Day 10 Ak to Ohio
425 miles, 7
hours (traffic jam, 30 minutes)
Crossed over
to Central Standard Time, 1 hour earlier than Ohio, 3 hours later than Ak
Awoke at 7AM,
left hotel at 9AM. 74 degrees, quickly
rising to mid 80’s, leveling off at low 90’s the rest of the day. News say it will be getting hotter as we are
leaving. What it means for further east we don’t know. At least we are not caught in some of the bad
storms. Seth says Ohio is rising in temp
as we return. Reports saying that
nationally and internationally temperatures are hitting consistent highs never
recorded before. Predict more to come.
We are in
prairie of the US, traveling the Oregon Trail, Homesteaded lands, Lincoln Hwy,
Pony Express and Transcontinental Railroad (all very historic and pivotal in
American history). Nebraska is the
Cornhusker state and there are miles and miles of corn fields. Some soy beans sown to counteract the corn
effect on soil and some wheat. We hear
the annual return of the high-pitched buzz of cicada’s in the trees. It is
very flat as we crisscross the Platte River several times; origins coming from
the eastern Continental Divide northward into Wyoming. It will eventually drain into Missouri River
and then Mississippi and then Gulf or Mexico.
This land is flat as a pancake and wherever they dig down it produces
sand. We believe this area was ancient
sea bed and the sand is leftover. Digging
down also produces water but it must be pumped to irrigate. The sand holds water and forms a large
aquifer that holds water below the surface.
It still requires pumping it up and irrigating the crops. We have seen corn fields that are abandoned
and not irrigated and they are dead. The
top soil is generally not very rich like Ohio’s. The controversy over creating a pipeline of
very toxic, dirty tar sands oil from Canada to Gulf Coast for refining that
would run through the aquifer is of obvious concern given how these clean
filtered waters provide for life in the area.
We see crop dusting planes swooping down, flying just feet above the
ground as they release their chemical dust.
We cross
over the Missouri River into Iowa.
Staying at a Courtyard in Council Bluffs. Eating at hotel for dinner and maybe
breakfast (all paid separately). Rooms
are adequate and clean. Catching up on
blog and sleep. Two more days until we
are home and then we really get busy getting ready for Brenna’s family visit.
Nighty
Night.
