Day 2: Enjoying solitude on the prairie

Up this morning at 7am cst to put in a couple hours of work before hitting the road. With the sun coming up the views from my room were really great. It was bright and the skies were blue ... so much deceit. It was freezing outside, but I quickly got loaded up and on my way just around 9:30am.

Breakfast consisted of some water, a granola bar, and an apple. Back on I-80 my plan was to get to Lincoln, Nebraska this afternoon. According the the GPS I should have arrived around 3:30-4pm.

Iowa is a big state - I spent most of the day driving across some beautiful landscapes of rolling hills and blue skies. Farms dot the horizon here and there surrounded by masses of warm gold colored land.Corn in various stages of being cleared from the fields - mostly by cows. The landscapes and colors mirrored a lot of the time I spent walking in Spain. In a way this drive is somewhat like that trip. The solitude is incredibly relaxing.

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great person is one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. Ralph Waldo Emerson

There were some amusing moments along the way - I saw the world's largest truck stop, and comically didn't encounter the "aroma" of pig until passing Montezuma, IA. Talk about one town's revenge on highway drivers. Also, road signs for what I can only imagine is the happiest town in America - What Cheer, IA.

Also I was delighted to see dozens of wind turbines! I'd love to know wat kind of energy they produce and what that energy goes to. Apparently Iowa is the nation's hub of enegy production - maybe they're competing with Sweden? - and also has a high number of gas stations offering E85 fuels which are a blend of ethanol (up to 85%) and gasoline. It's also around $0.20 cheaper than regular gasoline here. I knew there was a good reason for all that corn!

Crossing over into Nebraska was a complete change over. I noticed the first confiers, and expect they'll just grow thicker from here on in. Apparently PayPal has a significant operation in Omaha (with those little frozen steaks!). The Union Pacific Railroad is also headquartered and commemorated just across the state line. Arriving in Omaha it was early, and by time I got to my planned stopping point of Lincoln, I decided I would drive a bit further.

Stopping for the afternoon I find myself in Grand Island, NE. I'm a little bit thrilled yet terrified that the Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant is just a stone throw away. But hey, Grand Island is a three time recipient of the National Civic League's All-American City Award. I'm just not sure where the actual island is yet! According to their Wikipedia article German settlers moved from Davenport (where I left this morning!) to locate here. Spiffy.

Tomorrow it'll be on to Wyoming!

Water has an endless horizon; there is no limitation when you look out into the water. There's nothing to interfere with the mind's eye projecting itself as far as it can possibly imagine. I suppose it's the same way people in the Midwest feel about watching amber waves of grain or endless rows of cornfields. There is something exhilarating about it. Billy Joel

Day 1: Last plaza in Ohio

First, just to help Danielle prove her point... time to play Find That Farm! Match the following road-side farms with the correct state's license plate.

Was up early this morning to re-pack my car and grab some breakfast with Lindsay & Danielle. They gave me a bitching antique travelling bar set as an early Christmas gift, and I had to find room for that and the road-side tools my grandfather got me. Everything fit just fine.

Eggs and hash browns, coffee and brown bread. Second day in a row now that I've had this familiar breakfast, and am completely happy with it. Simple things are so often the best.

Filled up my gas tank, and was on the road just after 10am. Today's drive clocks 385 miles at just around 6 hours. I left Ohio, skirted the Indiana/Michigan border, traversed Illinois, and landed just across the Mississippi River in Iowa.

 

My friend Meghan made me an excellent mix to listen to while driving. 72 songs got me nearly the entire way! I'll have to list the tracks out in a side bar later. It's a good mix of French music, Ditty Bops, some old-school tunes, and just general music with a good driving beat to it. My iPod plugs in through my cassette deck (something I'm truly grateful to have in my car, even if it does have a disc player too) and for some reason it's always playing the B-side. I'm not sure why.

Musings along the way ... it rained on and off. My car gets approximately 30mpg when set to cruise at 65mph. Brownberry bread is perfect for PB&J and has no HFCS. All roads seem to lead towards Chicago. Between Ohio and Indiana you pay three tolls - total was around $11. The GPS does not warn you when you're about to turn down a one-way street. There are wind turbines in Illinois - Rock on... why doesn't Ohio have these?! There's a Peru, IL too.

Tonight I'm staying at the Isle of Capri Casino Hotel in Bettwendorf, just outside of Davenport. The casino is in a large building built along the edge of the Mississippi River, designed to look like a river boat. I'm not sure if it's cool or hokey, but at night it and the bridge crossing into Iowa look pretty nifty. Got a good price on a corner hotel room via HotWire. My windows have a nice view.

Tomorrow I'll cross Iowa and put some miles behind me into Nebraska - both are rather wide territories. Maybe I'll see some more corn.

“Whoever makes two ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before, deserves better of mankind, and does more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together”  Jonathan Swift

"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the corn field." Dwight D. Eisenhower

Answers to Find That Farm!: (A) Iowa, (B) Ohio, (C) Indiana, (D), Illinois

Holiday Hiatus

I left Cleveland on November 23 for Maumee, OH (just across the river from where we went to high school) where I spent some time with my long time friends Lindsay and Danielle. Over the holidays I had the chance to see my grandparents and all my relatives that live in Michigan. We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday hosted by one of my aunts. Most of the week was spent relaxing and just enjoying the time off work before my trip. I'm certainly looking forward to moving across the country, but at the same time I'm going to miss my family and all of the friends I've made in Ohio. While certainly not a stranger to leaving home, it wasn't easy to say good bye to my parents and grandparents, my family, my friends, co-workers at CTPartners and Grand River Cellars, and the French meetup group. However I know I'll see everyone again, and am looking forward to what the future holds. What is life if we are not meant to make it an adventure?