Somewhere in Middle America

Omaha, NE – 8/20/08

What a day. We departed Chicago this morning with a slim jim… and some ABBA. We stopped at a CVS to replace the wiffle ball I knocked the cover off of (yes, I’ve been working out lately) and to my absolute delight, we found tube steak AND an ABBA greatest hits CD instead. Mike was not amused, but was distracted by the fact that the CD came in an eco-friendly recycled paper case. Also, take this Boston: the CVS in Illinois had wine, beer, and an ENTIRE AISLE of HARD LIQUOR. MA is officialy a state fah pansies.
We set out for Omaha.
I88 out of Chicago took us south west of the city, and once we passed through Aurora, IL, we knew we’d arrived in the Midwest. Two defining features of life here: FLAT LAND and CORN… a whole lot of both. The rumors are all true. You haven’t been missing anything. These aren’t generalizations…they are bitter REALizations. This having been said, the country really is beautiful. High sky everywhere you look, and the rows and rows of corn are green and mystifying.
We stopped at a nice rest area in DeKalp, IL (sounds sorta like ‘fah cows’). It was named “The DeKalp Oasis”. More jerky, and it was still before noon. Aside from a little construction, it was smooth sailing to our next oasis, Iowa City, Iowa, home of the Univesity of Iowa Hawkeyes. WHAT A CITY! I cannot really say this enough, but Iowa City is the best college town I’ve ever been to. It would be nothing without the university, but the streets were lined with excellent shops (more than a few nice record stores) and we grabbed an excellent lunch at ‘Which Wich’, an awesome sandwich shop. The rest of the drive to Omaha was full of laughs, and rescheduling our campground reservations to include an extra day at Yellowstone, and axe our one night in Glacier National Park.
Upon arriving in Omaha, we begin a search for lodging. Mike’s Couch Surfing contact has a lot of cats, and therefore Mike cannot sleep there. We decide that since we are camping out the next 3 nights, it would be nice to stay in a hotel tonight. We drive around downtown Omaha, and are amazed at how dead it is at 7pm. We see an Econo-Lodge, looks kind of shady. We see a big double tree, looks expensive. After realizing that we were perusing the commercial/industrial side of things, we ran into the much more hospitable part of town, and our third hotel possibility – the Embassy Suites. Sold out and a tad over priced, the lady at the desk had a book with all the published rates of the other hotels in town. She ran down the list, and Mike stopped at what he saw: The Best Western. He inquired, and her only response was: “I wouldn’t stay at the Best Western if I were you.” We shrugged this off, took as some lady being stuck up, and set on out for the Best Western. It was a bit cheaper, and upon finding the place, it looked just fine. The $109 rate also assured us that we couldn’t run into any problems, we were paying for a decent room, right? Right.
All I can say here is SEEEEEE YAAAAAAAA. First off, the room was dingy. Secondly, the neighborhood was sketchy. Mike and I hung out for a bit, me checking email, and Mike sitting on the bed watching some TV. We read a few online reviews of the place: “not worth the money, my car was broken into in the lot.” “definitely not three stars, the service was terrible.” I then get a feeling. I ask Mike: “hey, you feel itchy at all?” He explains that he does too. We turn down one of the beds to inspect. The sheets look a little worn, but no big deal really…and then we see it. Small, about a millimeter long, black, and crawling across the bed.

A bug.

Presumably of the bed variety, but we sure as hell didn’t care about the species. I jumped back to the computer, and we found a better hotel across town on Expedia. We immediately booked, and high tailed it the HELL out of dodge. Upon arriving at the new hotel, we promptly threw all our clothes in the laundry (amazingly our room was the closest room in the hotel to the machines) and went for a swim, and showers, respectively. This made us feel a TON better, but still begrudging Omaha a bit.

If I were you, I wouldn't stay at the Best Western.

It was only after my shower that I realized I had put all my clothes in the wash. With about 70 mins left to dry, Mike left to get us some dinner, and I watched vintage American Gladiators in my towel. Mike arrived back with delicious Chipotle, and we watched May-Treanor and Walsh demolish the Chinese on the Beach Volleyball court. (I think this was the first time in my life I ever eaten dinner in just a towel…nothing really says ‘I’ve had a weird night’ quite like Chipotle in only a towel) Welcome to the adventure, folks.

We stopped by a small party at the house with the cats, and met some nice folks from all around the country. (even a few from LI who knew Mike’s cousins!!) Back at the bug free hotel now, time for bed.

Music Notes:
Neil Young – After The Goldrush
ABBA – 20th Century Masters (!!!)
Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
Sting and the Police – Every Breath You Take (Greatest Hits)
Carly Comando – Every Day