From Des Moines to Ogallala

 Today ended up being an interesting day.  We drove about 6 hours.  When traveling, we like to make our driving no more than 6 hours.  That way, we have time to stop and walk and see things -not that there was much to see today.

Did you know that Iowa has over 5 500 wind turbines? That's a lot of ugly but beautiful windmills.  No wonder we could see them as far as the eye could see!  Why do I say ugly and beautiful?  Well, in theory, it's great to use renewable energy - that's the beautiful part.  In reality, how many birds are killed each year because of the woosh woosh sound, or get sucked in? I found this website to give more information.  Good for them for trying to go greener.

After about an hour and a half, we arrived at our first destination - Avoca, Iowa.  A spider structure made with an old VW Beetle.  Fun!  We had seen it online and had planned to stop and take a peek.  It was only about 2 miles from the highway so not bad.

In Iowa, there doesn't seem to be a speed limit for anyone - even though it's clearly marked 75Miles/hour.  You get passed by everyone - and I mean EVERYONE!  It's scary to see a Transport truck coming in behind your seemingly out of control, pass you and lose them from sight within a couple minutes... NUTS!  We did see a truck on its side - so no, this doesn't only happen in Hearst.  The traffic was backed up for KMs!  Good thing they diverted traffic to another road further up. I sure was glad I was going the opposite direction! In Nebraska, trucks have to have speed limiters - which makes way more sense to me.

What else happened today... We pretty much just drove to our next stop as there wasn't much of interest on I80W.  Ogallala here we come.

Ogallala is sort of a small dinky town in Nebraska.  We arrived at our hotel a little early (2:30).  The lady at the front would not let us register - she was such a peach (not).  I don't think she knows to "Smile, it's free".  We try to get some information on what to do here - she couldn't muster up much information other than there a lake.  That's what people do. They go to the lake.  Ok...Thanks?  We set off on an adventure to find Lake McConaughy.  I had to stop somewhere to get directions to the lake.  It's difficult not having internet service to look things up! We found a beach where we could drive right up to the water, blow up the paddle boards and get out on the water.  What a lovely way to end a long day in the car! 

Once we got back to the hotel, we walked to a nice little authentic Mexican restaurant.  We sit down when all of a sudden, our phones start buzzing really loudly -you know that sound alerting you of possible imminent danger... it's a  tornado alert!  Luckily, no tornado hit the restaurant.  It got really windy and rainy, but it passed and the sun came back out.  

This was the best food we've had since leaving Ottawa.  Yum!  I had a Mexican stir-fry and Rémi had Taco Pastor. 

Birds: Oriole, kill deer, swallows, red wing black bird and birds we don't have at home so I don't know what they were, birds of prey, pelican, turkey vultures.

Farm animals: Cows and horses

Road Kill: raccoons and more raccoons - whole families of raccoons too.

Random thoughts:  

• Wisconsin was the prettiest so far - they have wildflowers along the road - purple, yellow, white all mixed.  So pretty.
• I'm tired of seeing corn fields.  What the heck do we need this many corn fields? Can't they grow anything else?
• Nebraska brings a welcomed change of scenery - more trees, less corn and bare mountains in the distance - what I would call bad lands - very dry.
• There are rattlesnakes and bull snakes in Nebraska.  Keep your eyes and ears open.
• Darn it - I think we missed our chance to eat at Cracker Barrel.  Maybe tomorrow - fingers crossed. 

in front of our hotel