Omaha - We don't coast

This morning we got up, I felt reasonably fresh for someone who had been awake since time began. We went for Breakfast at The Diner.

The Diner

I had eggs benedict which was ratther nice,  I also had a cup of american diner coffee which seems to be a subset of coffee all of its own.  It features slightly above instant coffee.

After breakfast, Blair went to work and left me to my own devices in the truck.  I drove the truck. On the wrong side of the road. To Iowa. I drove to the Union Pacific Railroad museum. Which was closed.

Union Pacific Railroad Museum 

Council Bluffs, Iowa

I knew it would be closed, and Council Bluffs, Iowa is only a few miles away from Omaha, Nebraska so it gave me a chance to get my bearings, get to grips with the car and also how people drive and the way roads are set out.  I made it back in one piece so the mission can be counted as successful. I must say that the truck is automatic and I struggled a lot less with the driving on the wrong side part this time than I did when I went to Boston in 2012, and I think it is mostly because I am not dealing with also changing gear and operating the handbrake on the wrong side.  Good news for everybody!

Blair finished the job he had in town, so I went to pick him up and then he dropped me off at his house for a couple of hours.

Blair's house

Where I took photos of his cat...

Blair's cat

... and ate a snack in preparation for the afternoon's activities.

Fridge of snack

Ice dispenser.

The fridge has a water cooler and ice maker. It has a digital readout which makes it extra good.  Unfortunately no matter how hard I try I can't make it dispense ice without it throwing at least 50% of the ice on the floor. I am man who is all for being at one with his machine and learning the subtle nuances of how to get the best from it, but I feel that as far as a domestic ice maker is concerned, the starting point for it's performance should be dispensing ice into a vessel rather than dispensing roughly half of it into a vessel and the other half into my slippers.  Perhaps I am doing it wrong.

Blair finished work and he came and picked me up to save me from the ice maker and we went to the car wash, because what self respecting pair of gentlemen go for lunch in a dirty car? The car wash features a friendly rotating yellow man and some fun, moving characters like a 1960s fairground ride. I'll try to get some more photos if we wash the car again.

Yellow man.

The temperature here in Nebraska is quite low at this time of year.  The forecast is an interesting thing for me as a temperate-climate dwelling foreigner.  We are at a similar latitude to Barcelona, however the temperature yesterday never got much above -8.  Even in the glorious sunshine in the middle of the day.  The temperature at the moment according to the forecast can vary between 8 and -8.  Tomorrow it might be -13. The daily temperature differentials are massive, and in recent weeks the temperature has been as low as -29.  Anyway, the car wash dried the car quite effectively but what was left of the water on the car in the car wash immediately froze.

Icicles!

After the car wash we went for lunch.  We were regaled of tales of past sporting prowess by our waiter, Bobby.  He asked that there be no photos.  So here is a photo of my lunch, a traditional Omaha dish - the Reuben - which was described for all the world in the menu as a corned beef and onion sandwich but seems to be a Pastrami and Sauerkraut sandwich on rye bread.  It was very tasty. 

Omaha Reuben

Suitably refreshed, we went to the gun range.

Omaha Gun Club

My target

You can choose from a variety of things printed on paper targets to shoot at. Zombies, people from the middle-east, watermelons or whatever you fancy. I shot in aid of Breast Cancer awareness, because, why wouldn't you?  

We had a nice dinner at home and I went to bed relatively early with a hot toddy.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.