Day 3: I Could Have Sworn This Was Heaven

I know… making Field of Dreams references about Iowa is corny. See what I did there? Corny? But the fact remains that Iowa can be glorious. It is a controversial state-opinion to be sure — like having an opinion about South Dakota or Wyoming. People either love driving through them or hate it.

We love Iowa. We also love South Dakota and Wyoming. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Iowa just rolls like ocean waves through a sea of farmland (mostly corn, of course), and every time you peak you see the highway stretching like a ribbon to the western horizon. It is a place of quiet movement, a place of farmers, a place where maybe things don’t move quickly but they never stop moving.

And when the sun is getting close to setting, when the “golden hour” hits, Iowa is something else.

“It’s a peaceful beauty,” Angie said. “Not a violent beauty, like the Rockies or the ocean, where, sure it is beautiful, but it can kill you in so many ways. Iowa is just… life. Simple, quiet, comforting. It is like heaven.”

Iowa is a favorite of ours… but that is not where we started the day.

The Morning

The Comfort Suites Normal University Area gave us all a great night of sleep. I was up early and got our still-damp pool clothes into the dryer. Breakfast was standard “free breakfast” fare: eggs, sausage, potatoes, and a waffle maker for the hot (warm) foods, and a great selection of fruit, yogurt, cereals, and pastries. And hot coffee. No complaints and, really, is it even a road trip without a Golden Malted waffle?

We got out a little earlier than the day before and headed for the border. Illinois was good to us, but the Mississippi was calling, and we crossed it going from Illinois into Iowa.

Our first stop was a place we have stopped three times before: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. This is a really unique place where you can walk around and through restored buildings from Herbert Hoover’s birthplace.

For me, as cool as the tiny homes, quaint schoolhouses, and rich-smelling Quaker meetinghouses are, the highlight is always the statue of Isis gifted to Hoover from the people of Belgium. It’s a long story, but Hoover was larger than life. Just an amazing person.

We love this stop because it is free, the bathrooms are clean, it is safe, you can refill your water bottles for no charge, and it is a wonderful place to walk around. It checks all the blocks for a stop on a long road trip.

We wandered up to the town and got some ice cream at a shop recommended to us by a friend. We sat outside for a bit and watched the people of this busy little slice of Iowa going about their day. The sun was out, the temp was perfect, and everyone felt recharged.

The Day

After Hoover, we refueled and set out to put about 250 miles behind us before our next stop in Des Moines. The highway was mostly empty and I was able to keep the car on cruise control almost the whole time and just enjoy the light and life passing by.

With full bellies of ice cream, we pushed on for a late-lunch, early dinner at a local restaurant chain we discovered last year: the Machine Shed. We ate at one last year in Illinois, and the boys talked about it all year. We couldn’t hit the same one, as we are going a different route, but the Iowa Machine Shed in Des Moines was right on the way.

It did not disappoint. Huge servings of probably the most midwest, American classic fare you can imagine. Our table hat chicken pot pies, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh rolls, and more. We were too full for dessert and staggered out of there to drive a few minutes across town to the REI.

REI is not really a destination, although it is a magical place, but I needed a piece of equipment that I left at home. It was the Coast EAL 22 lantern. I bought one for my daughter earlier this year and fell in love with its ruggedness and brightness, and wanted one of my own. Now, I will have two, because we start tent camping tomorrow and I was just stuck on having this with me. Sue me.

The Evening

We switched drivers for a bit and Angie took us to the border of Iowa on I-80, and then we turned north for a bit. We switched drivers again not too far from our destination, the cabin we rented at Snyder Bend County Park. This place is dreamy, right on a small river/lake, at a spot where Lewis and Clarke once set up camp. The boys immediately started fishing and we enjoyed the spectacular sunset.

This is the end of the long drives through the not-terribly-exciting parts of the country. Now we are about to be in the West. Tomorrow, we will tour a minuteman missile silo, stop in Wall Drug, and then set up our new tent in my most sacred of stops, Badlands National Park.

Of the next four nights, 3 of them will be in a tent and one will be in a roadside motel.

This is the part of the trip we’ve been waiting for.