Latte stands are scarce in these parts. We're having withdrawal symptoms! After passing on the sorry excuse for breakfast at the Rotten Ramada, we scarfed a yummy steak burrito at good ol' McDonalds and drove south under cloudy skies. The air was thick and muggy and we even got a bit of rain, which did a great job of washing bugs off the windshield. I'm skeered of lightning but we haven't run into that (yet). Here you see John's picture of South Dakota at 75 mph.
We phoned Starbucks and got their location in Sioux City, Iowa, an hour into our trip. Oh yum! All was right with the world after a decaf sugar-free vanilla soy latte.
We mostly drove today, and drove and drove. Here's Iowa at 75 mph:
Almost nothing but country radio stations in these states, but even so we heard quite a few Michael Jackson songs on the radio. I remember when the Thriller album came out. It was so exciting and everyone I knew was dancing to it.
There are also many religious billboards and especially ones encouraging women not to have abortions. A giant purple billboard advertising an "adult" store was like the crazy aunt in that family.
We stopped at Target in Omaha, Nebraska to grab a sandwich and buy John a new pair of shorts. It was almost unnaturally clean, and chock full of friendly, helpful employees. We also changed drivers in tiny Sabetha, Kansas. We pulled into the local grocery store and bought some bottled water and snacks. The whole place was almost white with dust and heat. But everybody knew each other. I felt a pang of longing for something maybe a little bit like that. Here's a photo of Nebraska corn.
I think Kansas should be called Big Sky Country. Even more than in Montana, the sky seems so huge and so close to the ground. John took this photo of the clouds. Maybe it was heat-induced hallucination, but I thought I could touch those clouds easily.
The temperature hit 101 today, and with 50 miles to go to Emporia, our air conditioner started making funny noises. The compressor was a solid block of ice because we'd had the air on all day. We drove most of the the remaining distance in a sweat with hot air blowing on us. I was never so glad to walk into an air-conditioned hotel lobby!
So here we are in Emporia. The hotel is modest but the manager is so helpful and won't let us tip him. Too bad there are no laundry facilities. Tomorrow we go in search of a (air-conditioned) laundromat. The Albin family reunion starts tomorrow with a tour of the cemetery. At 9:30 AM, it shouldn't be unbearably hot.
Until then . . . stay cool.
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