Iowa Smells Like Poop

States Visited: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa
Distance Traveled: 662 Miles
Time: 11.5 hours, with breaks

It's true. They should nickname this state the Poop State because of the overwhelming smell that hits you as soon as you cross the Mississippi. I slightly remember encountering this while driving through Oklaholma back in college, but those instances only came in short, nearly-forgettable spurts. This is different. It doesn't go away. I'm convinced they manufacture enough manure here to fertilize the entire union. That's a lot of poop. And we still have three more hours left here to go.

As we got into Iowa, we stopped for a quick break at the Iowa 80 rest stop, the largest truck stop in the world. It was insane. They had a dentist's office in there. You know, in case you need a root canal on the road and you happen to be in Iowa, you're in luck. We took about a 20 minute break and shot back out on the road, non-stop to Des Moines.

About three hours, a thirty minute traffic jam, and two "breaks" later, we arrived at the Econo Lodge in northwestern Des Moines, off of I-80. We unpakced the back seat of the car, got all settled in our room, and headed down the street to have a short, quiet dinner at Flannigan's. Both exhausted, we were in bed by ten, falling asleep to Man vs. Wild's near-deadly encounter with a honey bee.

Today we're off to Denver, where we'll stay with my Uncle Larry in Aurora. It's about a nine to ten hour drive through lots and lots of corn. Should make for some edge of your seat blog entries. :)