Nobody bothered us overnight at the nice, flat, and quiet cinema parking lot, but we figured we should move on fairly quickly as the RV starts to heat up exorbitantly from 9am onwards. Unfortunately, our plans were thwarted when we couldn't find the small, portable, USB-chargeable black fan that we use inside the RV, particularly to place next to Sheila while we're driving so that she has a fan cooling her while she lies down between us. We thought we'd last used it in South Dakota when we were caught in the heatwave that swept Sioux Falls, but after checking every cabinet at least 4 times (plus the trunk), it was still nowhere to be found. Surely we hadn't lost it or left it somewhere?
After a couple of hours of fruitless searching, we had to drive away, but as we were driving along still pondering what happened to it, Lisette felt her back rest on the passenger seat--and it was behind the back rest the entire time! How wild that she's been sitting with it for days, and hadn't even noticed. But at least it's been found... A good reminder to always have a home for things, so time isn't wasted looking for them, even in as confined space as our RV!
Finally Our Side Mirror is Fixed
After almost a month now without a functional right side mirror we finally were able to pick up the replacement we had ordered at Grainger. It was still quite a task for Michael to pull out the broken glass and install the shiny new mirror but we now have much better visibility again. Great success!
Boys Town and the Value of Stamps
Boys Town was founded in 1917 when Father Edward J. Flanagan, an Irish-born Catholic priest, used a $90 loan to open a home for five homeless boys. Initially it focused on providing care for homeless and neglected boys, but has since expanded to include girls and a wider range of services.
In the 1930s, Boys Town kids began collecting and trading stamps, a hobby that is still promoted today. In 1953, the Boys Town kids started creating “Ball of Stamps” by sticking non-valuable stamps around a golf ball core. Today, it's the Largest Ball of Stamps in the world (and has the Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" seal next to it to prove it), standing over 81 centimeters (32 inches) in diameter, weighing over 272 kilos (600 pounds), and containing an estimated 4,655,000 canceled stamps. The Ball of Stamps can be seen in the main building at the back room of the gift shop, and there are many other non-valuable stamps next to the ball (visitors aren't allowed to stick more stamps on the ball though).
Warren Buffet's House and Joselyn's Castle
We remembered that Warren Buffet, one of the world's richest men (currently #5 in the world), lives in Omaha, so we figured we'd drive past his house. Unlike other billionaires, he lives modestly, still residing in the five-bedroom house that he purchased in 1958 for $31,500 (worth over $350,000 today). His neighborhood is very posh though, with expensive mansions and immaculate lawns. Did he purchase his house in a well-to-do area decades ago, or did the neighborhood become rich because they built around him? In any case, we couldn't stop in front of his house, but we could see a bit of it poking up behind the tall hedges and fence.
An expensive home we were able to see more closely, however was the lovely Joslyn Castle & Gardens in Omaha. George Joslyn made his fortune in the ready-print news business, and he purchased the land to build the castle in the Scottish Baronial style in 1903. The 35-room mansion has four stories, a carriage house tower, and beautifully manicured gardens. We didn't go inside, but there are tours available (best to book in advance), and the castle is also available to rent for events.
Animals and Aerospace
Ever since we experienced that intense heatwave in South Dakota, the temperatures have been over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) each day, often feeling much hotter. We'd met a family from Omaha who was camping next to us at Badlands that recommended going to the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, and while we wanted to, we couldn't leave Sheila in the hot RV for hours while we explored this huge complex, where people seemed to spend at least half the day wandering around. So we did what we could, driving up to it to see the zoo from the outside, and seeing the Desert Dome up close, which stands out from miles away. The Desert Dome, which looks like a silver Christmas bauble to hang on the tree, is the world's largest indoor desert, featureing plant and animal life from three deserts around the world: the Namib Desert of southern Africa, the Red Center of Australia and the Sonoran Desert of the southwest United States. If you read this and visit Omaha Zoo one day, you'll have to let us know what we missed!
Another brief stop further south was the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum, with air & spacecraft exhibits, rides, a planetarium and other activities. There's quite a few cool, historic aircraft outside to check out, similar to when we visited the South Dakota Space & Air Museum on the way to Badlands National Park.
Biting Bull Balls
Leaving Omaha, we were back in rural heartland, driving past miles and miles of fields. To emphasize that we were no longer in the city, we passed by a sign outside a restaurant that proclaimed, "Home of the Testicle Festival"(!!!). We had indeed driven by the Round the Bend Steakhouse in Nebraska, which has an annual event focused on eating bull testicles. It made Lisette think of the movie "Funny Farm" from the 1980s, where the actor Chevy Chase digs into the "lamb fries" at a local diner in a rural town they've moved to, only to find out they are sheep testicles! Too bad, we missed the festival in Nebraska, which had already taken place on June 14. There are other places that have such festivals, but we can't see us joining in on the eating festivities if we show up!
Kregel Windmill Factory Museum
We arrived in Nebraska City--and not knowing much about it, we realized it was a much smaller town (population: 7,414; maybe Lisette got Nebraska City in Nebraska with Kansas City in Kansas, which is definitely a big city). Nebraska City has a lot of history behind it, and it's reflected in the old buildings in town. We were there to check out a unique museum, the Kregel Windmill Factory Museum, the only original intact windmill factory museum in the country. Founded by George F. Kregel, the Kregel Windmill Company operated from 1903 to 1991, and made, maintained and repaired water pumping windmills for farms within close proximity to it.
We parked across several spots right in front of the museum (sorry--couldn't find anywhere for our RV nearby, but the lot was empty), and the docent opened the museum door to greet us and let us in. While the factory and museum is all on one floor and completely visible from when we entered, it's exceptionally well done in showing how the factory would have looked in its heyday.
The docent was very knowledgeable--he'd grown up in the area and can still remember visiting the factory as a kid with his dad to purchase windmills for his family's farm. We paid $7 per person for what was a private tour, starting with watching a short video as an introduction to the museum (with several touchscreens to detail the windmill-making process), and a walk into the office at the front where invoicing and other admin was conducted. The office had old-school telephones, a desk which could flip up the typewriter stored within it, and even a rare "walkie-talkie" type of device to connect this building to the other one it used to have across the road, simply by shouting into it (it's the same idea as attaching a piece of string between two metal cans to communicate).
The factory then shows all the tools and components that go into making a windmill, from the construction to how it operated, and how it was maintained. We really appreciated that the docent was so patient to talk to us (going well beyond closing time) to show us around!
Back to Iowa, On to Missouri
We thought we'd finished our time in Iowa, but we had to enter Iowa again as we drove east and then slightly south, arriving in Missouri, state #18 on this trip! We found a recreational area to stop at for the night. There was one car parked and a second that had an old man sitting in it. Just sitting in it. It was kind of odd, but we realized he was just hanging out because he planned to sleep in his car that night. Who knows, maybe he didn't have a home to go to that evening?
Route Map
