Omaha is home to the Union Pacific railroad ... and was the place in the 1860's where the Union Pacific railroad began thanks to Abraham Lincoln.
We made our way across to the Durham Museum housed in the old Union Pacific station, a wonderful art deco building wonderfully preserved in its 1930's splendour.
Down the stairs to look through some wonderful locomotives and galleries celebrating the history of Omaha, from the Omaha people to the railroad to the settlement of the plains and beyond to a cattle market second only to Chicago in the middle years of the 20th Century and the big business of today.
Most moving of all was the story of Standing Bear. In 1879 he won a case he and other campaigners had brought to establish that an Indian had the right of freedom under the American constitution.
"That hand is not the color of yours but if I pierce it I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. I am a man. God made us both." Standing Bear.
As one display board said, "The story of conflict in Omaha is the story of change in America."
We delighted in a hot dog and milk shakes from a genuine 1930's soda fountain for lunch in the railway station.
We walked through a lake and spotted what we later worked out to be an American Robin (??) - his welcoming look was typical of our American welcome!
A river side walk along the flooded Missouri took us to a visitor centre celebrating the arrival of the first explorers who opened up the trail from the Pacific coast to the mid west, Lewis and Clark. Their remarkable expeditions of the early nineteenth century were very much like the expeditions of discovery that opened up Africa.
And on the bank of the Missouri a sculpture dedicated to 'Labor' at the start of a short trail celebrating the contribution the Unions and unionised labor had made to the development of Omaha and Council Bluffs, the town in Iowa on the other side of the Missouri.
The route back to the hotel took us over a pedestrian bridge dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights movement, celebrating a 50th anniversary this year.
"Our ultimate aim is not desegregation from a legal aspect. We seek the kind of integration where men come together willingly not because there is a law." MLK
We peeped into the Convention centre - what a scale. The hotel we are in is the convention centre hotel. Saturday the Arena is hosting the world lightweight boxing championship! Outside another marvellous sculpture by the same sculptor this time dedicated to entertainers.
Back to the hotel for a break and then on to the highlight of the day ... a Pow Wow at the Rose Theatre, itself built in a moorish style of theatrical architecture I had only previously seen in the Winter Gardens in Blackpool ... and probably the same era.
Omaha is named after the Omaha people who lived on the land by the Missouri for centuries. Their land was taken from them with the arrival of the railroad and they now live in a reserve 70 miles north of the city. This evening's Pow Wow brought together a cast of youngsters and told the stories of the Omaha people, their traditions, their delight in creation and their peaceful ways of friendship that's open to all.
It was a wonderful evening of dance and spectacle all to the accompaniment of a drum and a haunting voice.
Back to the old market area of the city with its converted warehouses and a burger for dinner.
By the end of the day we seemed to have touched on everything in the heart of the Mid West - from its original indigineous peoples to the adventurers who discovered and mapped the Missouri and the route from the Pacific, to the rail road and modern business.
And for good measure we crossed a bridge to get back to the hotel that told the story of Martin Luther King junior and the Civil rights movement, itself celebrating a key 50th anniversary this year.
Tomorrow the conference begins!
A Union Pacific loco.
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