THEODORE ROOSEVELT trip
That's all!
Sep. 17-24 2016
PART 7
East on B Road at 26 Road near Wilcox, Neb.
Resume normal behavior. Such as picking your nose in public.
Modern. Friendly. Progressive. In an 81% Trump county???
Colorado Avenue in Minden, Neb. It's brick.
On I-80 near Lincoln, Neb., we spy this truck carrying "inedible fat."
I-80 in Lincoln. You can see the Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln's tallest building. This skyscraper capitol has a nickname, but this website is usually only PG-rated.
This water tower near Omaha is designed to resemble a coffee pot.
I-80 entering Omaha. The "Only Madonna" billboard was funny.
I-80 in Omaha!
Looking back at Omaha, as we cross the Missouri River into Council Bluffs, Iowa.
I-29/80 goes under South 24th Street in Clowncil Bluffs.
I-80 where the I-680 bypass around Omaha emerges. I've always thought of I-680 as going out pretty far, but I guess it's because of the angle that Interstates meet near Omaha. The Nebraska portion of I-680 used to be I-280, and the Iowa portion was once I-80N. I-680 was finished later, in 1979.
A view of the I-80 westbound rest area near Adair, Iowa. The sculpture is a windmill blade - to celebrate Iowa becoming the nation's first state to generate 20% of its electricity from wind power.
I-235 heading into Des Moines. If you like cities (which most people do), you have to be very careful approaching Des Moines - since the 3-digit Interstate is the one that goes through town. The first stretch of I-235 opened in 1961. The route was completed in 1968.
A view of downtown Des Moines from I-235. The tallest building is 801 Grand - previously called the Principal Building. The principal is your pal, p-a-l. Except I don't think my pal would have ever expelled me from school. The second-tallest is...the Ruan Center. Not Ruin, but Ruan.
I-235 goes under a McDonaldland bridge up ahead. You can also see the dome of the Iowa State Capitol at right.
I-80 at IA 224. A couple interesting town names: Of course, Sully is a Sesame Street character, and Kellogg reminded me of a guy who kept harassing people on the Internet (or the guy who invented corn flakes because he thought it would stop people from playing with themselves).
Who can resist a nighttime view of a major city? We're on I-74 in Peoria, Ill.!
I-74 in Urbana, Ill. Cunningham Avenue is sort of an inside joke about the Cunninghams on Happy Days. Rantoul was the home of the Holiday Inn Jr. I've never been there, but I always thought that was the funniest thing in the Holiday Inn directory I used for my Holiday Inn Conquering game.
#itsgum. This was along I-74 outside Indianapolis. By the way, what's the scientific term for blowing a bubble with bubble gum that pops all over your face? I guess it's "blowing a bubble with bubble gum that pops all over your face."
Tee-hee-hee Ronald Reagan hahaha.
"My head is a lampshade..." We took the north loop of I-465 around Indianapolis. Shadeland Avenue was part of a plan to build a surface road bypass around the city - numbered IN 100. I'm surprised to find out that part of it was still officially IN 100 until 1999. IN 100 included Shadeland from US 52 north to 82nd, where it turned west and went on to pick up 86th. It may have gone all the way to I-65. There were a couple other disconnected stretches of IN 100 surrounding the city.
Reagan again!