Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Real events too strange to have made the textbook.
Omaha, NE
A surviving section and marker recall the Lincoln Highway, one of the first transcontinental automobile routes in the United States. The stop connects modern Omaha traffic with the era when cross-country driving depended on named roads, local markers and frequently primitive conditions.
Hastings, NE
A historical marker at the former Perkins Products factory location identifies the place where Kool-Aid production became a Hastings industry. The building/site gives travelers a second, more geographic connection to the drink beyond the museum displays.
Bridgeport, NE
Located near the historic overland routes through western Nebraska, this local museum preserves objects and stories tied to emigrants, early settlers and transportation through the North Platte Valley. It is a useful interpretive companion to nearby Courthouse and Jail Rocks.
Gothenburg, NE
A preserved nineteenth-century log station associated with the Pony Express was relocated to a public park in Gothenburg. The compact building gives travelers a tangible piece of the short-lived mail service that became far more famous than its actual operating lifespan.
Lincoln, NE
A network of sandstone chambers beneath Lincoln accumulated stories involving outlaws, breweries, secret meetings and other underground activity. Today access is controlled through scheduled tours, allowing visitors into the historic cave system without trespassing.
Fairbury, NE
Rock Creek was an Oregon-California Trail and Pony Express station, but it is best known for the 1861 confrontation in which James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok killed David McCanles and others. Reconstructed buildings and trail ruts give the famous gunfight a physical setting.
South Sioux City, NE
This riverfront memorial complex includes military monuments, large artifacts and a replica Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall. Its concentration of military remembrance and machinery makes it a substantial public stop along Nebraska’s northeastern edge.
Shubert, NE
St. Deroin was once a Missouri River community but declined after transportation patterns changed and repeated flooding damaged the town. Reconstructed and preserved features within Indian Cave State Park allow visitors to explore the remains of a real vanished settlement without entering abandoned private property.
Ashland, NE
Two immense hangars contain Cold War bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, missiles and other aerospace artifacts tied to Strategic Air Command. The scale of the aircraft and nuclear-era technology makes this one of Nebraska’s strongest military and technological OddWay stops.
Omaha, NE
The zoo occupies land that once held Rosenblatt Stadium, and the former baseball infield has been preserved as a recognizable patch within the grounds. It creates the odd experience of finding a vanished College World Series ballpark embedded inside a major zoo.
Red Cloud, NE
This preserved native prairie south of Red Cloud protects the type of landscape that shaped Cather’s writing about the Great Plains. Trails allow visitors to experience the setting itself rather than only reading about it inside the town’s historic buildings.
Lewellen, NE
Deep wagon ruts descend the steep slope where emigrants struggled down from the tablelands into Ash Hollow. The grade was so difficult that travelers sometimes used ropes or other methods to control wagons, creating one of Nebraska’s clearest surviving pieces of overland-trail terrain.
