Nebraska

According to the Lonely Planet guidebook, “I-80 is [Nebraska’s] major east-west artery, although much of its length is boring.” Despite this negative proclamation, T. and I tried to get to know Nebraska as well as we could during our two-day cross-state trip. Some things that stood out to us:

1). Huge Jesus statue welcoming drivers coming in from Wyoming.
2). Corn


3). “Outlaw Sodomy” = sign alongside the road.
4). State tree = cottonwood (“Do you think that’s a cottonwood tree?” “What about that?” Maybe that’s one?”) Indeed, they look like this.
5). Country roads

6). Lots of bugs: cicadas, weird tarantula-sized mosquitoes, and millions of cockroaches that came rushing out of the Flying J while T. and I were eating lunch in the parking lot (not because of our lunch, but because the exterminator sprayed something into cracks in the building). Also, weird briars that stuck in T.’s skin for hours – not bugs exactly, but behaving in a similar manner to bugs.

If you’re interested, the short story “I-80 Nebraska” by John Sayles is good piece about this strip of highway and is not at all boring.