Home of the Hawkeyes

So here I am at the Days Inn at the corner of Second Avenue (Route 6) and Hayden Fry Freeway in Coralvill IA, home of the Iowa Hawkeyes who, as I have been reminded, not only beat Penn State the last two years but have also beat Penn State in something like the last 8 of 9 matches.

That being said, I I stopped at a local bar and ordered another one of those teriffic fried pork tenderloin sandwiches along with a couple of bottles of good German beer and wondered why if Virginia is supposedly such a big pork producing state, why can't we figure out how to do a fried pork tenderloin sandwich?

I think I see an opportunity here. Occasionally a good idea will come from someplace other than Richmond - maybe even Iowa.

So, anyway, 543 miles today. Thought I'd try to take some of the Jack Kerouac Blue Highways home but soon found out that - other than Route 2 which is basically a 2 lane interstate, that the blue highways like US 81 do not have roadside rests to pull off and let your dog go pee. And despite the fact that the farms out here are hundreds if not thousands of acres of hay, cattle, soybean or corn, that pulling over to the side of the road onto someone's property is not a cool thing to do these days.

So, anyway, that put us back on to the interstates with the trucks, RVs and miscellaneous travelling trash like me.

Some pics from Hwy 81 around Lake Poinsett, north of Madison SD, showing some of the high water from the recent rains. Understand they've had some problems along the Missouri River and from what little I could see at Sioux City, the river was high and fast.

So, anyway, a toast to the Hawkeyes, they know how to eat. 41.40 N, 91.34 W. tomorrow Louisville, then Richmond by Tuesday evening.

Katie, Happy Birthday tomorrow. No longer a Teen Angel