Our trip across Nebraska ended in Lincoln with a visit with one of Kerry's friends and their family. We enjoyed our stay, but needed to keep moving east in order to finish up the trip in five weeks. In mid-Nebraska we passed a big ethanol plant right in the middle of huge cornfields. They were making ethanol to add to gasoline, and also bio-diesel. Directly opposite, on the other side of the road was a small coal-fired power plant making the electricity needed to run the ethanol plant! (you'll never see THAT on the news) I wish I had a photo... oh, the irony.
We passed into Iowa on July 15th and ended the day on the eastern border of Iowa at the Mississippi River. We road over 300 miles without seeing a single McDonald's; just a few Dairy Queens. There were long stretches of rolling farmland broken up by very small towns usually hosting one convenience store/gas station. The weather has been perfect: mid-70's light breeze, sunny skies and dry air.
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| Crossing the Mississippi from Iowa into Illinois on Rt 136 |
We were finally forced onto an interstate (I-74) for about 10 miles to get to our hotel room in Danville, Il. The last two days have been unseasonably cool (high in the low 70's) with pleasant dry air and sunny skies - very unusual for mid-July. It has been very nice weather for riding. The scenery is all farm fields. Every acre that can be planted is planted in either corn or soybeans. The only variation is the size of the fields. As we head east the farms are gradually getting smaller and there are more trees. The corn is twice as high here in Illinois than in Nebraska.
Tomorrow we cross Indiana and some of Ohio, then we should be getting home on July 18th or 19th. My thoughts are starting to turn to all the work that needs done around the house and the yard. I hope the weeds haven't taken over my garden! Our final mileage for the trip will be over 6,000. It looks like this beautiful weather is going to stay with us all the way home. Stay tuned for the final mileage results.
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