NebWrap July 7, 2003 NEBWRAP Boomin' 4th, Route 6 Kicks, Coyote Ugly, Keep My Number By Jim D. Berryman MissingNebraska.com Editor Nebraska was mighty tasty over the holiday weekend. Backyard barbeques, 4th of July celebrations at town parks, complete with baseball games and dunking booths. Fireworks, potato salad, corn-on-the-cob. Mighty tasty indeed. Except for the weather. BOOMIN’ 4TH In what is becoming the summer of the boomer, Nebraska suffered through another round of tornadoes, hail, heavy rain, and wind. Tornadoes were reported Saturday night and Sunday morning in or near Atkinson, Tekamah. The Omaha metro area sustained some fairly major damage from strong winds and hail. At post time for this article on July 7, thousands in the Omaha area remained without power. It’s been hot in Nebraska. That’s a given. But this storm season seems to be especially active. I’m always telling people I miss Nebraska thunderstorms. They hear reports in the media about the damage and injuries/deaths caused and wonder where I’m coming from. I don’t miss these storms. I miss the Nebraska thunderstorms that arrive after a hot, muggy day. The ones you can feel in your Nebraska bones. The ones you just know are coming. The ones that haul off and rain and blow for awhile but don’t do any damage. It’s a feeling Nebraskans and many Midwesterners have engrained in them, I certainly do. Can’t tell you how many times the weather people here in Connecticut have been screaming about severe weather arriving only to have the thunderstorms fizzle. I could have easily told them that. It just didn’t feel like it. -- ROUTE 6 KICKS It may take quite a bit longer, but if you ever decide to drive across the country, or at least part of it, the folks along Route 6 would like you to stop by. Now Nebraska is getting into the act. The Route 6 tourist association has opened a Nebraska chapter. According to a story by AP, the group is active in nearly all the states in which route 6 meanders through. Route 6, Highway 6 as I’m sure it’s called in Nebraska, runs through parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I was surprised to learn this, which means it connects the two states most a part of my life: Nebraska and Connecticut. Route 6 runs through parts of western and northern Connecticut. I’ve heard television reports of accidents on “Suicide 6”, a winding section of the road in the west central part of Connecticut. Hard to believe that same winding road runs right by Haymarket Park on Sun Valley Blvd. in Lincoln. With the addition of the Nebraska chapter, you will now be able to see Nebraska cities and towns along the highway on the association’s web site Route6Tour.com. Visitors to the web site will be able to take a virtual tour of many of the towns and attractions along the highway. Here’s to getting your kicks on Route 6. -- COYOTE UGLY In Alexandria, Nebraska, there’s a coyote controversy…shall we say…growing. But this has nothing to do with the howling furry creatures that can be found all over Nebraska at night. Seems a married couple there has an iron statue of Wile E. Coyote in front of their trailer house. It stands about 11 feet tall. That alone would be a sight to see and worth a stop of the “back roads of Nebraska tour”. Not often you see a giant cartoon coyote statue in front of a trailer house. However that’s not the end of the story. The controversy comes into play because of the statue’s anatomically correct “parts”, in which a rubber hose and ball bearings are used. Some in the town think it’s a hoot. Others think it’s an embarrassment. We hear Wile E. is anything but embarrassed. Photo from LJS -- KEEP MY NUMBER Don’t look for any Nebraska counties to adopt the license plate numbering system that Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy counties have. It’s a big issue in counties where numerals are used to identify the county. That’s the way it’s been for decades in the Cornhusker state before the top metropolitan counties adopted the new system. Before the change, Douglas county was “1”, Lancaster county was “2” and so on. Now said counties have gone to a letter and number system. So in Omaha and Lincoln you see plates with: “NRQ 123” and “OBH 987”. According to media reports last week, Nebraska counties have no interest in changing the system. Residents want it to stay the same, so it more than likely will. Either way, the plates are going to change in terms of design when the new “covered wagon” plate starts showing up on vehicles in 2005 and 2006. -- Even though I’m far from ready for summer to end, the Husker season is getting closer. More on that next week on NebWrap. For now, that’s a wrap. Feedback/Suggest A Topic Previous NebWrap Columns: 06-23-03: Tojans-Huskers, Poppin' Japan, Hospitality Sweet NebWrap 06-16-03: Stompin' Weekend NebWrap 06-09-03: Give Me A "C" NebWrap