Amid Connor's workplace turmoil (will he work in Omaha or not?), the Werrlein set out for Omaha to accompany him on his move and celebrate Christmas together for the first time in four years.
Connor and Claire drove in his car and Steve and I drove together in the Kia. We listened to Undaunted Courage and the kids sang Disney tunes.
Our first stop was the High Life Lounge--The Champagne of Bars in Des Moines, Iowa that Tommy Smith and Steve have been to on business trips. They are famous for their Spam sandwich and their bacon-wrapped tater tots, smothered in cheese. Everyone split an order of the latter. We passed on the former. This place also serves all kinds of old 60s and 70s beer, like Miller High Life and Busch. We had too many hours of driving left for a beer.
Next stop: The marker for Jesse Jackson's first train robbery. It turns out the train conductor died in the event. I found it odd there is a monument to Jackson and not to the people injured and killed in the attack. America is a strange place.
AND THEN, we tried to stop to see the "Tree in the Road," but what I expected to be gravel or frozen mud turned out to be just plain mud. We avoided catastrophe on multiple fronts: not falling over the edge of the road (quite steep), not getting permanently stuck, not crashing into Connor's car while trying to back out, not having to walk and surely sink up to our ankles, and not cracking someone's windshield with all the mud and dirt flying up off our wheels after we got out.
We decorated our AirBnB for Christmas and decided maybe the holidays in Omaha should be a new Werrlein tradition!
Rummy Royal every night. First Dad was winning and Connor and I were losing badly. Claire plodded along. Then the tables turned. Final standings: Connor, Me, Dad, Claire. But if you ask my opinion, the big moments came when I got the 10, Q, K, A of hearts and couldn't play them. Then I got three hearts later and couldn't play them. We ended the game for the week on a hand where Steve got the 8, 9, 10 and I got the K&Q in the same hand.
We arrived on Tuesday night and I rode my bike on Wednesday morning (xmas eve). BUT, after going out for excellent Mediterranean food Tuesday night and drinking wine, I woke in the night with a stomach flare up. AND, I'd forgotten my emergency medicine. Still, I rallied in the 40 degree day and went out for a 31-mile ride in the grey mist.
It wasn't the most picturesque ride I've ever done. It started out rough because the GPS was vague with the many trails and the roads were in bad shape. I had to keep stopping, removing gloves, and checking the map.
My GPS told me to turn up this road but I deferred. I took the pic because it reminded me of the road to the Tree in the Road. No need to make the same mistake twice!
This cemetery was a sprawling surprise in the urban landscape. The pic only captures part of it.
Omaha had few bike lanes, but they did have extensive trails through parks and along canals.
I rode for miles along this canal. For birds, I only saw one hawk and a bunch of sparrows. But I also many feral cats hunting in the grass. Perhaps that was why there were no birds!
It would have been much prettier in the spring or summer.
The trail was washed out in numerous places. I guess they have a lot of bad weather in Omaha.
I randomly came to this bird sanctuary. The boardwalks were open. I don't know if I would have seen anything (I had my binocs of course!), but I didn't want to leave my bike alone, my stomach was hurting, I was cold, and I had a deadline to meet the fam. So no Heron Haven for me. However, I did make good use of their porta-pottie--an unexpected luxury!
The specialize in pedestrian bridges in Omaha and Council Bluffs.
Many murals like this.
There are hills in Omaha! I had no idea. Of course they came at the end of the ride - around Mile 25. The hills also brought me into the wealthier neighborhoods.
And then the even wealthier neighborhoods...
They like their bridges curvy--as do I.
Of course there is a loose German Shepherd!
After 31 miles, I limped back to the AirBnb. We headed straight out to the grocery store to get food for Christmas dinner. Then to downtown for a fancy late lunch because we discovered no restaurants would be open that night--despite Steve's earlier assurances he would have "no problem" getting a reservation when the rest of us worried about it. In the end, we ate at Zio's Pizzeria--a very casual place where you order at the counter. New Werrlein tradition? The food looked really good, but I couldn't eat. At home, I ate oatmeal.
We had a really fun xmas morning (and I was feeling better). We filled stockings for the kids, which was funny because...they're closer to 30 than 20! I think everyone liked their gifts: Connor liked his rubber fidget ball, Claire liked her perfume and LuLu leggings, Steve liked his JMU swag and his new Pendleton hat to replace the one lost so long ago, and I loved my pottery plate and crochet needles/yarn.
Steve testing out his new binocs by looking at the wall.
Steve turning his attention to outside where he had better luck.
Connor got a toy for his apartment.
We took a pic of us with all our gifts from Mom so she could see what she got us. :)
Somehow, Connor took our only picture of Christmas dinner, so he's not in it! I was still not feeling great (I ate dinner rolls!), so maybe that's why I didn't notice. We managed to pull together a typical meal: steaks and sausages from the donut-shop-like butcher, horseradish carrots, horseradish sauce, green beans, and Mom Werrlein's mashed potatoes.
The next day, I rode in Council Bluffs, Iowa while the fam picked up Connor's new furniture from the thrift store. He set up his apartment after we left. Now...if only the job would come through!
And that was Nebraska!
Miles: 31
Speed: Pathetic but I finished!
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