Day 1 - Thursday

The vacation is off to a slow start. Our plans to get moving bright and early collapsed beneath the weight of a series of last-minute preparations. Once on the road, construction and congestion had us at a standstill repeatedly until we managed to get past Chicago, after which it was smooth sailing. We crossed the Mississipi River at mid-afternoon and stayed near Iowa City for the night. I say "near" Iowa City because we never actually saw it, though we did visit a colossal mall in the suburbs where we got a replacement power cord for our laptop. Knowing that we were in cattle country, we went in search of steak, and were informed that the place to go was the Iowa Power Center Restaurant, a steakhouse built inside a former power facility. After trying it out, it was certainly not bad food, but wasn't worth the hype.

The Mississipi River.

The Mississipi again. Not a steamboat in sight.