Hello from Des Moines, Iowa!!  We left Cincinnati at  6:20 this morning.  Very uneventful trip so far.  I think I would prefer the uneventful at least while driving 600 miles.  It went fast!  Maybe losing an hour did that!  As we traveled through Indiana, it was pretty quiet being early morning.  We stopped at the state line into Illinois to put Tom's 9mm in the trunk as Illinois is the ONLY state that doesn't have a concealed carry law and we got gas.  The only places we stopped in Illinois were rest areas and that was to use the restrooms! Somehow that is how we feel about Illinois! :)   In Illinois we saw all of these wind turbines.  Actually a wee bit creepy looking across the landscape.  We wondered how much oil was used in their production and transporting them to their respective places.  We passed at least 4 big rigs each hauling 1 of the blades for 1 wind turbine!! Each turbine had 3 blades on them!  Lots of diesel being used there!!

Mississippi River

IOWA!

Illinois wind turbine field

We then made it to the the Quad Cities!  There we crossed the great Mississippi River!!  Not quite as big as I thought it would be.  It seemed be not much wider than the Ohio.  I think it was a bit though. Iowa turned out to be a beautiful rolling landscape!  Fields and fields of farmland.  Grassy knolls blowing in the the wind looked liked waves...  Very windy here, sunny and about 88 degrees.  Saw a dead coyote along the road and various other critters that didn't make it either.  Lots of cows too, not dead though!  I thought Iowa was flat!  Not so far!  And my Sprint reception is 100% better than at home!!!  I guess because of the wide open plains!  Well we are at the Des Moines West Hampton Inn and are vegging right now..well Tom is downstairs running on the treadmill...I am vegging.  We are going to go eat in a bit and then veg some more!  Tomorrow we are driving about half as far and plan to see some sights and get off the highway to go on a scenic byway.  Will update tomorrow evening.  Hope all is well where you are!