Nebraska: Growing on me.

So, full disclosure: I used to hate Nebraska. All of it. But then, after a fun visit to Wayne and a lovely drive across the state on Hwy. 81 last summer, my feelings started to change. I began thinking of Nebraska with an affection previously reserved only for Minnesota (my favorite SoDak neighbor). The hate thing had started during a particularly greuling day trip to Omaha during my senior year of college and until yesterday, I thought I'd completely overcome the experience. Alas, I still hate Omaha. There lots of reasons for my enduring distaste for the city, but none of them are all that interesting. So, I'll just say that the rest of the state is cool enough to overcome it.

Anyway, I picked Kate up at the Omaha airport and we headed west on I-80. The drive was nice, but for some weird weather along the way (documented below). Driving west through Nebraska is a lot like driving west through SoDak: rolling prairie farmland followed by totally flat prairie farmland followed by rough and tumble grassland. Good stuff.

The good life, indeed (as long as you don't live in Omaha).

A dust storm or wall cloud or something. We didn't know what it was when driving through, but having grown up with frequent tornados, we were nervous.

Rainstorm a bit west of Kearney. No pictures were taken during the actual rain, I was gripping the steering wheel with all my strength and lamenting the futility of windshield wipers. Kate, I assume, was praying.

The skies cleared and the evening was gorgeous. This was taken outside Sutherland.