Iowa in the Dark...

Our home away from home as we slept in the car

Windmills!

Uptown and downtown Elk Horn, Iowa at 6 am

Iowa Sunset over the Mississippi River

I started driving just east of Iowa City. We had chased the sunset for a while and it was a beauty. Richard decided he needed some sleep so I gladly took over. The road was straight, the weather clear and the speed limit nice and quick for cruise control. Did I mention we had only six hours of sleep or so the night before and had already driven twelve in alternating shifts. It took me about an hour to realize (as he snoozed next to me in the passenger seat) that this was going to get dicey. I kept on in the dark with very little traffic to occupy me until about twenty minutes from Des Moines. My vision got shaky and I knew it wasn't going to work. We still had WAY more than a thousand miles to go and our big plan to sleep/drive/sleep/drive were not the best plan.

Now, I'll preface this by saying, Iowa is a big state with a fair number of miles between exits. I let Richard keep sleeping as I slogged along watching for a rest stop. I came upon a sign that said, "Don't stop for hitchhikers, prison area." A quarter of a mile later I see the sign for the rest stop. I kind of felt like I was driving into a slasher movie, but I stopped anyway. I pulled down to a lighted area near where the truckers were happily snoozing in their semis and turned off the car. Richard stirred, I explained why I stopped and we decided to power nap for a while. An hour later, we had stretched, changed seats and it was his turn. No slasher, although we did have a chuckle about the concept.

We flew through the Des Moines area and motored on in the darkness, a few semis or cars were our pals, but not all that many. As we got into the western part of the state we saw massive numbers of red lights, as if runways on either side. Since it was so dark, we couldn't make out if they were telephone towers or what, it looked very much like an alien runway. Strange. We noticed the gas tank was getting below a quarter of a tank and so watched for an exit for gas. We learned our first lesson about the western states. The economy has hit hard in those places and although there were lodging, food and gas signs at the side of the road, there were blank spots where the locations should be. Many businesses have gone belly up in the war of gasoline, economics and livelihood. We kept a wary eye on the gas tank and one on the road for a place to stop. Finally, we found the sign for Elk Horn. Gas, Lodging, Food and the Dutch Immigrant Museum. We pulled off the exit at about 1:30 am and were dismayed to see a sign pointing to the right with the mile 7 next to it. As we turned, the low fuel light turned on....yikes.

We drove the seven miles in pitch blackness, but for some amazing fields of fireflies, and found ourselves in Elk Horn. We passed a closed gas station, drove by a hotel with lights blazing and a parking lot full of cars and across the town's only intersection to the only other gas station, also closed. Okay, this was now becoming not cool. We backtracked to the AmericanInn or some such name and decided to stay for the night if we could get a room. A lovely young woman was apologetic and understood our plight, but they were sold out without even a broom closet to spare. She invited us to help ourselves to the rest rooms, coffee and even breakfast bar if we wanted to but it looked like the car was our bed. She said it was fine if we parked there. We took advantage of the bathrooms but then headed out into the cool night air. We wandered over to a field next to the hotel and stared at the billions of stars that were above us. You can see what's hiding behind all that ambient light in the cities when you find the midwest. It was awe inspiring and between the stars and the fireflies, we felt lucky to have stumbled into this tiny hamlet if only to experience the beauty of it all.

Settling into our reclined seats, (thank goodness I brought pillows and blankets) we were thankful the little car gave us plenty of sleeping room. Just as we were nodding off (about 2 am), my daughter called to tell me about the horrible thunder and lightning storm that was happening at home (probably the one we had in Chicago). She was housesitting our house and her boyfriend's as he and his family were gone on vacation. She was alone with the barking dogs and crazy weather. I told her about our unexpected stop and we commiserated for a bit. I guess we both had that ESP thing going. It made me feel better to speak to her. It didn't take long for us to fall asleep.

5:57, my eyes snapped open. I shook Richard and told him it was almost 6 and the gas station would be open. We wandered inside to throw some water on our faces and wake up. It had been a short sleep but long enough. The same woman bid us a pleasant farewell and we filled up, took some pictures of the windmills from the 1800s on the main street and headed back the seven miles. Onto 80 and heading for Nebraska, we found out what the aliens were....hundreds and hundreds of windmills. Not your historic ones, the green kind. They lined the highway for miles. We found an exit down the road about thirty miles that had breakfast and we were delighted to get some great coffee, awesome conversation with a very knowledgeable waitress and the first real meal in over twenty four hours. We were recharged and ready to tackle Nebraska. We decided that Cheyenne, Wyoming would be our hotel stop. About five hundred miles. We must have been nuts. Day two was starting out on a decent foot.