Date: 15 May 2001 (Teusday)

Start: near Bloomfield IA

End: Offutt AFB Nebraska (224 miles)

What a day this was.

We woke up early (still on EDT, I guess), so we left early. The pickup just barely moved itself and the trailer off the grass-covered mud. I thought for a second we’d have to get out the tractor to pull us out.

It was above 70f when we pulled out and headed north to Ottumwa and then straight west on US34. The winds were out of the south at better than 20mph, pouring warm air into Iowa. Diesel mileage was computed down below 10mpg, where it has been running 11.5mpg.

The southern part of Iowa isn’t like the upper part that I’ve traveled before. It’s much more rolling country, all the way to the far southwest corner, where it levels out. The highways frequently have slow-traffic lanes going uphill. It’s really quite pretty.

Ottumwa is a fairly large city (20,000+, as a guess). None of the towns to the west of it approach that size. The population density across this southern set of counties is pretty low.

We got to Offutt AFB just after noon; the temperature was around 90f. The base FAMCAMP facility is in the flat flood plain near the Missouri River, and just east of the base. The base is on somewhat higher ground. We are camped next to the "base lake", which is stocked for the fishermen. Across the lake, we can see the planes parked at the nearest hanger. One of the planes here today is a 747 with "United States of America" painted on it; it might be the President – he’s supposed to be in Iowa for part of the day.

After setting up the trailer, we went to the Base Exchange and the Commissary to get needed supplies, and to be in the cooler air. We passed a B-17 set up near the "SAC" gate (Strategic Air Command used to be the main function of the base – now it’s called US Strategic Command and is a joint command with the Navy). There’s a certain air of security around this place; you see a lot of buildings with barbed wire; the K-9 dog kennel is huge.

When we got back to the trailer, we ate and encouraged the air-conditioning unit to do its job. After that, I went to the snack bar and found a phone line specifically set up for campers with laptops to do their e-mail and business on-line. It’s very thoughtful of the USAF to provide this service.

I saved the e-mail to read back at the trailer. I’m glad I did, because I probably said a few bad words when I found the note from Bill telling me I’ve been called for jury duty at the end of June. Now I’ll have to phone and write them to postpone my service to October or so. This is a complication I didn’t need.

The other notes from Bill were not earth-shaking, but he did note a flood of paper mail from Homer, Alaska. My advice to everyone is to never fill in your name and address in the Homer information web page. I’ve never seen such an aggressive group for marketing their services. They’re advertising everything from fishing trips (the biggest number) to guaranteed bear viewing trips by air to Italian dining.

Tomorrow, we’re going to tour Omaha and look around, after a session on the phone with the clerk of court. We’ll get this note off with e-mail sometime tomorrow as well.