Omaha - 1730.6 Miles From Home

Here we are at the apex of our trip - as far east as we will travel on our 2009 road trip. Seven states so far with Iowa and Nebraska being the two new ones added. Toby is now up to 9 states visited!

I'm a visual kinda guy so for those of you like myself I thought it would be helpful to post a map - the highlighted state is Nebraska and Omaha is located along the far eastern part of the state bordering Iowa.




Our 5th night on the road called for a hotel. We are loyal to Marriott so we sought out a Courtyard and found a brand new one that opened less than a year ago and is the largest Courtyard in the Country! It was very nice and just what we needed!



We actually pulled into a campground - thought about it and we both could tell by the looks on each others face that we really did not want a 5th night on the ground! This is more like it! It's going to be difficult to return to the tent!



Toby enjoyed sleeping on a nice soft pillow as opposed to the ground.



Even if he found it a bit humiliating to gain access through my gym bag!



I love this picture, it cracks me up! It's been so much fun traveling with our dog. He is a great traveler although I can tell he misses having access to the yard. I realized when I let him off his leash in the room and he ran around like a mad dog that he had either been confined to the cab of the truck or on a leash for the past 5 days!

We visited the state capitol in Pierre before heading out and continuing to follow the Lewis and Clark Trail along the Missouri river between Pierre and Omaha.



Along the way we had a picnic along the Missouri river at the spot where George Shannon rejoined the Corps of Discovery after being lost for a week. We continued on to the grave of Sargent Charles Floyd the only member of the group to die along the journey. His death is thought to have been a ruptured appendix. His grave site is along a bluff over looking the Missouri river.



Finally we arrived in Omaha and had just enough time to walk across the Bob Kerry pedestrian suspension bridge that opened less than a year ago. Very cool - spans the Missouri river and connects Iowa with Nebraska.



Tomorrow we will begin our 1730.6 mile journey home.

Later -

Jim


Posted on the run from my iPhone.