September 4, 2008

September 4, 2008

It rained all night and we wake to cool rainy weather. The TV weatherman says it is the remnant of Hurricane Gustav that hit Louisiana a few days ago. We spend most of the day driving west trying to outrun the rain. As if on cue, the sun pops out as we cross over the Missouri River into Nebraska. And in celebration, thousands of sunflowers along the side of the highway smile at us.

We continue along I-80 past Omaha and Nebraska’s capital, Lincoln, and spend the night at the Mormon Island Recreation Area. The park is named after the Mormon pioneers who passed by here on their journey west to Utah. They thought they were escaping persecution by settling outside the US. Unfortunately for them, Mexico soon ceded the Utah territory to the US.