Saturday, 27th of April
2013
Lincoln, NE –
Cedar Rapids, IA
Miles: 326
Again, the same
morning routine, pack our stuff, get J. from the bed and get her
going (hard task). It was a bit rainy and very foggy. We got a coffee
from the motel. We had a misunderstanding about the day, J. thought I
wanted to get to Cedar Rapids asap (to see Czech museum or
something). That cleared out in a bit, the weather stayed bad for a
bit longer. We drove through Lincoln, but we did not see or find
anything interesting. The fog covering pretty much everything did not
really helped either. We left and were back on the interstate 80
going east. It was a bit different, there were some settlements and
farms, but otherwise it was still boring and very uninteresting. A
small detour to Omaha, Nebraska. We drove to the historic part of the
town. There were some former industrial building, red bricks on the
road and many shops and restaurants. It looked pretty and
interesting. We parked the car (free) and walked around. It actually
looked pretty, the area was clean and relatively alive (for the time,
it was Saturday around 10.07 am). J. bought the shirt in a vintage
shop. She as well got a coffee in some interesting coffee/bookshop
establishment. So far Nebraska was pretty boring and not pretty, at
least Omaha had some charm and we liked it. We drove into the area
called Little Bohemia and it was pretty sad view. We found a
restaurant, remains of the hotel and some stores. Nothing really
special or pretty, on contrary it was sad. We left the town, it did
not look too big, so it was pretty quick and easy to get on the
interstate. Crossing the river, we almost missed the sign welcoming
us in Iowa. We were finally done with Nebraska, it ended relatively
nice. Nothing changed, we were still in urban setting and continued
along I-80. Within 10 miles or so there was a rest stop and Iowa
visitor's center (pretty new one). When we said we were going to
Cedar Rapids for a night, the lady told us to visit Czech museum and
J. made a joke “how she knew I was Czech”. We got some stuff and
talked with her for a second. Back on the road. Not much until Des
Moines, Iowa. The landscape was different, it was mainly farm land,
but it was a bit hilly, there were some trees and in general it
looked kind of pretty. It was obviously boring in a while as we had
to drive it for over 100 miles. But at least it was not so trashy
looking like Nebraska and there was a bit of charm. Des Moines, the
weather got better, mostly sunny with few clouds, we drove through
the downtown area (mostly business and big hotels), they had sky
walks between many buildings, but otherwise it was kind of cold and
boring. Business district. We crossed the river and ended up on the
hill with the capitol building and pretty big park. There were first
signs of spring. We parked, and walked in the park a bit (nice
statues and nice view). It felt nice to be outside and walking. J.
found (looking through the Des Moines magazine) this amazing barbeque
place in the city, so we drove there (it was outskirts of the city).
Full parking lot. Really busy restaurant, we sit down and had a
lunch. It was very good (Jethro's Barbeque), all the side dishes and
meats were really nice and overall it was great. Back on the road
(another almost 100 miles to Iowa City), nothing really different, a
lot of farm land and kind of picturesque image of the land. Just
before Iowa City we took a turn and drove 20 miles (detour) to Cedar
Rapids. The town has pretty large Czech community and Czech museum.
Very similar picture of the land, more hilly. We drove through small
part of the town to the “Czech village”. They were old and well
established neighborhoods. Relatively well kept. The village
consisted of one street with maybe 25 buildings on each side. It was
pretty small but somewhat well kept and lively. We went to the
bakery, but they were out of czech pastries, we went to the antique
shop (J. liked it), we talked to two ladies who were there, not
really speaking czech, but interested in it. We walked around, but
the rest of the places were closed (including a museum). Interesting
experience. Drive to motel. Normal town. Same routine for the
evening.
