Left last Wednesday to help my friend move out to Omaha, the trip started with a two day jaunt down I80, with an overnight stop in Indiana. Followed by a couple days in Omaha, and a flight back to CT yesterday night.

All in all it was a fun trip, second time I went out their, and I'm very glad to be back.

My impressions:

The driving is fantastic, roads are vast and wide, and generally in good condition. Drivers are also fantastic once you get out of PA, the New England **** you attitude goes away and is replaced by a friendly mid west attitude. Scenery is mostly corn fields, not really much to see.

Attractions:
Windmills and the worlds largest truck stop along I80, oh and did I mention corn fields?

Food:
Generally sucks, really bad once you get out of New England. Omaha was no exception. Since it seems no nationality makes it out their you can't get good Mexican, and the Chinese while usually a very industrious people haven't made it out their. Lastly the Italian is laughably bad, as is the pizza. I have come to the conclusion that unless you like Chicago deep dish, the further you get away from NY city the worst the pizza gets. I have had wood oven pizza in San Diego that was about the equal to what I can order from Dominoes here.

Essentially if you want a big hunk of beef, or some massive beef based dish your good. If you want something else your SOL. Eating healthy is a chore.

Now for Omaha.
Its a freaky city, mostly empty from what I can see. You can do stuff that would get you killed in New Haven like jay walk across 4 lane roads, simply because the city looks like a the world ended and no one is left. Most of the restaurants we went to only had a couple people in them, or we were the only ones. Bars, clubs, and night life? Doesn't really exist. A couple hang outs and no clubs except for a gay one. Mostly they are all empty.

Also I noticed Omaha is a city without any culture that I can see, other than lots of churches. Unlike cities that I'm used to like oh say Philly, Boston, New Haven, New York; when your walking down the street in Omaha you hear English. You don't see people from every country you can think of speaking different languages, nor do you get all the little shops and eateries that spring up because of all the immigrants. You can't get a meal at a little Spanish bistro owned by a gentleman from the south coast of Spain like you can in my city, that just doesn't exist out their. Lastly its to new, it feels like a city planners wet dream, not something that has grown organically over the past 400 years. Its also very easy to have fantastic world class meals in any of the above mentioned cities. But in Omaha? I would have killed for a little Jewish or Korean deli.

All in all fun trip, but I think I'll stick to CT.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

We drove back and forth from Los Angeles to Minneapolis for work: Omaha was our saviour food wise; the only place besides a truck stop somewhere in Utah where we could find good tasting food. Off-course we stopped for the Omaha steak...But yes, between LA and Minneapolis it's pretty much a food desert: forget about eating anything healthy out there.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Try Chicago or Grand Rapids. Not NYC or Boston, but much better than you described Omaha.

How many bars did you hit along the way??

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Did you happen to stop in Indiana for two of America's greatest car museums, the Studebaker museum in South Bend and the Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg Museum in Auburn? If not, I hope you get another chance in your lifetime.

these are both decent museums. Both are also small enough you can spend an hour or two and feel like you have seen quite a bit.

Of course nothing in the midwest feels like it grew organically over 400 years since it did not. Indiana became a state in about 1816 fer cris sake. I have Walgamuth ancestors who came to Indiana before the civil war from Pennsylvania. The ones in PA came from Nuremburg god knows when.

New england has been settled since the 1600's.

I have to agree the food sucks. We find "gormet" dining at the Cracker Barrell.

Grilled chicken breast is pretty reliable. and for breakfast....scrambled eggs. Steak is iffy when dining out. Seafood is usually bad, so when I am someplace near the ocean I order it.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Memorial Stadium, home to the Cornhuskers, is the states 3rd largest populated spot on game days.

The Mormon Church is the single largest property owner in the state.

And driving through that state bores the hell out of me each and every time I do it. There is literally nothing to see until you get into Wyoming.

Why on earth did your friend move out there??

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

you explained exactly why we live here.nice people and vast roads.i can get on some of my back county roads and not meet another car for 30 miles.i used to go down to omaha every weekend either for concerts or just to party.and in the last 20 yrs i can't even recognize most of the city anymore.they have been tearing out alot of old warehouses and such in the downtown area.and i actually like it.guess they wanted to get away from the detroit look and get more modern so to speak.and i will agree that it seems to be a midwest thing.your building takes up 30,000 sq ft and your greenspace takes up 300,000 sq ft,why i have no idea.as for food out here.yeah unless you want a steak the size of rhode island you are sol.

people from NYC ask why anyone would live in the midwest. People from the midwest wonder why anyone would live in NYC.

Luckily we can live wherever we wish.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

You should have come by my place. We have a real Mexican place less than a mile from my house. My spanish is (very) slowly improving as I try to order in their native language. Almost got 13 tacos the other day but the little girl (probably 25) taking my order knows I'm a moron. Gotta love this place. One dollar tacos and margaritas on Monday. Little girl brings the margarita when she see my wife come in the door.

People in the Midwest are way friendlier than people here in Northern Virginia.

Did you call in on SRJ? Isn't he from Omaha?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Last trip I took there I was at a gas station filling up alongside a Nebraska farm boy who stood taller than the pick-up truck he was gassing up.

There is a reason they call them the corn huskers.

The general rule is that you have to get more than a few miles away from the interstates to find good restaurants, since that corridor tends to be dominated by chain restaurants like Dennys, IHOP, McD.

A city the size of Omaha would have Bistros, Korean food, delis and such. But you have to ask around. They tend to be in a funky hip neighborhood or in the Italian, Hispanic, or Asian section. Omaha is not a small town.
Small towns in the Midwest sometimes are cultural wastelands as many of the people see "culture" as sin, a waste of time, money and energy; and part of the liberal-land agenda/conspiracy to indoctrinate kids to 'godless socialism'.
You have to go to the big sinful cities to enjoy decadent culture, the arts and good food....

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"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"