestead Act of 1863. It was filed by Daniel Freeman and the property was made a National Monument in 1936.




Here are some of the tools used to farm with. As the farms continue to grow, the need for farming machinery to help with producing the crop was needed. Some of the earlier tools were powered either by people or animals.





Sod house - Nebraska 1887







We left Nebraska and continue going south to intercept Interstate 70 where we turned east towards Kansas City. The country side at this point was rolling terrain and a welcome sight after all the corn fields.






Downtown Kansas City from I-70








The sign stating "welcome to Missouri" appeared as we crossed the Missouri River while we continue to negotiate the traffic in town.






AND THEN, in all the excitement, we missed the Welcome Center and forged onward to the next Rest Area 50 some miles away.
This is the 4th state we had been in today and I was ready for a back rub or a glass of wine (which ever shows up first).
This is where we will spend the night.



Not a lot of excitement today but then again we are not in the old west. Tomorrow we plan on going to the Meramec Caverns south of St. Louis. Sharon does not do caverns too well, so this should be interesting.
Until then HAPPY TRAILS!