So....THIS is Day 10

Iowa State Capital at dusk

Tonight we are in Iowa City IA.  In the last 3 days we have traveled through Wyoming, Nebraska and half of Iowa.  Anyone who thinks they would like to drive a long-haul truck should first make the trip by car.  Traveling through Nevada, Utah and Wyoming could give them pause to reconsider! Nebraska was beautiful.  Rolling green hills and beautiful green trees and tons of water everywhere.  Iowa is gorgeous as well.  It's amazing how beautiful the homes are.  Not because they are grand, most are farms, but they are well kept, look freshly painted, beautifully groomed...even where there are acres and acres.  The fields here are full of newly planted corn that is just beginning to sprout above the ground.  There are hundreds of windmills pulling in the power.  I've seen hundreds in CA but they are so far away they look so small.  These are right near the road and they are NOT small.  They are enormous!  Today we passed a semi-flatbed carrying one of the propellers.  It hung over the back of the truck by about 10 feet.

Iowa windmill

We stopped at a Denny's today.  We had to stop at least once on this anniversary trip.  Denny's is where Ray and I went on our first date.  We ended up at Denny's because Ray was suppose to pick me up at 7pm, not 11pm and the place we were going to was closed by that time.  We sat and talked until time for me to go to work the next morning. That was August 28, 1970.  There was no going back.  He proposed on September 10th.  Yes, the same year..  We married on December 5th, 1970, 40 years ago.  Denney's was the first restaurant we took Aaron to when he was a baby for his favorite meal, green beans! Denney's has some great memories for us as you can see.

Wyoming is beautiful....in it's own way.  There isn't a lot to see but I guess that's what the people who live there like about it.  It's miles and miles and miles of seeing nothing but the most amazing rock formations.  Guess I expected Laramie to be a cowboy town like in the old wild west.  All I saw were trucks, trucks and guys with ball caps.  Between Nevada, Utah and Wyoming I finally managed to see one "cowboy" in a cowboy hat!  All was not lost.
                                                   

Since John Wayne has always been a favorite of mine, and my dad's, I don't think there is a  John Wayne movie we hadn't seen together at least once and probably numerous times.  While we were visiting mom last week I noticed that she still has all of dad's John Wayne movie collection.  Those are some great times together with my dad, and my mom.  No matter how many times she'd seen the movie she'd watch it again with dad.  Yesterday we passed a sign of John Wayne's birthplace as we entered Iowa.  We didn't take the time to stop this trip but if you're coming this way and you've enjoyed his movies you might want to drop by.

Nebraska is beautiful.  Not what I expected at all.  A lot like Iowa I'm finding. Since my grandpa Bothwell (my mom's dad) came from Nebraska it was fun to drive through and think about his life when he was born  in 1899; of growing up and striking out on his own at 16 to head for Oregon.  Grandpa always believed he lived in the very best of times. He lived the life of a frontiersman by hunting, trapping and living off what the land provided. He met my grandma in Oregon and began their family there.  My mom was born at the old Sacred Heart Hospital.  They later moved to Watsonville CA where I was raised.  In his later years grandpa saw the flight of the first airplane and watched the astronauts walk on the moon. 

Today we're staying in and resting up.  We have a couple of errands to run but we're waiting until things calm down.  This morning we've had severe thunderstorm, high winds and warnings to stay indoors. They've warned people to stay in, if they live in a mobile home to evacuate and go to a safer place. The storm is moving east along 1-80, our route.  If we had left this morning we would have been right in the middle of the storm.  It was so severe they closed some roads and big rigs were overturned..  We're thankful we listened the God's prompting last night and stayed over for the day or we would have been right in the middle of the storm for a good portion of our next leg of our journey.  God is in charge.  Please pray for us that we stay alert and responsive to His promptings.  It's good to rest.  Things are quieting down now and this afternoon we head out to do some errands and then tomorrow head for South Bend, Indiana.  Talk with you soon.