Adair, Iowa
Made it 380 miles today, having gotten a relatively late start, and drove from Crystal Lake, Illinois, to Adair, Iowa, population 839, home of a locally famous smiley water tower (see photo toward the end of this entry) and Jesse James' first (known) train robbery. I have a soft spot for places like this, at least in part because people in small towns are less likely to hit me over the head and take my wallet. Adair is so small it has no fast food outside of a Subway attached to the town's single gas station, which survives by virtue of being right off I-80. We're staying at the Adair Budget Inn, which doesn't have hair dryers but does have free wireless Internet.
My big challenge today was pulling a trailer for the first time in my life, a little 8' X 5' U-Haul into which we loosely packed Carol's portion of things salvaged from the house where she grew up. I got some good lessons in backing up a trailer from Kathy's husband Bob, who's been a Teamster most of his adult life and knows something about trailers. It's not a slam dunk; the hotel here wanted me to back into a long parking spot, and it took ten minutes and numerous passes to get it in straight. I have new respect for people who maneauver 18-wheelers.
Not a lot to report beyond this. We stopped briefly at The World's Largest Truck Stop (on I-80 near Walcott, Iowa) just to see what The World's Largest Truck Stop would look like. It's kind of an indoor mall for long-haul travelers, and was crawling with three Greyhound busloads of sunburned teenagers, fresh from some sort of weekend adventure. We bought some licorice and a book summarizing what you can find along the Interstates, sorted by exit number.
QBit and Aero have been very good travelers, waking from sound sleep in their kennels only to bark at the toll booth lady on I-88. Carol and I have been talking about odds and ends, ranging from evo devo to why "Ugly Betty" is so unlike the sitcoms we grew up with. The rolling Iowa countryside has been hell on my cruise control; every time we started going uphill, the 4Runner downshifted two gears to keep its speed. Oh, and the boxy U-Haul has cut my gas mileage by a third.
Boy. I'm glad I'm only doing this once.