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The Story of the Arabia
Who are we and what happened?
March 12, 2020 4 pm
We left Lincoln, Nebraska and headed towards Kansas City. Nick drove the 4 hour journey. During this time we were able to discuss our project. We would go to the places we were planning to visit and document our experience as well as how COVID-19 effected that place.
March 12, 2020 8 pm
We arrived at our very first destination; our motel room. While planning for this trip we were under the impression that it was to be one on a budget so we picked the $47.50 a night room at Motel 6. This ended up working well for us. We wiped down everything with disinfect wipes and planned to get more cleaning supplies later that night.
March 12, 2020 8:30 pm
At this point we were all very hungry after travelling and decided to get some food. Paying homage to our original project we saved some money by going to McDonald's for a cheap fast meal. This was perfect for use college kids who are use to meals like such.
March 12, 2020 9 pm
Across the street from McDonald's was a Dollar Tree. We figured this was good cheap way to clean our Motel room. It was also Ana's first time at a Dollar Tree because she is originally from Brazil. Although the cleaning supplies were gone we were able to pick up a candle to make our room smell better and some snacks.
Clicking on the images will open a new page with more information about this place and our experience!
March 12, 2020 10 pm
While at McDonald's and Dollar Tree we asked a bunch of locals about fun things to do around town as a night activity. Almost all of them suggest Main Event, an entertainment place. Upon arriving we found out you have to be 21 if it's past 10 pm, we are all 20 years old but we attempted to get in anyways and no one ID'd us. This ended up being one of our favorite places during the trip.
March 13, 2020 11 am
The next day we woke up and got ready for the long day ahead. We knew we had to get BBQ while in Kansas City since they are known for it. Nick had been to Kansas City a few times and knew of a popular place called Slap's BBQ. Even though we arrived 15 minutes before opening there was still a long line of people waiting for a meal. We 100% recommend this place for any BBQ fans.
March 13, 2020 12 pm
Being from Nebraska we do not have an IKEA so many of us had never been to one. Since the very beginning of planning we had it set to go to IKEA to look around, if not to buy anything at least get some good Instagram photos. Surprisingly this place was very empty. This is when we really started to notice how COVID-19 was effecting businesses and the community.
March 13, 2020 1:30 pm
The next few places we went were all in downtown Kansas City. To save money on gas and save time walking we used the Kansas City Street Car, a free ride service that is a 2 mile route through downtown. This was very efficient and was one of the most evident places on our trip COVID-19 effected.
March 13, 2020 1:30 pm
The first place we visited downtown was Union Station. Typically this was a very popular tourist attraction but because many people were not traveling during this time the population of Union Station was low. After talking to a worker she said this was 10% of the amount of people she would usually see. Our favorite part of Union Station was the vast architecture.
March 13, 2020 2:30 pm
The next stop downtown was to visit The Arabia Steamboat Museum. Sadly this place was closed due to COVID-19, it was the first place we planned to go to that was closed. Although we couldn't go inside there was still stuff to look at outside the museum such as a giant steamboat wheel and the shops in the River Market downtown were still open.
March 13, 2020 3 pm
Our final stop downtown was the most suggested by locals, this was the Power and Light District. This place is full of restaurants, stores, clubs, etc. . Upon visiting we found it to be empty. This was a Friday afternoon where March Madness games were suppose to be going on, since March Madness was cancelled due to COVID-19 there was no reason for people to be there at that time.
March 13, 2020 8:30 pm
After walking around downtown we decided to take a break and go back to the Motel 6 since it was raining and cold. Later that night we went to a shopping mall called The Legend's Outlet to check out how busy it was and how COVID-19 was effecting those businesses similar to how it effected IKEA. The two were very similar since both lacked the usual amount of shoppers they would usually see.
March 13, 2020 9 pm
Across the street from the mall we saw there was a restaurant called Fuddruckers that served burgers. None of us had heard of it so we decided to test it out. While there we talked to the waiter who we told that our college had closed and he expressed concern over what else might close. He had the same concerns the rest of the world and us were wondering at that time. Since many places have closed.
March 14, 2020 11 am
Waffle House is a staple in the south but in the mid-west it is hard to find one so while in town we felt it was our only chance to go. This was the last stop on our trip. Throughout the trip we felt the rising apprehensiveness of businesses and people. This was apparent at Waffle House who was doing their best to slow the spread of COVID-19. They gave one menu, disinfected tables, and kept customers distant from one another.
After coming home
March 14, 2020 - Present
Upon coming home we all decided to self-quarantine because we had been traveling and did not want to get anyone else sick in case we were carriers. We were fortunate enough to travel at the beginning of the outbreak in the United States and be able to return home not sick. The rest of this project was completed remotely in order to follow guidelines of social distancing.
Despite the uncertainty of the time we had a lot of fun on our trip.
Check out our highlight video here!
We all had our own experience during the trip. To learn about that and more about us
check out our Personal Content pages!
In March of 2020, we were all strangers in a group together in a class for the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The project was to do something interesting and make a website about it. We decided to take a road trip on a budget for our project. On March 12, 2020 we were suppose to leave at 4 o'clock that day but at 1:30 pm we received information from our college that it would be closing and moving to remote learning because of the COVID-19 out break in the United States. As a group we had to make a quick decision if we would still go. We felt it was our duty at journalist to go and document our experience. This changed our project from road tripping on a budget to one of traveling during a global pandemic.
March 12, 2020 1:30 pm
The whole college received an email that in person classes were no more and everything was to be moved online. This is to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a virus that was effecting the world during 2020. It wasn't until March of 2020 that the United States started taking serious precautions.
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As a group we were all freaking out because we were suppose to leave on our trip to Kansas City in just a few hours. After talking to each other and our professor we decided to go on the trip and change our project idea.
Part of the email we received that day.
Our
initial thoughts.
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