Iowa Excitement

Lots of excitement today. 'chelle got a new bag of m & m's. We stopped in Antique City...one of them...Walnut, IA. Roamed around looking at overpriced old stuff like our mother's tossed out years ago.

Perhaps we should not have stayed there so long. About 20 miles west of Des Moines we had to pull off the highway due to .....BAD WEATHER. Severe storms, tornados, torrential rains. Sat at McDonalds for several hours and finally figured we'd best get a room at that Super 8 across the parking lots. The worst part was we had no coupon and had to pay full price. sigh

While sitting at Mickey D's we started chatting to a bicyclist who had come in out of the rain. Quite an interesting man, was he. You know, if you are open to things, you can meet some interesting people along the road. We all sat in the kids play area because the restaurant was freezing....so....we have met some interesting peeps along the road...the TV guys, the group of classic car buffs we ran into in Green River...one a dentist who studied at U of D...they were all from Paradise CA. And today the bicyclist. Somehow the pony tail, the pierced tongue and the tats didn't seem to go with the bicycle outfit....you know that stuff the serious riders wear. But he was funny and helpful with the weather (he knew people to call regarding the storm situation) and helped pass the time. Gave us some places we should see tomorrow, but they are all out of the way. Oh...he was a criminal defense attorney and had been on a day trip about 140 miles.

Iowa is prettier than Nebraska. Gently rolling hills and lots of corn. Not so many cows. One thing I should have mentioned about Nebraska is that with the incessant winds, it would always be a bad hair day.

We had thought we would be home on Saturday, but this storm set us back by several hours, so instead it will be Sunday. Assuming we don't run into any more antiques, flea markets, or bad weather.

This has been our earliest night....but its probably good. We can get a good night's sleep and beat all the kids down to the free breakfast and make the waffles before the kids go through all the batter.