Nebraska
Starting when I was seven, and continuing on throughout my teenage years, I visited my Grandparents in Stuart, Nebraska, population 640.
finger salute
Driving on Nebraska country roads, it's customary to lift some fingers off the wheel. Often one, sometimes two fingers - this "finger salute" is aknowledged a friendly Nebraska custom, aknowledging the other folks on the road who may well be your family, friends, or the next bloke who could pull you out of a ditch with their truck.
Nebraska is where all my Mom's relatives live, my Uncle Jim lives in Lincoln, Elmer, Pearl, Alma, Jim, Sara, Elmer Allyn, these are the folks I went to visit when I was growing up. Ornery, older, and awesome.
Near abouts Rock county - Bassett.
Most folks who have heard of Nebraska, or have seen it, only see it through a car window and gas stations/truck stops along the way from new york to california. They say, "it's flat."
Flat - that's one way to describe it. It's got a ton of quiet beauty - long grasses swaying in the wind, people wave at you in cars or on the street, low hills, prarie chickens. If you think that ain't enough, you ain't been fishin at the the pond.
As for cuisine, it is a meat and potatoes kind of state. Dairy products and cows. Hearty foods. And the best eggs and bacon you'll ever have in your life - fresh as can be: try the Range Cafe, for example. I once had corn on the cob just three hours off the stalk - you can't get any sweeter than that.November 1995, I went to a BBQ shack and ate cubes of beef deep friend, dipped in Ranch dressing. June 1998, my family and I ate at American Legion #119, in St. Paul.
Farming is tough business, and there's a lot of distance between people. That's why it seems so desolate driving, perhaps. But if you stopped in any one of those farmhouses, you'd have a stupendous meal with warm hosts and you couldn't leave without a bag of fresh pickin's.
When Nebraskans get together for college football games, the 75,000 seat stadium forms the third largest city in the state.
For practical information, try NebWeb, or Tourism info - those are some old links. I experienced different kind of tourism when I was there once.
I met Adam West when I was last in Nebraska. As you can see, he was quite taken with me.
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