Year Round – Page 3 – Nebraska Wander Freunde Trailblazers

August Event updates

Our walk on Saturday, August 13th is set for 8 a.m. at the Hanscom Park Pavilion. Enter the park from the southeast, just west of Park Avenue on Ed Creighton Avenue, off the Martha Street exit on I-480. A picture is attached to give you an idea of where the pavilion is located within the park. DON’T go further west to the entrance to the tennis courts and swimming pool! There will be road work on 32nd Avenue, on the west side of the park, so keep that in mind as you navigate. The fee for credit walkers is $3 and $1.50 for fun walkers. Please bring exact change to speed up the registration process. Afterwards, the group will be heading to the 11-Worth Cafe for a late breakfast or early lunch. The 11-Worth Cafe is at 2419 Leavenworth Street and is an Omaha icon.

Hanscom Park walking start point

The second event of the month will be on August 27th, at 10:30 a.m., on the other side of the river. Meet us at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, 200 Pearl Street, Council Bluffs, IA for our personalized tour! Those wanting to join us for lunch after the tour will walk a very short distance to the Main Street Cafe, at 102 Main Street.

Chalco Hills YRE Start Point has moved!

We’re sorry to report that the Pump and Pantry closed, so effective July 15th the Walk Box will be located at the Holiday Inn Express, on the south side of Highway 370 and just north of the Walmart. The address is 16175 Stevens Point Circle, Gretna, NE 68138. Be sure to say thank you to the folks at the Registration Desk when you ask for the box.

Feb – Mar Upcoming Events

Westroads Group Walk – Saturday, February 20th. Meet near the children’s play area between Penney’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods at 7:45 a.m. so we can start walking at 8 a.m. We will have the walkbox there for registration. 5k and 10k options available. Credit walkers pay $3; Fun walkers pay $1.50. Exact change is appreciated!

Soup Walk Workers’ Walk – Saturday, February 27th at 1 p.m. St. Vincent de Paul Church, 14330 Eagle Run Drive in the gathering space of the church (inside, but we have to be quiet). Restrooms will be available. 5k and 10k options available. Arrive about 15 minutes early so walkers can start at 1 p.m. Fun walkers pay $1.50. Exact change is appreciated!

Soup Walk – Saturday, March 5 at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 14330 Eagle Run Drive, Omaha, NE – use school entrance with “St. Vincent de Paul” above the door. Start times 9 a.m. -12 a.m., finish by 3 p.m. 5k and 10k options available. Bring two cans of soup; one for the Food Bank and one to share. Make sure to save some time for soup and conversation after the walk. There will be some fun prizes at the raffle. Raffle tickets are still a bargain at $.50 or 3 for $1.

Lincoln St. Patrick’s Day Workers’ Walk – Sunday, March 6th at 1 p.m. See directions below.

Monthly Meeting – Monday, March 7th at 7 p.m. Our monthly meeting will be at Morning Star Lutheran Church. We will have a musician (Walter Graham) showing us his tricks before a short business meeting and snacks.

Lincoln St. Patrick’s Day Walk – Saturday, March 12th, start 9 a.m.-11a.m., be off the trail by 1 p.m. New location! Fallbrook YMCA, 700 Penrose Drive, Lincoln, NE. From I-80 East & West: take EXIT 401(US 34), west on US 34 to Fallbrook Blvd North, it will change name to Tallgrass Parkway after a “roundabout”, continue on Tallgrass to Penrose; right on Penrose to YMCA on left. From south: take I-180 north from downtown to where it becomes US34, & follow above directions

Des Moines St. Patrick’s Day Walk – Saturday, March 19th, start 9 a.m. -11 a.m., finish by 1:30 p.m. Start Point is at the VFW, 4029 Urbandale Ave, Des Moines, IA 50310. The route is on city sidewalks and recreational trails, From 1-35/I-80: take exit 131 (Merle Hay Rd), go south to Urbandale Ave, then left (east) to start point.

February – Save the Dates!

From Club President Sandy Spaulding:

Monthly Meeting – Monday, February 1 at 7 p.m. Our monthly meeting will be at Morningstar Lutheran Church. We will have a speaker discussing Air Quality. Come to hear what can keep us breathing better. With the weather forecast, remember that the meeting will be cancelled if school is cancelled.

Shelby Soup Cook Off – Saturday, February 6 from 5-7 p.m, Cardinal Lofts (old school gym) at 304 Western Ave, Shelby, IA. Cost last year was $6 per person for all the soup you can eat. Very yummy and a lot of fun. They also hold a raffle and our group has won a lot of prizes in the past few years. We like to support this event as it provides funds for the Stone Arch Trail which we use for our Shelby year round event. We will carpool to this event so let me know if you would like to ride or drive.

Des Moines Skywalk – Saturday, February 13, start times 8-12, finish by 3. Start point is in the Kaleidoscope at The Hub Food Court (third floor), 555 Walnut, Des Moines, IA. There are two trails available, one entirely in the skywalk and another outdoors. Pets are not allowed in the skywalk system. If there is interest, we may carpool to this event. Butch and I will not be able to attend, but let me know if you want to carpool or drive and I will pass the information along.

Westroads Group Walk – Saturday, February 20. Meet near the children’s play area between J C Penney and Dick’s Sporting Goods at 7:45 so we can start walking at 8 a.m. We will have the walkbox there for registration.

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

In the next few days, the Points of Contact (POCs) for our Year Round Events will be changing out the stamps and papers in their respective Walk Boxes. If you are an early-year walker and encounter a problem at any of our walk boxes, please drop us a note and we’ll resolve the problem.

President Sandy wants to make sure that everyone has the following 2 pieces of information. You may have received this information by email, but if not, drop us a note and we’ll get you added to our email list.

Just a reminder about our upcoming events:

ANNUAL DINNER

WHEN: Saturday January 23, 2016

WHERE: Valentino’s 108th & O St, Omaha

TIME: Social Time 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM – Start eating about 6:00 PM – Annual Meeting start about7:00 PM

COST: Members $10.00 – Non Members $13.59. Payment should be sent to the club address (NWFT PO Box 8147, Omaha, NE 68108) to be received by January 16, 2016

Come and meet the club officers for 2016 and find out walkers choice for Walker of the Year for 2015.

CAR POOL TO DES MOINES FOR NEW YEAR’S DAY MALL WALK

WHEN: Friday, January 1, 2016 at 7:15 a.m.

WHERE: Meet at Mall of the Bluffs, old JC Penney parking lot. Take exit 5 (Madison Avenue) from I-80 in Council Bluffs, turn left to second traffic light, turn right between HyVee and Bucky’s, go to first cross street. Park in lot on right after the cross street. If this area is not clear, park on the left as close to this parking area as possible.

TIME: Meet at 7:15, leave promptly at 7:30. Plans are to return around 3 p.m.

This walk is inside the mall. An optional outside walk route is available. Check out the post- holiday sales and group lunch in the food court. Let me know if you would like to ride or drive to this event. This event may be cancelled if the roads are icy.

If you have anything you would like to donate for the Soup walk raffle, you can bring it to the annual dinner or to the February meeting.

See you soon.

Sandy

July and August Activities

A capacity crowd of 20 showed up at Ted and Wally’s in Omaha’s Old Market on Monday, July 13th. Participants report that it was a “tasteful” experience.

Club members Butch and Sandy Spaulding organized a spontaneous group walk of the Bennington Lakes Year Round walk on Saturday, July 18th. A total of 7 folks enjoyed the gardens at the Start Point, and beat most of the day’s heat by walking early in the day. Want a walking partner for any of our year rounds? Send us an email at netrailblazers@gmail.com and we’ll put the word out!

Our next scheduled club activity is a group walk of the Ashland Year Round on Saturday, August 15th at 8:30 a.m. Save some time in your schedule to have lunch at Cheri O’s and/or a visit to the SAC Museum nearby! The organizer for this event is club president Mel Bohn, who can be reached by personal email or by the club email at netrailblazers@gmail.com.

Our regular season of Traditional or Regular Events begins in September. If you didn’t get flyers for our first 4 walks of the season, let us know! More information to be posted in September.

Too hot? Too cold? Try walking INDOORS!

Our newest Year Round Event opened today at 7 a.m. at the Westroads Mall, thanks to Point-of-Contact (POC) Sandy Spaulding and the AmericInn, which is graciously serving as our Start Point. The AmericInn is located at 9720 W Dodge Rd, Omaha, NE 68114, which is just east of the Westroads Mall in Omaha, The entrance to the mall is from the parking area between JCPenney’s and Dick’s, which is on the NE side of the mall, along N. 98th Street, just north of Dodge Streets. For those unfamiliar with the area, the roads around the mall do circle around, so if you miss an entrance, you can drive to the next entrance and make your way back.

See AVA website Event Details for this walk for better directions on how to reach the Start Point.

Once inside, see if you can find Snow White’s mirror or check out where the new food court will be. The mall opens at 7 a.m. so that walkers can avoid the shopping crowds.

Raindrops keep falling on . . . Ashland

Salt Creek in Ashland is forecast to rise above flood stage over the next couple of days, which means the first 2k of the Ashland, Nebraska 10k YRE may be inaccessible by foot. Before she left town for the AVA convention, the Point of Contact for the walk had re-routed the walk due to construction on 14th Street (main N/S road in town), but not for the flooding that is occurring while she’s gone.

Suggestion: walk the route backwards and use the map to get back to the Start Point before crossing 14th Street to go east on the north end of town. (This makes sense if you’re looking at the map, really!) The rest of the town is unaffected and it’s a *great* walk, which is why the club is walking it in August.