The Walking Bridge

One of the major downtown Omaha sights is the Bob Kerrey Walking Bridge that spans the Missouri River from the Nebraska side to the Iowa side. It was particularly interesting because it told so much of the story of our summer.

So on a breezy, yet warm autumn day the Westovers, our good friends and fellow missionaries, from Coeur d’Alene Idaho who live across the hall, brought the wheelchair from the Trail Center and off we went.

The setting for the bridge includes lovely high rise apartments on the river’s edge, and the lazy Missouri finally calmed and somewhat back to normal. The flood waters were up over the docks to the sidewalk.

This “Statue to Industry” was my measuring stick for the flood. The water came to the head of the tallest statue covering the parking lot of the restaurant—you can see the brown silt it left.

Separated by the state line we find ourselves in two different states.

But the most fun was standing in two different states with camera in hand!

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This picture kind of says it all. This poor house boat will never see the water again and these poor trees will never see land again as they knew it. But the beauty of nature transcends it all on a lovely autumn day.

The height of the water seems permanently etched on the pillars of the bridge in a sad brown tone. This is the Iowa side of the bridge and the damage to the shoreline is evident here,

…and here.

Fred had a “rolling good time”.

A fascinating view from the bridge was this mural on the power company wall. It is largest of its kind in the US and was just finished in 2009 by Meg Saligman. It is entitled “Fertile Ground” and is representative of the endless possibilities of life in Omaha.

We finished off our outing at the Hollywood Diner that included a jukebox with table selectors, a statue of Elvis and one of Marilyn, and a tasty Reuben—a sandwich invented in Omaha (of course!).

We have one other evidence of the receding flood. This is the view from John’s bridge overlooking the Missouri River that you usually can’t see behind those trees. That brown mess out there with the green signs in it is the remains of Interstate 680 and the poor farmer’s field with the white buildings in the center.

This is the same view in June of the farmer’s house and fields in the middle of the “Missouri Lake”. The highway on the far side just opened, and we hope that Interstate 680 will open sometime next year—but it has to be completely rebuilt just as will the farmer’s house. It has been quite a summer!

But look how we splashed on the stage for fall!!

"I’m a Mormon" billboards are on the way south out of Omaha, on the way into town by the old landmark grain elevator (next), and not too far from us (last one I took tonight). We are moving ahead with Mormon.org. John already had a response to the first TV ads from their doctor on Monday, and he invited her to the Trail Center. We have all made profiles. Fred’s is in the mill, but you can see mine at org/me/3PH2/Jane/. We are very excited about having such a classy face on the Church for Omaha!!