Day #5, June 22, 2018 The Choctaw phrase okla humma, literally means red people. It combines two Choctaw words, “okla” meaning person and “humma” meaning red to form the word . The Kansas, Omaha, Kaw, Osage and Dakota Sioux Indian word “KaNze” meanis, in the Kansas language, “south wind.”. “Nebraska” is based on an Oto Indian word Nebrathka meaning “flat water” (referring to the Platte Rive,). As this is he fifth cross country driving trip from Florida to Oregon, it is always a challenge to determine a new and engaging route. I opted to head up through central Kansas on secondary roads, avoiding Wichita Kansas and populated ares to the east. I had conjured up images of Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, the Chisholm Trail, and the wild western town of Dodge City of the TV westerns of my youth to keep myself amused. I was quite surprised to have my childhood impression of Kansas (being nothing but flat land with fields of corn and wheat) dispelled. There was not much in the line of dramatic geological featured and there was a lot of flat land & wheat and corn fields but also lovely green and gold undulating terrain and numerous fields of other crops. I was also surprised to see oil and gas wells appear on the landscape.
The target was the night was North Platte, Nebraska given the amount of driving I wanted to do that day and the spare number of towns along the way. I knew something “big” was going on in that area as I was hard pressed to get a motel reservation of any kind, let alone one that accepted dogs and had to settle for the Motel 8 in North Platte. The place was packed and I discovered was in the midst of the attendees of the 3 day music fest “Nebraskaland Days 2018 Summer Jam Music Festival.” I new with 3.5 stars rating on trip advisor it wasn’t going to be top of the line even for a Motel 8 (which find quite variable) but it was pretty clear that ratings are relative to what you expect and where else you usually stay? My room was adequate to sleep in but the decor conjured up images of leftover’s from Aunt Mabel’s attic of days of yore — and well worn in every way. The real pain was the $150.00 I had to fork over due to the jacked up prices and dog fees. It was hard to believe I had paid $80.00 for a very new LaQuinta Room with 2 Queen Pillow Top Beds the night before. (see entry below or of previous day.) I felt like a sucker.
Uniquely Theo 