Chicago, IL/ Des Moines, IA/Kansas City, MO
At 2:30 am we woke up, packed our cooler full of snacks and juices, left our keys on the counter and headed south on Lake Shore Drive where the roads were peaceful, empty and dark. As we cut across Columbus to 290 I remembered I had a fleece and a blanket in the office and figured I could just grab them from the office rather than have my coworkers mail them but the streets around my office were shut down for construction on the 'L' so we settled for Dunkin' Donuts instead and hit the road.
For the first hour or so we were often the only car on the road in our direction. We stopped for a restroom break and found the oasis had massage chairs at $1 for 3 minutes. We 'treated' ourselves to what ended up being a rather abusive massage and hopped back in the car. Clay turned on the CD player and instead of the track playing we heard a disquieting nothing. I turned the volume up and still nothing though we could see the time counting off on the track. We stared at each other open-mouthed with our hearts pounding. A road trip spanning several days with a non-functional CD player?! Then Clay switched tracks and the next song came on blaring. Phew!
The next few hours were quiet. We passed by signs indicating the birthplace of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Herbert Hoover. In Iowa we saw the most beautiful orange sunrise over cornfields. And then at just after 7 in the morning, we rolled into Des Moines.
We didn't have an exact destination but we knew we needed to eat breakfast. As we turned a corner, we saw what looked like a fair ahead and a sign directing us to free parking. So we parked and got out. Turns out it was the Downtown Des Moines Farmer's Market and at 7:30am it was quite packed. There was quite a bit more diversity than we expected to with a lot of African and Asian immigrants.
We settled on breakfast sandwiches which turned out to be extremely tasty. The owner directed us to some lawn chairs to eat and people watch and came back by to ask how we were enjoying the sandwiches. We walked around several blocks of stands centered around Court and 3rd Streets. All the stoplights were blinking red and the roads were blocked off. There were lots of stands with pastries, flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables, even kebobs and samosas. I stopped to smell some tuberose. (They were in my wedding bouquet and the light heavenly smell reminds me of our special day.) We were wondering why and how so many people were out so early but Clay and I figured it must get pretty hot later in the day on the plains. We bought a loaf of apple cinnamon pecan bread to give to The Cerfs and treats for the road and got back in the car.
I joked with Clay about stopping to run through the cornfields we saw on the side of the highway, if only but for my fear of snakes. Then I looked closer and noticed that the 'drought corn' I'd heard about on the news was actually visible from the road. Rows and rows of the corn cobs burnt black at the tips!
We always try to find a car to keep pace with, one who is willing to lead the way at a fast but not dangerous clip. That way we can fall in behind the pace-setting car and make good time but they will be more likely to incur a speeding ticket. We had a great lead car for the last two hours into Des Moines and we were looking for one into Kansas City but all we found was a driver going waaaay too fast. We decided not to use that car as a pacesetting lead car and it turns out that it was a very good idea. Half an hour hadn't passed before we drove past that very same car pulled over on the side of the road getting a ticket.
At another stop, as we were about to pull onto the highway when I noticed some horses tied to a sign post. I said to Clay, "Wow someone rode here on the horses. Hard core!" Then I noticed that the horses didn't have saddles. "Oh, I guess they took the saddles with them so no one could steal the horses," I laughed. Then we saw the covered wagon and the people standing in its shade with long sleeved dresses down to their ankles and bonnets for the women and suits, beards and hats for the men. Amish! The only ones I have seen have been in downtown Chicago selling their wares. They don't ride horses or wagons into downtown and they dress a bit more modern to "blend in" though the beards and bonnets are a dead giveaway. But these Amish actually travel in covered wagons!! As we neared them I realized my mouth was open and shut it and made attempts to stop staring wide-eyed. They looked up at us from their multitude of baskets as we passed. I'm sure we were a sight in the middle of nowhere in Iowa too. They looked at us. We looked at them. They waved. We waved back. And we pressed on.
We always try to find a car to keep pace with, one who is willing to lead the way at a fast but not dangerous clip. That way we can fall in behind the pace-setting car and make good time but they will be more likely to incur a speeding ticket. We had a great lead car for the last two hours into Des Moines and we were looking for one into Kansas City but all we found was a driver going waaaay too fast. We decided not to use that car as a pacesetting lead car and it turns out that it was a very good idea. Half an hour hadn't passed before we drove past that very same car pulled over on the side of the road getting a ticket.
At another stop, as we were about to pull onto the highway when I noticed some horses tied to a sign post. I said to Clay, "Wow someone rode here on the horses. Hard core!" Then I noticed that the horses didn't have saddles. "Oh, I guess they took the saddles with them so no one could steal the horses," I laughed. Then we saw the covered wagon and the people standing in its shade with long sleeved dresses down to their ankles and bonnets for the women and suits, beards and hats for the men. Amish! The only ones I have seen have been in downtown Chicago selling their wares. They don't ride horses or wagons into downtown and they dress a bit more modern to "blend in" though the beards and bonnets are a dead giveaway. But these Amish actually travel in covered wagons!! As we neared them I realized my mouth was open and shut it and made attempts to stop staring wide-eyed. They looked up at us from their multitude of baskets as we passed. I'm sure we were a sight in the middle of nowhere in Iowa too. They looked at us. We looked at them. They waved. We waved back. And we pressed on.
-jev
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