Here are the pictures from Day 10 (Chicago to Ankeny, IA). I only took one. The other ones are from Day 11 (Ankeny, IA to Wichita, KS).
Archive for the ‘Iowa’ Category
Somewhere on the I-35 South
05
May
I’m back on the road again. Today I’ll be spending most of my time on the I-35 South. Also I’ll visit two new states Missouri and Kansas. I wonder what they will look like. Who knows what adventures I’ll encounter, but can’t really spend too much time as driving time without stops is 6 hours according to GPS right now. I need to get more sleep. Went so late to bed as I still had so many important tasks to do. Then at 7:36am I woke up again. Obviously didn’t get out of bed right away. But I couldn’t sleep anymore. Then I had some breakfast at the hotel. Some hot tea (can’t drink regular coffee. I don’t like the taste of it.) I have become a coffee snob. LOL. Some french toast and a yoghurt. After that had to go to Zanzibar again. I love that place. No spills this time. :-) That’s pretty much all the news I have right now. Wishing everyone a wonderful day!
Made it to the Hotel in Ankeny, IA
05
May
The relaxation was so nice. I went to the backseat, put on some tunes and relaxed. I didn’t fall asleep. Only some deep relaxation state. Arrived at the same hotel as on the way to Chicago. This time I’m on the 3rd floor (top floor of the building) so I don’t have to worry about getting a fashion show in the morning. :-)
Took a quick shower and went to dinner. They took us to a Thai restaurant. The food was good. Although I couldn’t eat it every day. The conversation was even better. Kisha told her hilerous wedding dress story. It was so funny.
Then got invited to go to a Dairy Queen for dessert. Sat there forever until they closed and basically said it’s time to leave.
Still had to figure out the new route. Today’s destination will be Wichita, KS.
Ok I still have to finish up something important. I have the pictures from Monday on the server, but I still haven’t had time to decide which ones to make available or label them. Didn’t really take a lot of pictures today as I basically had to make it to Ankeny, IA as quickly as possible without any adventures. Except for the one where I missed the on-ramp. :-)
Back To Old Stomping Grounds
04
May
Back to relaxing for me. Back to Iowa. Back to I-80. Back to West of the Mississippi. Back to K Land. Back to lots of wind. How many more “Back to” can I come up with?
What was cool the GPS decided not to take the I-80 out from Chicago back to Iowa. It suggested to use the I-88 which is a little north of the I-80. So got to see a different route. Both meet each other again a few miles before going into Iowa.
I didn’t mention all the tolls you have to pay going in and going out of Chicago on the Interstate. It’s quite a few. There were 5 going out. The interesting part is they don’t tell you how much it is until you are at the last sign before the toll plaza. I think they should tell you a little earlier. But this time we were prepared and had an enormous collection of quarters and nickels in the cupholders. Going in the stations were not manned at all. Something funny happened on the way in. I wasn’t driving so I don’t get the blame. Ha Ha Ha. It said it’s 30 cents. So Eric drops the money in and takes off. I said: Hey I couldn’t read the sign. I think it listed different prices based on the time at those coin net machines. The huge freeway signs said nothing about that. I also said I’m not sure if we got a green light. He didn’t know either. Oh well we said and had a conversation about tolls and not paying them. At the next toll plaza there was lots of traffic and it’s really confusing which lanes go to the plaza and others which are for the iPass. No it’s not a new Apple device. It’s so you can drive through without looking for change. Anyway guess what sure enough we realize we are in the wrong lane. But it was too late. You shouldn’t do unsafe lane changes like some crazy drivers so he drove through the iPass lanes. I held my iPhone to the toll plaza camera, but I realized too late that I need the iPass device. LOL. Actually I gave him such a hard time about it. It was so funny. I laughed so hard, because I knew why it happened. But it seems to be a common problem. I started to see signs everywhere which said: Forgot to pay your toll, go online to pay it. If they would improve their signage I’m sure it would cut down on those incidents. I don’t remember having this problem in Florida. I guess they just have too many bridges etc so they know how it’s supposed to be done.
They do have reststops in Illinois which they call Oases (singular Oasis). Basically it’s a reststop with services so you don’t have to pay a toll when you get off. You can only get to the reststop + restaurants and then back on. It’s exactly like the reststops with services on the Autobahns in Germany. If you need services like food or gas in the States you usually get thrown off into small towns and look for what you want. Also those Oases seem to be environmentally conscious. See the picture below.
After a bathroom stop I drove again. I missed the on-ramp to the freeway. There are two choices: 1) You could get mad about it or 2) Simple see it as a fun adventure and see what happens. I chose option 2. GPS realized it and re-routed to an on-ramp about 10 miles further west. It was fun. I got to drive through Illinois farmland on a small road. I love those little unexpected adventures. It makes everything much more interesting.
Ok I think I’ll take a little nap now. I’m feeling tired. Going to have dinner with the Smiths (Daniel & Kisha) tonight. Have to cancelled last time. Not good. I actually gave them a hard time about Mr. & Ms. Smith. Remember the movie? He He He.
About one more hour to go.
Zzzzzzz for me! :-)
Pictures went missing!
29
Apr
Hey! I just noticed the earlier pictures from Des Moines never got posted. Hope no one got disappointed. :-) I’ve added them to the post. I guess they got lost in the air. Maybe they wanted to get posted in W land.
East of the Mississippi / Illinois
29
Apr
Big News! :-) I’m East of the Mississippi now! Welcome to Illinois! Welcome to W land! The call signs for radio and TV stations changes from K to W once you are east of the Mississippi. Had to take the I-280 over the Mississippi. For some reason the I-80 crossing is closed. The 280/80 meet up again eventually in Illinois. Also got to the shoreline of the Mississippi on the Iowa side. I collected a “special” rock.
The bridge wasn’t as huge as was the I-10 bridge in Louisiana. Guess what: First thing which happened in Illinois: A huge green grasshopper hit the windshield. :-) Oh and the weather got warmer too. 79F (26C) and more humid too. Nice.
Des Moines, IA / State Capitol / Fun Facts about IA
29
Apr
Zanzibar was a cool place. They didn’t know how many pumps of vanilla they usually put in. They do it by shots. So I simply asked for the double amount. It had perfect sweetness for me and tasted really good. The coffee was served in a bowl. No handle. Very interesting. You could also buy coffee. There was some Jamaican coffee for sale. The price for 1lbs was $52. Wow! I don’t think you could taste the difference if you had it in front of you and didn’t know. But it would make a great gift for someone who loves coffee. :-) I liked my coffee so much I got another one to go. I accidentally hit the to go cup and it spilled all over the place. Didn’t get anyone though. I can’t remember when I did that the last time. It’s been so long. What’s up with the klutziness I have right now? :-)
I asked to see downtown Des Moines. You should have seen the traffic at around 9:30am on a business day. Nothing. You don’t go anywhere in the LA area at that time. :-)
As things somehow always work themselves out I got to see the State Capitol. I went inside. Took quite a few pictures. It’s really an absolutely impressive building. I loved it. There was a touchscreen which provided information about the whole government district. On top of that you could select to see energy usage of almost every building and of the entire district. Showed cool graphs of their electricity/gas etc usage. Cool! I also saw a quote in there which I really liked: “Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.” – Everett.
I also found an interesting place to have my picture taken. All I can say so far that I turned into a canon ball and I was about to getting shot out of the canon. Ha Ha Ha.
Here is something I learned while having coffee: Iwoans like to eat bisquit with gravy and hot sauce in the morning. Yuck! That’s all I can say.
Some things I like about Iowa: They have a two-phase rumble strip on the shoulder of the Interstate (I made that name up). It’s the thing which makes lots of noise if you drift onto the shoulder when you might be falling asleep while driving. The 1st phase is the soft one. The noise is only made at intervals. The 2nd one is the serious one. Tells you wake up NOW! It looks almost like it’s going to blow your tires. :-)
Gay Marriage is legal in Iowa. That’s a really good one.
They also have what they call them Modern Reststops. Amazing. First of all absolutely clean (no stupid holes in the bathroom stall dividers). There are street maps available for free. All kinds of vending machines and on top of that free wireless Internet. Incredible. California should really take a look at those. Many are full with those holes where you have to stuff some toilet paper into it. That gives you at least a bit of privacy. I don’t think I need to explain what they are for. :-)
It’s green and not as flat as Nebraska.
Iowa is the only state in the Continental United States with both east and west borders defined entirely by water. Made me think now what about Florida? It’s one of those facts I read yesterday and I thought I’ll share. Can’t verify it’s entire accuracy. Maybe it said rivers. Don’t want to spread lies here. :-)
Ok that’s it for the school hour kids! :-)
Will be going over the Mississippi River (fun word to spell) today. I’m pretty sure there will be a bridge. I wonder if it’ll be an impressive bridge like it was for Interstate 10. Hopefully it’ll be easier to get to the water. :-)
Wow I’m on a roll here. I guess I have nothing else to do. Here are a couple phone pics. The State Capitol one I think is quite bad (was againt the sun), but better ones will follow. Just to keep everyone curious for more. :-)
Ankeny, IA / My morning
29
Apr
I’m NOT awake yet! :-) it’s 8:13am when I started writing this blog entry and I’m already sitting in the car. Going to a place called Zanzibar. It’s supposed to be some cool coffee shop in Des Moines. It’ll be interesting where they take us.
I woke up at 6am. Yes local time! Not sure why, but I couldn’t fall asleep anymore. I was tossing and turning. At 7:16am I decided ok that’s enough I’m getting up.
The only problem with the room was I thought I was in a fashion show. I don’t know if the person in the upper floor was stomping very loudly or the ceiling is very thin. The adventures of hotels. Nothing is better than home!
Boy, do I need to shave. I look like a mountain man. :-) But no time. I kinda like the look from time to time as it makes me look older. :-)
After Zanzibar I’ll be on the way to Chicago and I’ll visit another new state. Fantastic! Now it’s time for me to wake up. Not quite here yet. :-)
Pictures from Day 4
28
Apr
Ok what a day and what an adventure! You all read about it. I can’t type a lot as I’m really exhausted. I’m trying to get the pictures online and then that’s it for me.
I think it was like around 9:30pm when I finally arrived at the hotel. It was late. I think so far it’s the best one. It looks pretty brand new. The rooms are new and have a good size. I’m pretty happy with that.
Had to go meet Eric’s friends (a couple) which live here in Ankeny, IA. Actually dinner was planned, but that had to be cancelled due to Nebraska offering so much fun. :-) They will actually go to Chicago tomorrow too. I will get to hang out with Kisha and enjoy the sights of Chicago while Eric and Daniel are going to visit a fountain pen show over the next few days. Not my world. I think it’s boring to look at pens all day long. They all look the same in the end. :-)
I really liked Des Moines. The state capitol looked impressive at night. Didn’t get to take any pictures. Maybe I’ll have time to do so tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will hit Chicago! Yeah! Yeah!
Sorry too tired to write descriptions for the pictures. If you want to read some of the history educational material, it’s probably best if you right click on the image and save it to your computer to get the full size version. I can read them pretty good, but not in a small window.
Finding the Missouri River Adventure
28
Apr
Nebraska provided quite some adventures. Wanted to see the Missouri River on the NE side, before going over the bridge to Iowa (yes they built a bridge there :-) Drove around like in a circle for half an hour trying to get close to it. No way. Finally decided to pick a spot with the GPS. Ha Ha Ha. Drove through some scary residential street only to find out it’s a dead end. You couldn’t make a left to get closer to the river. That was so funny!! We gave up. Simply took the Interstate 80 over the river. Certainly not as pretty as the Mississippi. Now in Iowa. Still about 2 more hours to go. What an adventure this day has been so far. Welcome to Iowa!