Kingdom City, MO to Albia, IA---May 19th

Well, the rain didn't go away, so off we went in the rain.  The gas gods are not looking over us for a number of reasons.  First, several gas stations wouldn't recognize our credit card and second, the people who lay out the entrances to above mentioned gas stations sure don't want to accommodate people towing trailers of any kind.  We've had a heck of a time.  Not to be discouraged, we forge ahead driving through Macon and Atlanta before getting to Kirksville....where Capt. James T. Kirk was born and raised before joining the Federation.

For the most part the road through Missouri have been abysmal...narrow, no shoulders and lumpy.  Then, we get on to US 63 and it's heaven, nice 4 lane road with no cars or trucks to bother us.  So on we go into Iowa, just movin' up the road, when what to my wondering eye should appear....a BIG FAT TURKEY!  Smack, bang, crash...I never saw so many feathers in my life, they just kept flying in every direction.  Dan never saw it coming.  It took off from the shoulder and his mirror and window support blocked his view.  He heard me yell and then saw the rest.  Before anyone emails...no we didn't keep it!  Dan went to survey the damage and did take pictures for insurance purposes...I DID NOT want to see them!  I couldn't even watch from inside the truck when he pulled the little guy from the grill.  Dan said his legs were stuck through the grill like he had karate chopped it.   YUK, YUK, YUK!  Now of course the gory picture is on the Internet and in the USAA files.  The plastic grill will need to be replaced and probably the hood as it bent the entire front side of it and also put a few dents in the A/C condenser.  We were lucky it wasn't anything bigger, we had passed several deer that tried to cross other than where the deer crossing signs were and met their unfortunate demise.  We're going to keep our fingers crossed that this is the worse thing that happens on this trip....it's inconvenient, but not life threatening.

There are a lot of Amish communities in KY, MO, and IA...we did see one buggy with two young men riding on the shoulder.  

Other interesting sightings....

• Home Depot with a drive thru lumber yard....can you hear the intercom;  "Welcome to Home Depot, would you like to add fries or super size your order of 2 X 4's today?"
• Don't let anyone tell you that Iowa is flat...I know first hand that it's not.  It was like we were back in Missouri.
• If you hit a worker on an Iowa road, you pay a $10,000 fine and loose your license...WOW!  Didn't seem to slow the folks down.
• Iowa has rest stops along their highways that have free Wi-Fi...all those farmers want to keep track of corn futures, I'm sure.
• The above mentioned corn fields are meticulously planted and the hills are terraced and vacant except for the little corn sprouts.  I'm sure about 10 days ago it was a different story with all the man power and equipment it takes to plant hundreds of thousands of acres.  Tried to take pictures, but you really couldn't see anything but dirt and we've all seen dirt.

We pulled into Albia, IA about 2:30pm CT and set up in the rain, we're gettin' pretty good at that these days.  Stayed at a place called Indian Hills Inn and RV Park.  The son of the original proprietor is running the place with his wife.  The Dad was a WWII veteran and POW so the place is filled with pictures.  Now get this, there's an indoor swimming pool, spa and sauna.  I'm sure the building harkens from the days of the old Motor Lodges, it has that look.  When we checked in we received coupons for 2 free drinks and 10% off our dinner at the White Buffalo Restaurant and Lounge adjacent to the hotel, which by the way was on both sides of a divided 4 lane highway...go figure.  The couple running the place have small children and mom puts them in a wagon and takes off across the street to do what needs to be done....interesting.  Back to dinner, with all the free coupons and such we just had to try out the White Buffalo Restaurant and Lounge...well not the lounge part.  They had a pretty decent menu, but the buffet looked really appealing.  You wouldn't believe all you got for just $9.99 and we got 10% off that, hot damn lets eat.  There was salad, fried chicken, green beans, pizza, cinnamon rolls, ice cream and the list goes on and or yeah chicken and rice soup...the owner was making some kind of crack to Dan about maybe it was turkey soup, can't imagine what he was talking about.  Anyway, the food was the best we've had in a long time...everything was great.  WE tried to get them to open and establishment in Inglis, but they thought that was a bit far to commute...no walking across the street.

Stay tuned for more adventures to come.