Exciting things can happen in the corn fields

Current mileage: 2077 miles

Current location: At a friends house in Bismark, North Dakota
Day # 7of the no expectation vacation

So this is where I slept night before last,  at a rest area close to Des Moines, Iowa. I was either very tired or it was actually quite comfortable, because I ended up sleeping almost 9 hours in my car. I woke up a couple of times throughout the night but woke up in the morning feeling refreshed. The first thing that I did was go into the rest area and brush my teeth, wash my face, and clean all necessary parts. Changed into some new clothes, and felt pretty good. I had decided that I wanted to stretch out my back and get some exercising in since I knew today was going to be all about driving. My view was none other than cornfields

and so I decided to take full advantage of this different scenery. Yes, I had brought my free weights along with me, so I decided to go over to towards the cornfields and exercise. I did some yoga poses, stretched my back, worked out my arms, did some push ups, lunges, and finished up with some Ab exercises on the picnic table. I am sure that I must have looked crazy, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do. I even brought along my electric tea kettle to make Oatmeal, and hot tea in, so before I was to leave I went to the girls bathroom with my bottled water and my electric tea kettle and made some green tea for the road. Yes I got some stares from people coming out of the stall, but I just assumed the were upset they hadn't thought of this wonderful idea. If I didn't know any better , I almost thought I should have had to pay for all these services at this free rest stop!

All of my day was spent on Interstate 80, Interstate 29, and Interstate 94 with

you guessed it, no other than corn fields.  I actually drove over 700 miles today and spent over 12 hours on the interstate.

Although I do not want to take interstate roads my whole trip I was trying to get to Bismark as fast as I could to meet a friend that night.

One might not think that there would be very many interesting things to see on the Interstate, but I had a lot of first today. My first encounter was a Midwest storm. As I was thinking to myself that the skies to my right were looking very dark, and decided that since I had not turned on a T.V. or looked at a weather forecast in over a week that I might want to call someone to see if I might be driving into a tornado. There were many "goals" that I had set out to accomplish on this trip, but storm chaser was not one of them! So I call Renee, my friend in Atlanta to see if she can tell me anything about the weather. She asked where I was, and by this time I was west of Des Moines. I told her the tentative route that I had planned on taking and she assured me that I was fine, that the storm was headed more towards Omaha and there were no tornado warnings with it. Good, Great, Grand that was until I realized that I-80 takes me straight towards Omaha. By this time it was too late, I am pretty sure I was in the eye of the storm the only thing I could see out my windshield was this. 

Which was absolutely nothing.  When I did catch a glimpse of signs I did realize the the Bridges of Madison County were in Iowa. I would have loved to see them, but thought it pointless to go since I could not even see 2feet in front of me. So I took this experience for what it was worth and realized it was my first Midwest Storm that I had driven thru. It was not all bad. I got a free car wash and in fact it was actually quite beautiful when you could see the end of the storm because the land was so flat.

The next cool thing that I saw were these windmills . I have seen them while traveling in Holland but they were everywhere in Iowa. I am not real sure what they are used for but I thought that would be pretty cool to find out. I am sure it is for some kind of sustainable energy...Way to go Midwest!

Along Interstate 29 the views were very beautiful, the colors in the fields were so vivid. I must admit after two hours though, I had to find other things to do. So I watched birds form a V and fly south (no wonder they fly south after the storm I was caught in) and I was also fortunate enough to see another type of bird. The middle finger from a man in a Black SUV, with a license plate that said  Hawkfan (Iowa license plate that is).  At first I thought that he was upset that I was a West Virginia fan, but that couldn't be, we are in two different conferences. Then I thought this may be the way that the people from Iowa say hello. You can imagine the shock I was in when he showed me his bird. He really caught me off guard. The only thing that I can assume that I did to upset this man was maybe follow to close behind him, and I don't even think I did that. What this man didn't know, was I had just put my Cousin Justa's CD in, and it was the first time I had listened to it. Man she had some great songs on there like Sweet Home Alabama, and Kid Rock, and I was blissfully singing along to them. I admit, I could have been, and must have been oblivious to what I did to up set this man. When we finally went to two lanes, I put my hands in a gesture to say I am sorry...I really for once in my life did not know what I did to make this man so mad. What I did know, is the fact that I am on my "No expectation vacation" and this guy was not going to ruin my day, and I was truly sorry that I ruined his! Be extra aware when driving behind a black SUV with the license plate that say Hawkfan unless you want to see a bird!

I finally made it to South Dakota! Yay for me! I stopped at mile maker 12 on I-29 to fill up for gas and eat lunch, and as the picture shows even gamble if I want. I found the name of this gas station pretty funny as well. Great marketing idea, caught my attention! This was my first encounter with ethanol gasoline. It was the first time in my life that I stared at the gas pump and was not sure what gas to put in my jeep. I had been told stories of people putting the wrong gasoline in their car and it breaking down.. That was the last thing I needed so, I put my pride aside and asked one of the workers that was outside cleaning around the gas pumps, which gasoline to use. I didn't feel so dumb, because he said he gets this question alot, especially from people in Canada, people from the "east" and people from the "south". Well I fit two of those categories, so my smart points just went up! This worker explained to me that with all the cornfields around their gasoline had ethanol (from corn) which helped out the local farmers and kept gas prices down and then he showed  me which one was good for my jeep! Way to go "Midwest" I think you guys have some things figured out! I plan when I get home to ask my neighbor Tracy if I can plant some corn in his back yard, since I have no land around my loft! Make sure if you are ever on I-29 mile marker 15 in South Dakota that you stop at this "Kum and Go" Cheap gas prices and the best Subway meal deal around.  With the purchase of a meal, they let me fill my cooler up with ice for free! Maybe we need a "Kum and Go" in Atlanta!

Although flat, and many cornfields I found the drive thru Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota rather nice. I saw the town where Mary Ingles Wilder? is from. I have heard the name but don't know the history, and I think that could be because of my age. I also have seen two beautiful sunsets on this trip, but on this night in particular God was really good to me with the scenery. As I hit the North Dakota state line I pulled over at a building that was called a rest stop. I figure that I should stop now, cause it does not seem to be anything around! But what I saw was pure astonishment! I had encountered this type of thing while flying, but not on land. Here is what happened. The land was so flat that I saw the sun setting to the West and the moon rising to the East at the exact same time. My eyes were on overload. I didn't know which way to look so I tried to capture it on camera. There are no words to describe the beauty that I watched before me on this night at a North Dakota "rest stop"! Look at the pictures below to see what I am talking about!



Sunset to my left



Full moon rising to my right



I finally made it to Bismark, ND around 11pm central time, after I spent close to 12 hours in the jeep and drove over 700 miles. Many people kept asking why? Why North Dakota? There is nothing to see up that way. Well I had to tell them, number one, I have never been to North Dakota, and number two I have a good friend that lives there. You see, Wayne is a regular that comes into a Pub that I work at part time. he is more than a friend, he is more like family, so when he heard that I was doing a trip out West, we talked about him meeting me in his home town. Since Wayne is in the airline industry himself we planned it out that we would meet during a time he was coming to get his hair cut and visit his mother anyways. He had told me all kinds of stories about his hometown, where he started his first car wash, his favorite places to eat, all about his family, so I only saw it fitting that I would make a stop in Bismark, ND to not only hear Wayne's stories but to experience them as well. This is the good stuff, this is what life is all about! So as I sit here blogging from Bismark, ND I am excited to see where one of my good friends are from, their history, and their story. This is a great stop in the "no expectation vacation".  And I beg to differ about the boring drive thru the cornfields, as you can see, exciting things do happen! Til Next time, Peace and Love ~KT~