"At the age of thirty-five one needs to go to the Moon, or some such place, to recapture some of the excitement with which one first landed at Calais." That was Evelyn Waugh in 1945, writing the foreword to 'When The Going Was Good', a compendium of his pre-war travel writing. The book is now out of print, because it's mostly Waugh's unexpurgated observations on the appearance and habits of the natives while travelling through Africa and South America.
I picked up a second-hand copy in Omaha, just by chance. Omaha is an unfashionable city in a mostly rural state, but the bookshop in question was still comfortably bigger and better-stocked with serious books than anything I've ever encountered in England. There's life in the republic yet.
Anyway, Waugh had a point, and recapturing excitement is especially hard in a place like Nebraska. There's not a whole lot going on. The only things I knew about Nebraska beforehand were a) it's the title of a Bruce Springsteen album, to which I've never listened, and b) in 'Big Bang Theory', the character Penny is from Nebraska, because it's a subtle way of showing that she's from...nowhere.
Some valuable travel advice, if you ever find yourself driving past Lincoln, Nebraska: keep driving. Omaha is nice though. I stayed in a fairly funky suburb called Dundee which was full of nice eateries and general leafy pleasantness. Then I picked up another rental car, and took off. Out in the wide open spaces - and by heck there are plenty of them - one finds interesting natural rock formations, one of which is pictured. And also there's CarHenge. It's a thing. Again, see picture.
I've got the car for a little while yet. Nebraska isn't the only big flat pile of nothing around here. Stay tuned for more quiveringly exciting updates from me.
 |
| Downtown Omaha |
 |
| Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Omaha No particular significance - I just like the way the photo came out. |
 |
| Smoking and morbid obesity are both absolutely fine and don't let anybody tell you otherwise |
 |
| Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln |
 |
| CarHenge It's a full-scale Stonehenge replica. All these cars are real, including the upright ones. Some people just have too much time on their hands. |
 |
| Chimney Rock |
 |
| Edd vs Food #107 eCreamery, 5001 Underwood Avenue, Dundee, Omaha Ice cream sandwich (identical cookie underneath) with sprinkles |
