Across the Country - Day 5

Missouri Valley, IA - Joliet, IL
Mileage - 436
Miles Driven - 2,142


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Today, we had our last continental breakfast at a Super 8 motel - no more motels for the rest of the journey. By the end of the day, we'll be in Joliet, IL with our friends.

Crossing Iowa was not very interesting. If you like corn fields, then you will love Iowa. The biggest - and I mean that both literally and figuratively - item of interest that I saw was traveling down the highway on oversize load trucks. These trucks had items on them that were at least 75 feet long. The front was round with a large flange containing dozens of bolt holes. But as it continued, it got narrower and flatter. Andrew thought they were wings for jet airplanes, but in reality they were blades for what must be enourmous wind-powered generators. And I didn't just see one or two on the highway; they seemed to appear in groups of three every 15 to 30 minutes.

As we moved further east, we finally got a chance to see a wind farm up close. Sure enough, these beasts are enormous. I can hardly imagine how fast the tips of those blades must be moving.

Iowa seemed to last forever, but finally we entered Illinois. We found our way to Joliet and weaved through the neighborhoods until we reached Ed and Gina's house. Andrew was happy to discover that they had stairs. And a fish tank! We dumped our bags in their spare room, then piled into their new GMC Acadia and went out for Chicago style pizza - after all, we were practically in Chicago.

After dinner, we took some pictures and Andrew hid inside the secret compartment inside the end table. I listened as Ed told stories. One was a fascinating story about the house getting struck by lightning. Ed did a great job of animating the story. Andrew liked it so much, he wanted to hear it again. Since Susan missed it the first time, he told it again and Andrew just ate it up.

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