The Unofficial Cook

We just got back from Omaha, Nebraska a couple of days ago.  We like taking to the road instead of flying.  For one thing, we can take all the gadgets we need and not worry about check-ins at the airport.  Its also a lovely drive, through the Eastern Plains and little towns of Colorado and the cornfields of Nebraska.  I love how green Nebraska can be.  This time, I caught a hint of gold in the fields and trees…..autumn seems to be creeping up on us and the bitter cold will be here before you know it. 

The Nebraska rural scenery is very distinctly middle-America - to me anyway.  It always looks like it’s ready for the camera, but I’m too busy enjoying it to bother taking a photo.  The photo above is from the Nebraska tourism website…a stock photo of the Arch at Kearney.  We go through that arch as we drive on Interstate 80 coming from Colorado.

Just imagine driving down smoothly paved roads at 75 mph with the green cornfields, the fat and happy cows in the fields and pens, the old and new farmhouses and barns, an old 1-room schoolhouse here and there, the small man-made lakes reflecting the blue sky, the wide and vast expanse of green fields and every now and then,you’ll sometimes spot  a green John Deere tractor with its perfect tuft of smoke coming out of its exhaust pipe making the view just a little bit more interesting….or maybe there’s a coal-laden train stretching for more than a mile  cutting through the scenery…making it just picture perfect…so serene.

The best part about driving through Nebraska are the rest stops!  This state is very generous with their rest stops…you’re never more than about 30 minutes from one.  That is very considerate of them, I must say.  On the other hand, Colorado is terrible for rest stops.  If you have to rely solely on state-operated rest stops, you’ll be in trouble driving through Colorado.  Texas likes their rest stops big and grand…but they don’t have as many as Nebraska does.

This is the state that Bill Clinton never visited when he was president.  I can’t imagine why not.  Nebraska is in an area widely known as America’s heartland.  It’s Johnny Carson’s home state.  The state where the country’s second richest man, Warren Buffet, lives and works.  These men are men I’ve always admired for their simplicity and sincerity.  That’s just how Nebraska and its people are - no nonsense, no frills, just down to earth and homey through and through.