4MAY2012 @ Omaha, NE - Up at first light I was on the water a bit before sunrise.  In rather quick order the water treatmwent plant floats by as well as an interstate bridge.  The Missouri then takes off east and leaves the city behind as it circles the airport.  My timing was perfect as I was passing under the take-off path as the morning rush occurred.  About ten planes took off directly over my head, one every thirty seconds, then it let up.  Meanwhile on the ground the wilderness returned ... except for the sounds of the airport, train and interstate highway, it would not be possible to know I was near a city. 
Turning back west, Omaha rises in the background - very impressive.  On the way I passed the CCP railroad bridge and a military boat.  The bridge has three supports and two are fixed so that the entire track can rotate 90 degrees and allow boats to pass.  The Iowa side is permanently rotated.  Clearly the bridge is no longer used, but what an amazing sight to see such a structure and to contemplate the force needed to allow it to rotate with track suspended about 100 feet in each direction.  Regarding the boat, the flood moved it - it now lists to port.   The submarine and jet are OK.
Stopping at the Lewis and Clark Building I began my disappointing few hours in downtown Omaha.  I arrived thinking TDAmeritrade would have it's world HQ downtown and I therefore could walk in and do a few business things.  One was to leave with a few hundred dollars or a check for same, a check that would be easily cashable in Omaha.  Well ... no go ... TDAmeritrade sits about ten miles from downtown.  No, they would not dispatch an employee to downtown with my check.  So, I left downtown and immediately saw Harrah's Casiino.  Beaching there I was soon holding all the cash I desired.  The fee on my card was only 8.5%, not bad at all.  Buffet at Harrah's?  Negatory to that good buddy; the security folks had seen my arrival and were showing me the door.  Harrahs is not interested in river folk.  The next casino (Ameristar) had no such problem, so I buffeted and blogged there.  Then it was down the river to saner environs. 
While at the Ameristar I learned that tomorrow (5MAY) Warren Buffett would have the annual Berkshire Hathaway meeting in downtown Omaha.  I'm a stockholder and, yes, I could still get credentialled and gain entrance.  Owing to my late effort, my only complication is I would need to have a fax number to give TDAmeritrade so I could get a proper copy of my proof of ownwership.  While there is more that one way to have a fax number, a hotel is the best ... fax availabe 24/7 among other things.  Well ... getting in a hotel on WARREN BUFFETT weekend is somewhat like the super bowl.  I found a room ... a smoking room for $326/night.  I concluded that God was telling me to go on down the river.  As stated above the downriver situation seems quite sane in comparison.   
The Bellevue Marina is another disaster.  The channel is plugged with sand, piled about 5 feet above the water line.  More flood wreckage exists back where two years ago folks were enjoying life.  I'm tired of describing the same mess again, so suffice it to say that I chose to paddle on in hope of finding a porch on an abandoned house.
No porch, but not far from Bellevue I found a row of five abandoned houses.  A john boat was tied up in front of one and a very nicely improved boating platform was established at another.  Not one person was at any house, however, so I scouted around and located a clean garage to be a contingency place to go should rain begin,.  I then bedded down at the improved boat dock, cooled down with an evening swim - ahh the feeling after a sweaty day - and stretched out to watch nature's show.  The show was a fullish moon rising to the right and clouds billowing to my left.  The clouds tried to come south and cover me but were unable to overcome the relentless push toward the east.  It all faded into darkness with a million threads reaching down toward me yet only getting half way down.  This growing greyness was occasionally lighted internally by lightening from the interior of ever farther clouds.  Beautiful.        
Today I paddled from river mile 628 to river mile 599, a distance of 29 miles.  Geese, ducks, pelicans and gret blue herons were seen.