October 5 - 7, 2017:
I suppose I waited too long to take the Jeep back to the dealer for a Air Bag recall notice. The failure light has started to illuminate with a audible ding and Twinkles doesn’t trust driving it a long distance when the air bag might decide to deploy for no reason or something like that. So we tow today, all highway and rough interstate 80 in the rain, heavy at times with poor visibility and considerable traffic for 200 miles. It wasn’t a fun trip, but we arrived without incident, so all was good. We went through lots of scenic, hilly corn field country again, but the visibility was so poor it was mostly just gray.
We arrived at the Event Center Campground in Lincoln, Nebraska about 2 PM which is a huge complex with about 200 campsites with electric and one dump station with one water spigot. We spent about a hour finding the business center then waiting for the person in charge, then registering, getting a campsite assigned and paying amidst much confusion. Of course, by then a downpour began as we were looking for the dump station to fill our water tank. They then send someone out to unlock your electrical pedestal. They have a terrible inefficient system here ! There is a dog show this weekend, hopefully we won’t be surrounded by barking show dogs ?
Lincoln Nebraska is an amazing town with so many attractions and a Nebraska Cornhuskers “Big Red” Football home game this Saturday, This is a sell out, all 90,000 seats, wonder how crazy that will be ? In fact Nebraska holds the NCAA record for having 354 consecutive home game sellouts over a 50 year period.
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| More popular than God ? |
It has been very rainy here and it continues today as we head to downtown Lincoln. We start at the historic “Haymarket” area, which started as a town square of sorts going through a few reincarnations. The original square is now covered by the Lincoln Journal Star's printing plant and distribution center, but the adjacent warehouse area that developed in the late 1800’s is now deemed the “Haymarket” district and designated as a National historic district. We just happened upon the visitor center at the old Lincoln Train Station where the friendly woman inside inundated us with useful information, enough for a week. We then roamed around the area filled with restaurants, bars, cafes, hotels and various shops. This area is within walking distance of Memorial Stadium and the woman at the visitor center sort of hinted that it would be insanely crowded on Saturday and maybe best to stay away.
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Chicago, Burlington and Quincy steam engine 710 was
built in 1910 at the Burlington Shops in the town of Havelock.
The engine sits in what is now called "Iron Horse Park"
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A beautifully done three dimensional brick mural called
"Iron Horse Legacy" in Iron Horse Park
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The Burlington Northern Railroad Depot built in 1927
which replaced two earlier structures. It was renamed Lincoln
Station after renovations in 1990. It was used by Amtrak until
2012 when the tracks were realigned and a new station was built.
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| Twinkles behind a rather goofy bench |
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The brick streets were left to retain the character, it helps
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The side of an art gallery with various oddities
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The Huber building built in 1901manufactured farm equipment including
thrashing machines. In 1905, ten of Lincoln's thirteen thrashing machine
companies were located in or near the Haymarket district
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| Vibrant art work on side of building |
But there is more to Lincoln than the Haymarket district.
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| Beautiful telephone building |
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Another classic building
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The "President" across the street from
the Capital |
We had a deluge of heavy rain with thunder and lightning on Friday evening that continued about all night. Saturday morning started really wet and foggy as I went to the Capital building, but about 10 AM the sun broke through and it became a very nice day. The Capital is an amazing building inside and out, but most impressive from the outside. The interior attraction is mainly the second floor which has a sort of gothic castle appearance covered in artistic embellishments. To me however, it’s overly dark inside, more light is needed to showcase its beauty. The Hall of Fame area with busts of the current 24 members in a hallway with vaulted ceiling and sunlight streaming in from courtyard windows was especially impressive. The other area to see is the Memorial Chamber on the 14th floor with its outside observation deck. Unfortunately the observation deck was closed, due to weather the sign said, although it was clear, calm and sunny. The Memorial Chamber is beautiful with murals dedicated to public heroism that were done by Omaha artist Stephen Roberts in 1996.
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| Driving into Lincoln, the view of the Capital is unobstucted. |
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It has a special level of grandeur
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Atop the 400 foot tower stands the "Sower" who is casting
the seeds of life to the winds symbolic of agriculture's role
in the development of civilization
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Many American Indian elements were incorporated into the capital
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A sculpture of pioneers greets visitors at the north entrance
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An indian detail on an entrance door
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Gold tile mosaic atop the vestibule dome
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A pioneer mural of plowing the prairie
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Doors to the Warner Memorial Chamber with native
American mother and child design
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The Rotunda floor design is amazing
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Inside the Memorial Chamber
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| A view down the Hall of Fame |
After the Capital, I go to a scenic area on 13th street where I stop for a slice of pizza and a beer that somehow cost me $16, but it was very good. I then walk blocks and blocks to the Memorial Stadium where every parking area seems to be setting up for big game day festivities. The TV and cable news network trucks are all in place, the University band is practicing and there is big excitement in the air.
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The view form my lunch seat was special
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Home of the "Huskers"
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Glory to the game
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| Band members practicing outside, love those big cymbals |
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| Please, no one wants to see that |
A couple of miles from the campground is the historic town of Havelock which is now a suburb of Lincoln, there is a small old downtown area with several interesting buildings. Bob's Bar, see below is down the street from the Cosmic Cow quilt store.
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Twinkles enjoyed the Cosmic Cow Quilt Shop
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Rocky Horror in Havelock
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| Arnolds Beer sign is a great one |
Game time is 7 PM Saturday night against the University of Wisconsin and I catch the second half of the game at a local bar, Bob’s Bar, which is very nice inside, highly decorated for Halloween with dozens of “scary things” hanging from the ceiling. The patrons at my end of the bar however were sort of fitting the “Dive Bar” description. A man on my left was arguing every penalty called against the Huskers and every foul that wasn’t called against the Wisconsin Badgers. Initially the score was even and it appeared to be a tight game, but shortly into the 3rd quarter Wisconsin came to life and dominated the rest of the game which ended up being a 31 to 19 win for Wisconsin. A woman a few seats away said something to the affect that when the “Huskers” lose the men tend to beat their wives and girlfriends, I think she was joking ?
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| This was directly over my seat |
At times, the barking dogs at the campground are pretty annoying to say the least, I was considering staying another day, there is much more to see and do, but Twinkles is ready to go.
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The next stop is Junction City, Kansas,
Twinkles and Slick
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