Day 29: Travel Day
Welcome
Yesterday we drove from Des Moines, Iowa, to North Platte, Nebraska.
Our midday checkout meant that I could have a big sleep-in and still fit in a nice, hot run. I explored a section of the Des Moines River Trail, jogging along a broad concrete path that heads away from the city, following the river which it snakes southeast for 200km before flowing into the Mississippi at the spot where Iowa state line meets the western border of Illinois, and the north-eastern point of Missouri.
Before I left my hotel room, I had a little go on the shelf by the door, the perfect place from which to retrieve your keys as you flick the light switch off on your way out.
The previous evening Jonathan’s phone had developed an unfortunate symptom which meant that the bottom third of the screen was no longer displaying colours correctly.
A new phone was the order of the day so on the way out of Des Moines we stopped at Jordan Creek Town Centre, a mall that contained one of the world’s premier retail experiences, an Apple store. Jon headed in and got stuck in talking to some of the Apple wizards, the highly trained technicians who could tell you anything about any product on these shelves. While he was picking the brains of these blue shirted beings, I headed up to the food court to get myself some breakfast, choosing a restaurant called Hummus, Mediterranean Grill. I ordered a pita bread with falafel, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, pickles, jalapenos, lettuce, olives, and baba ganoush, the choice of this last ingredient making the proprietor very happy as it was his mother’s recipe.
I sat outside the Apple store and ate my pita, watching as Jon was thoroughly assisted in setting up his new device, and making a huge mess as excess baba ganoush drained over my hands.
Liz bought a shiny case for her phone.
Kayleen put us back on I80 and we headed west across the Great Plains, passing through the rich and healthy-looking cornfields of Iowa, the nation’s number one corn producing state. The border between Iowa and Nebraska runs along the Missouri River, and we crossed this waterway and passed though Omaha, entering the cornhusker state where again the fields were vast, and the roads were straight. There was a small game of cricket that happened at a rural gas station with a huge forecourt, and there was a beautiful storm that we saw brewing on the horizon and thought we would have to drive through. The drive only got more magnificent as the storm retreated to the south and the sun began setting, a spreading, amber horizon defying the slate grey clouds that took up so much of the sky.
Around 9pm we rolled into the city of North Platte, Nebraska, one of the more notable stops when you are travelling along I80. We were staying at the same hotel we had stayed almost a year ago exactly, and we ended our evening in the same fashion, with a visit to Penny’s Diner, open 24 hours and rated 4.3 stars from 1,858 Google reviews (down from 4.4 stars 12 months ago, but still a respectable rating).
This week in art corner we see the world’s greatest animals, horses, in motion.
Tristan has created this brand new vlog episode.