The Broken Bow style

Custer Federal Savings & Loan

Broken Bow Municipal Building

downtown Broken Bow

The aesthetic style of the plains first appeared to us in Broken Bow. It must have been a progressive looking town in the 1940's and 50's, and a lot of the design elements that really dressed it up back then have been well preserved. The fonts and bright colors on signs all over town mixed Modernism with a sense of frontier lyricism, fitting for a town with such a poetic name.

Broken Bow, Nebraska

cloud waves over the Sand Hills

the Gateway Motel, Broken Bow, Nebraska

Broken Bow, Nebraska

The Tumbleweed, Broken Bow, Nebraska

Broken Bow lies in the center of Nebraska and at the eastern edge of the Sand Hills. We were excited to finally see the Sand Hills after having read a bit about them, but for the warm dry summer evening we spent in Broken Bow, we discovered a dusty, windswept and very attractive little town far from the interstate. For the first time on our trip we felt like we were in the West.

We had breakfast the next morning at the Tumbleweed, where I heard the waitress ask a man at a nearby table if he was Canadian. Looking confused he said, "Yeah, how did you know?" She said, "I could tell because you ordered a tomato with your breakfast, and all the truck drivers coming down from Canada ask for tomatoes."

Several hours along the Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway, eastern Nebraska

a bar on the Lincoln Highway

corn along the Lincoln Highway

rail depot on the Lincoln Highway

Dedicated in 1913, the Lincoln Highway was the first road across the country going from New York to San Francisco. We followed it for 150 miles west into Nebraska. This stretch follows the wide, muggy river bottom of the Platte River. Tiny farm communities pop up about every five to ten miles, and every one of them has a tornado siren and a rail depot where (I assume) the local farmers store their harvested corn before it's loaded onto trains.

Along the Platte River

The Platte River in eastern Nebraska

railroad along the Lincoln Highway and Platte River

The Lincoln Highway, following the Platte River

Leaving Omaha, our route followed the Platte River west into Nebraska. One of the Plains' major rivers, it guided European settlement westward across the continent starting with fur traders and explorers, continuing with the main migration trails, the first road across the country and eventually, the interstate highway system. While the interstate was routed further from the river, trains, tiny farm towns and local highways still keep the Platte at arm's length.

Great Plains scavenger hunt item #5: the Platte River

The Platte River is a river in the Western United States, approximately 310 mi (500 km) long. It is a tributary of the Missouri River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi River. The Platte is one of the most significant river systems in the watershed of the Missouri, draining a large portion of the central Great Plains in Nebraska and the eastern Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming. The river played an important role in the westward expansion of the United States, providing the route for several major westward trails, including the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail.

-Wikipedia

Through Omaha

Old downtown Omaha, Nebraska

Without the time to get an advanced degree in the Great Plains, we had to prioritize a few aspects of the region above the rest. This meant overlooking its cities scattered distantly, mostly around its edges. On our way through Omaha we stopped for a couple hours to pick up tourist information and maps, and to at least get a quick impression of the city.

The newer steel and glass office buildings make it look like a relatively thriving, healthy modern place. We walked around the Old Market area where a lot of the old brick warehouses have been turned into flower shops, beauty parlors, bars and gift shops. The buildings were neat, but the area wreaked of having been designated a revitalized cultural area and felt separated from what really gives Omaha its purpose. At least we got to see the vast rail yards and cattle yards on our way out of town to reinforce my expectation of what made Omaha.

stormy weather

Our little Mazda Protege5 has been perfect for trips like this. It's big enough to bring our camping gear, and just big enough for us to sleep in comfortably should we drive too late to set up the tent. After the "Trucker's Jamboree" outside Davenport, we drove another 60 miles before pulling off the highway to sleep. Some pretty severe thunderstorms woke us up the next morning, and kept coming at us as we continued to make our way toward Nebraska.

Truck stop love

The world's largest truckstop, Iowa 80, has parking for 800 trucks. This means there's room for fairs of the kind we happened upon, meaning we could check off another item on our Great Plains scavenger hunt. While local fairs are held everywhere across the country, I think their importance, and therefore dynamism, is magnified in the less populated areas like the plains, where there tend to be fewer large scale social events during the year.

Scavenger hunt, item four:

Fair: 1. an exhibition, usually competitive, of farm products, livestock, etc., often combined in the U.S. with entertainment and heldannually by a county or state.

2. a periodic gathering of buyers and sellers in an appointed place.

3. an exposition in which different exhibitors participate, sometimes with the purpose of buying or selling

Fans

Aaron Tippin fans

Aaron Tippin fans

We turned into Iowa 80 truck stop for a bite to eat and instead got to see a "Trucker's Jamboree". This meant, for us, a couple hours of wandering through a fair complete with hundreds of tractor-trailers, food tents, balloons, fireworks, games, and midwesterners of all sizes. A growing crowd in one corner of the fair drew us in, where we found out the country music star Aaron Tippin was signing autographs. We'd arrived in a new land.

Westward into Iowa

Interstate 80, northern Illinois

Continuing westbound on Interstate 80 through northern Illinois, we crossed over the Mississippi River into Iowa at dusk. We counted on driving well into the night in order to make Nebraska fairly early the next day. The "World's Largest Truck Stop" drew us off the highway for a quick bite to eat, but there was a Truckers Jamboree going on, giving us a chance to see a large number of Iowans and find out whether they live up to their giant corn-fed stereotypes...

Into tornado country

I grew up hearing tornado sirens periodically being tested and practicing tornado drills in school and summer camp. Our arrival in tornado country last summer announced itself by this familiar siren on our way across northern Illinois...

Great Plains scavenger hunt item number three: tornado siren

A civil defense siren (also referred to as an air raid siren, tornado siren, tsunami siren, or other outdoor warning siren) is a mechanical or electronic device for generating sound to provide warning of approaching danger and sometimes to indicate when the danger has passed. Initially designed to warn of air raids in World War II, they were adapted to warn of nuclear attack and of natural phenomena such as tornadoes. In the United States, sirens are usually used to warn of impending natural disasters, as well as threats of military attacks, which in the United States are rare. Throughout the Great Plains, Midwest, and South, they are used to notify the public of a tornado warning or flash flood.