Reubens and Camping

We woke up at the Comfort Inn in Morton, Illinois and had their complimentary breakfast. We got on the road about 7:15 a.m. We took I-74 West to I-80 West and crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa.

We stopped for lunch about 11:30 in Urbandale, Iowa, a northern suburb of Des Moines. We ate at a Bennigan's, and Chris discovered they had a Reuben sandwich, so of course he had to do an official review. Katherine had the Bleu Cheese Burger for which she found any bleu cheese taste totally lacking. Steven had the cheese pizza and Andy had macaroni. Chris categorized the Reuben pretty much in the B+ range. Katherine reports that the Guinness, as always, was superb.

After we crossed the Missouri River into Omaha, we paid a brief visit to the Blackstone Hotel. The Blackstone is famous because it is the location where Reuben Kulakofsky created the first Reuben sandwich. It used to be a residential hotel, but has now been converted to much more of an office building.

Katherine, always a rule-follower, made sure that the pets we brought along with us on the trip were securely leashed to avoid nasty incident.

We drove by the site of the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln, which is the site of one of the earliest documented menus featuring the Reuben sandwich. There is purportedly a menu in existence from the coffee shop that was located there dated October 9, 1937, which features the Reuben. The restaurant, like most of Lincoln, seemed deserted and probably closed, so we drove on by. This photo opportunity did, though, give Katherine a laugh at Chris's expense, as he accidentally turned on the windshield wipers while trying to get a good picture.

While in the capital of Nebraska, we drove by their State Capitol. It appears to be the tallest building in town.

It wasn't yet time for dinner, so we drove on to Grand Island, Nebraska and checked into our cabin at the KOA there. We were directed to cabin K01. The boys were very excited, though Andy did make sure to point out all the things it has that a real cabin didn't have, such as lights and air conditioning.

We drove into Grand Island for dinner and came across a place called Texas T-Bone, and couldn't pass up the photo opportunity with their large cattlebeast. Katherine had the small T-Bone steak, Chris had a small top sirloin, Steve had their hamburger, and Andy had a grilled cheese sandwich. The place looked pretty much inside like a Lone Star or Texas Roadhouse, but the quality of steak wasn't quite as good.

We went back to the campground and the boys got in their pool for a while. The water was absolutely frigid, but we handled it. Katherine, being sensible, guarded the towels and read a good murder mystery.