will it never end!

jesus. bye, omaha. ever since my encounters in sioux city i have been less apt to write. i think part of it is becasue each time i open my computer and see it broken, my mind hearkens back to my night there and i shudder. and then i shake my head, do my internet things and close the lid.

anyway, upon leaving sioux city, unceremoniously, i went south toward omaha. i had built omaha up in my head, but failed to do any research on it before i arrived. instead i just put on my commander venus cd and let the music carry me there. i wasnt entirely pleased when i first got there.

the outlying areas were similar to when i came up to sioux city, no large suburbs, just farms and then a city. the city looked large though, it had two big buildings and that gave me some hope. but when i got up into the city streets, it was empty again and there werent any shops or clear areas to go and enjoy oneself. so i drove and zig-zagged through the city streets and was thoroughly displeased with the lack of a real city.

eventually i decided to park and go to the big buildings, i wanted to get to the top of one and look out across the city, perhaps that would aid my search. i went to the bigger of the two first. i sneaked around and got into all of the areas that i could, but i was able to get very far, i got to the 6th floor of the parking garage and then went to the security desk to ask if they had an observation deck that i could go to. no such luck, he told me that the other building, the woodmen, had an observation deck.

cool, i thought. i walked to the next building and this time i just walked right up and asked to go to the observation deck, since i knew it existed. he kind of laughed at me and told me to take the elevator to the 5th floor, that was the observation deck! what a joke. but, at least i got on the elevator, the other building had the elevators blocked unless you had a key card.

so, up i went, all the way to the fifth floor. it was a cafeteria with a large window that looked at city hall or some type of government building. it wasnt very spectacular, so i went back to the elevator and went to the 28th floor. that was the top for me, i got out and it was a lush red hallway with huge oak doors that led to the offices of lawyers. none were open and the stairwell cautioned those who dared to open it that an alarm would follow them. so i ducked into the bathroom.

and how cool! the bathroom had a shower in it! i made a mental note to come back here before i left and have a shower on the 28th floor of the woodmen building in omaha. unfortunately, i never followed through with that.

done there, i went back down told the guard that the observation deck wasnt very exciting and then left to walk around. you know, in cities like new york or chicago, or (gasp) portland, when you walk around downtown there are things. like, stores you can walk into or food carts on the streets, buses, etc. i guess what i am talking about is bustle. in a real city there is bustle going on around you. here, not so much. no shops, few people, no buses or bustle. but i trudged on and walked and walked, desperately determined to find something.

and eventually i did. the joslyn art museum. it was a beautiful pink marble building next to a high school and across from a 16 story vacant building. i was starting to see potential in this place. see, i expected omaha to be like portland, because of the music scene. but i saw no traces of that. after i got some info from the art museum, i decided to find omaha's sleater-kinney road.

the band sleater-kinney takes its name from a road in lacey, washington, just outside of olympia. the record label saddle creek takes its name from a road in omaha. i found it on the map and went to it. i was expecting some kind of indie rock mecca...or at least a transformation in that direction, but nope. think 82nd ave in portland, thats what i found. i was dismayed. then i drove back downtown becasue i had passed something while driving that i wanted to explore more.

the front of the mall

it was a park, right downtown, that had a real nice water feature. the park was called the "gene leahy mall" and i had no idea what i was getting myself into. i parked at it and got out. i figured it would just be a park but i was mistaken. it was more like an urban mecca. it stretches from downtown to the missouri river, it is kind of like its own little river in the city. it starts with a waterfall down to a concrete pool, there are concrete steps throughout the pool for you to get around on. then it opens up into a little pond area with a bunch of people and animals enjoying themselves.

there were a couple of bridges that went across, some islands, and a lot of art. i walked until it hit the freeway and then some more. it opened into a larger lake that butted up against the world headquarters of con-agra, which was kind of disgusting but con agra probably paid for much of the creation of this space. there was a fountain in the middle that boasted shooting water 300' in the air, gondola rides, and some historic markers. it was really quite enjoyable. i walked on a bridge to the banks of the missouri river and when i felt i had gotten all of it i started walking back. i went slow, reading my book along the way.

when i had gotten back i was ready to start looking for a place to rest. the sun wasnt ready, but i was. so i started driving around again, found a grocery store and with my supplies i started looking for a place that had wireless and i could shack up at right now. i shouldve recognized before i got in the back, but i was parked in the ghetto. i wasnt too concerned, i put up my shades and went on reading my book until the sun went down, then used the internet for awhile and watched a movie. for some reason, i couldnt get to sleep.

eventually i woke up, i wasnt entirely rested but i was up. and today i would be able to go to the art museum for real. today was free day. i went again to the grocery store, used the internet for a minute and then went to the museum. i enjoy going to to museums, places where people are quiet and respectful of these things around them that no one ever truly understands. i walked around the museum for awhile and it wasnt very great. it was beautiful inside and i appreciated the history of it, but i like contemporary art more so than fine art. but, eventually i found the tiny wing of contemporary art and appreciated it. there were some nice things in there, but i am glad i didnt have to pay to see them.

the internet showed me a few more things that i could do in this city, so i started to capitalize on them, but first i needed to find a walmart. i am not a regular walmart shopper but the internet told me that i could see a baseball game for free tomorrow if i brought in a can of "our family" brand food. someone at the hy-vee store told me that "our family" was walmart's generic brand. i found one and went into it. i looked on the shelves but saw no "our family" then i asked someone. this worker told me that "our family" was not the walmart generic brand, but he was pretty sure that it was supr-savr's generic brand. and he told me that i could find that store at 148th and Q.

now, that was far from where i was, but i was determined. i got into my truck and was ready to go the 100 blocks to this other store that may be the one i want. and then i had an aha! moment and looked online. what i found dismayed me. there werent any stores in nebraska that sold "our family" brand. i read through the list a couple times and then gave up on it, no baseball for me tomorrow. after that i moved to my next destination: old world market.

something i like about omaha is the cobblestone streets. i am going to see more of that soon, but it is just something that is rare on the west coast...at least i havent seen it for a very long time. and in my mind east coast cities have more of it. and these midwest cities flaunt it, they have to flaunt something. the old world market was something i read about, just a tourist trap that had a bunch of stores in a small area and used the kitschy cobble stone streets as a draw. i enjoyed it there. there were street performers, a bunch of random folks, shops that i could look at and crowds. really i just like crowds sometimes, where i can just melt into the scenery and not feel like the center of the universe.

i walked around there for a bit and then went back to the leahy mall to read some more. my next adventure was a concert in the park. the park was called the "lewis and clark landing" but the map showed it as part of the gene leahy mall. so, book in hand, i walked back to the end of the mall and i did find a corridor that i had previously overlooked. i took it and after 10-15 blocks i was at the missouri river where a band was warming up on a concrete pad. and in the distance a nice looking bridge. it was like a traction beam.

but wait. there was something strange going on, becasue omaha wasnt very metropolitan and it didnt seem very bike friendly, but there were thousands of cyclists about. literally. i needed to know what was going on, but it would be a bit before i got some answers. these cyclists werent very friendly.

i walked into the band area and listened to some of the music, but instead of being in the park it was on a concrete pad and there was no shade or seats, so i pushed on towards that bead of gold in the sky. and still cyclists all around, i ventured to ask one or two, but they either ignored me or rode on by. when i got closer to the bridge and they became denser i was able to discern the tags they were wearing: ragbrai. that didnt mean anything to me and i was kind of forgetting about it as i ascended the bridge. i was happy to learn that it was a new bridge that was pedestrian/cyclist only, it linked omaha to council bluffs, iowa.

the bridge curves!

while i was on the bridge i was finally able to talk to a nice older lady about why they were all here. apparently ragbrai is some sort of race across the state of iowa. people started the next day and left from that bridge area and would ride the 400-odd miles across the state in 7 days or less. i was jealous.

i walked across and back then to the stage area, listened some more and then i was done with it. i was ready to go find a place to sleep becasue i was leaving tomorrow and nothing was going to stop me. until i started driving and came across a bag n save grocery store. i was pretty sure that i remembered it on the list and i stopped in. sure enough, they had "our family" brand goods, so i purchased a can a set my next day into motion. something that i desperately needed to do, however, was laundry. i beleive the last time i did it was when i left colorado springs, and now i was out of underwear.

my previous plan was to stop in some tiny town on the way south the next day, but now i had something to do, so i drove and found a place that was in an okay neighborhood and looked like a decent place to spend two hours. i pulled in, but they had just called the last load. i decided i would do it in the morning and just find somewhere to sleep around here. luckily i didnt have to go far. just two blocks away i found a nice place that had wireless and crawled in back to read until the sun went down and then use the internet and go to sleep. but this night i was having more trouble sleeping. i kept waking up like it was time to start my day, but it was only 1:am, then 3 then 5. eventually i made it until almost 8, when the laundromat opened. i got up and readied myself and went for the laundry score.

not only did i need to do laundry, but i needed to clean the back of my truck, it was getting disgusting back there. i took in my loads, i had my clothes and then my bed things, and started them up. i came back out and the work began. i had to pull out everything that was on or around the bed, then sort it and reorganize it. the bookshelf was becoming disorderly and many of the books were falling around while i was driving, i had to rearrange them. then i had to sweep out the bed and combine some things into hidden away containers. it was tedious work but i felt much better about it. when the clothes started being dry i was finished and i sat inside reading until it was all done.

then i had nothing to do for some hours until the baseball game started. i pondered my future and eventually just decided to drive to the stadium and see what was in that part of town until the game started. i got there pretty fast, but then was eaten alive by traffic to get into the parking lot. i wiped my brow and congratulated myself on making a good decision. but then i noticed people werent actually here this early for the baseball game, they were trying to get into the zoo! i was able to get good parking and then walk around the ballpark for a bit. then i retired to my truck and read some more until the game was closer to begin.

baseball. hm. the last baseball game i went to was a seattle mariners game back in 2000. incidentally, that was also the only time i have to seattle. i had gotten those tickets from my friend frank brunner and through some line of communication made a date with a lovely young lady whose name i cannot recall and she drove us up there to enjoy the game. we left after a couple of innings because what is the point of staying? then we went to an all night coffee shop and talked for a couple of hours. she was joining the navy and loved her country, i wasnt and didnt really at the time. we didnt see each other again. but it was a nice date, i think it was the only real date that i went on while i lived in olympia.

anyway, this day i didnt have a date. and i still didnt like baseball, but i though i would give it a shot. i made it in and found my seat. the rosenblatt stadium in omaha is the largest minor league baseball stadium in the circuit. for that reason the college world series is held there every year and i shold hope they fill all of the seats. for this day, the seats were not all filled. not even close. i was ushered into a general admission seat that wasnt very good, but i sat there for awhile. then i realized i didnt have to any longer so i went all the way to the front with no argument.

i sat up there until the sun had won the battle, about ten minutes, then moved back into the shady area but still closer than where the usher sat me. the game was interesting at first. in the first inning there were four broken bats. and it seemed like the teams were evenly matched. but then the other team hit a home run. then another, and all of a sudden it was 5 to 0. then nothing happened for awhile. then i left, i was so bored. and i am not even sure what i did next. but eventually i went back to sleep in the same place as the night before.

and again, thrid night in a row (all in omaha) bad stuff. this time, though, i remember some of my dream. not much but i was at a party, it was kind of upscale, but there were alot of people i knew there. at some point there was like a marsh with a bridge over it (we were still all inside) and there was a dead alligator there. for whatever reason, i wanted to get a piece of the alligator to take with me, so i got down close to it and started surveying. i looked at the tail and the feet, the scales on the back, but i couldnt decide what piece i wanted.

then aaron comes up and says that he will get me a piece. in the rumble of him coming over with his machete and me trying to stop him, i fall into the marsh. aaron chops off the foot of the alligator and then it comes alive, the alligator...and now i am in the marsh. i start freaking out and trying to scramble out of the marsh, but i cannot get myself onto the bridge, the alligator is coming

kansas capitol

for me and just before he gets me i jump out. then i run outside and the alligator is chasing me. there are people sitting on the railings and i yell at them "alligators can jump and get you" i jump over the railing and start climbing the walls, trying to get as high as i can.

whoever was sitting on the railing didnt believe me and the alligator jumped and got him. at this point i woke up and it was still pitch black outside, and i was not happy. why am i dreaming about alligators, and why cant i sleep in omaha. i was happy when the morning came becasue finally i was leaving this place. i got up and dressed, went to the front and checked out the map and then i put on wanda jackson and made my road stretch towards kansas city. (but i am only in topeka right now, i probably wont get to kc for a couple more days...)