Tammi's World

Iowa - Recap Part II

Part I of the "Iowa, my dream vacation" is here.

Yes, I got my coffee. And without hurting anyone in the process. But it was close. Real close.

I pulled myself together and checked out. I reconfirmed with the front desk clerk (a different one this time) that Spirit Lake Iowa was about 2 hours away. Note the whole 2 hours thing....it comes up again.

Those two little cups of coffee were just enough to jump start my brain, but not enough to keep me going, so I started looking for a gas station, McD's or heaven help me a Starbuc's (yeah, right). I spot a gas station and scared the poor woman half to death. I came in the door, stopped, saw coffee and looked at her. "Coffee. Thank you. You are an angel." She just looked at me with raised eyebrows and she backed away from the counter. I understood why as soon as I poured the cup. Have you ever seen old coffee made with bad water? It get's that film on top. Yeah - film at 7:00am with this cup. But I was so desperate I bought it - and drank it - anyway.

Driving, driving, driving. More corn. No traffic. Lots of corn.

Finally I get to Ft. Dodge. In my warped mind I thought Ft. Dodge would signal the beginning of the end of the drive. It took me an hour to get there so it all seemed right, given the 2 hours from Iowa Falls. I stopped for gas, get another soda and ask again how far to Spirit Lake.

About 2 hours.

Well, shit. This does not look good.

Not only that but is EVERYTHING in Iowa "2 hours" away?!?! What's up with that!!!!

Mapquest said it was a 7 hour (and some odd minutes) drive. That does NOT account for the many many small towns that take you down to 25 mph. Good Lord!!!!

Oh, and I need to tell you - that signal that I had in Iowa Falls? Yeah - just a fluke. Not another BAR the entire drive......until I got almost back to Illinois. Tease. So......no contact. No interaction.

Corn, corn, corn. Oh, beans!! Corn, corn - horse - corn.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Finally get to my customer's plant. 3 hour meeting. It's a good thing that I went and we solved some issues but damn........20 hours driving for a 3 hour meeting?!?!?

Did I mention I fell asleep in the lobby waiting for my buyer? No, well, he thought it was pretty funny. Damn - I hope I didn't snore.

Anyway - everything is fine - I head home. Driving driving driving. It was a bit easier in the daylight. But still.....

To cut a long story somewhat shorter I finally got a cell signal just before Debuque. I started dialing to beat the band. Finally - CONVERSATION!!!!

I cross the Mississippi and know - I'm almost, almost home. And now things start to look familiar. I'd been to Galena before. Pretty town. Now it's hilly - no corn. Cool.

Sun is setting as I hit the observation tower off of 20 just east of Galena. The sunset is stunning so I decide to stop, climb the tower and enjoy. I deserve to stretch my legs a bit. I am so glad I did - it made most everything worth while. I can not imagine NOT seeing that sunset. Blood red sun, sky so many shades of light I can't describe it. Gorgeous.

And then I got home. Well, still a few hours later - and thanks to a tip about some back roads not as many hours as it could have been.

I'm STILL tired. And remembering why I'm NOT a Road Warrior anymore!!!

Posted by Tammi at August 18, 2005 06:00 AM