We woke early and slowly got breakfast ready and organised ourselves.
Setting off for Omaha along the back roads we again were in corn country, mile after mile of dried out corn fields. Here and there some had been chopped close to the ground or was in the process of being razed.
The terrain is less flat, more gentle rolling hills. Again there's a lot of water, rivers, ponds marshes etc in one marshy area there were a lot of herons both the white and blue versions, in other ponds geese and ducks. The green areas are almost ridiculously bright green.
A lot of the houses we pass are decorated for Autumn, scarecrows, corn stalks and pumpkins are the most popular decorations.
We took a dirt side road in Madison County to follow one of the many signs that said covered bridge, kitschy I know but we had to do it lol Three miles on it was a bit of a rip off, the bridge was closed to traffic and pretty much a money maker for the land owner complete with a gift shop. It's still the original bridge but lacks something for being on private land and closed to all but foot traffic. On the plus side unlike most covered bridges it is still the original with a little reno done in the 90's. Most have been destroyed at some point by floods etc and are relatively modern rebuilds.
We stopped for lunch at a pretty little lake not far from the Nebraska border. While sitting eating I felt something on my leg, looked down and saw something huge on it! Pete laughed at the ensuing squeal and jump as I flicked it off. He laughed more when we realised it was a big fat caterpillar lol
Over a bridge and we were in Nebraska. We went straight to our hotel and checked in, pretty nice for $75 a night! Jim set it up so all out of towners attending got corporate rates at the Marriott, it's usually around $130 a night.
We kicked back for a couple of hours then Pete checked in with Boomer who was at the store and said come on down so we did. It's only an easy ten min drive from the hotel. It's quite the store, very large and super well set out with several very nice display tanks. They've got a few things going on that we'd love to implement if only we had the space to do so.
We hung out for a couple of hours chatting to the other early arrivals incl Lemon who was his usual scattered self. He's been doing a series of short utube vids, the one with Boomer & the Larry and Veronica one are pretty good.
The shop shut at 8, dinner was booked for 9. By 8.15 some of us were starving so we set off for the steakhouse to get a drink and starters. Jim and a couple of others arrived around 9 to join us. It was a lively night, a little shop talk and a lot of laughs.
Tired and very well fed we got back to the hotel around 11. Pete put an episode of New Tricks on but I didn't last long before crashing out. We might have to start that one over again another time lol