Today's journey went smoothly. The 3-stops in Iowa went very quickly enabling me to get back into Wisconsin before shutting down for the evening. It was cooler in Iowa then it was in Wisconsin (my wife told me it was near 100 degrees in Milwaukee). It "only" got up to 90-92 degrees where I was today.
Going towards my 3rd and final stop, I witnessed a mama pheasant (grouse?) speed walk across the 2-lane highway I was traveling. She came out of nowhere in the corn field on the left and disappeared in the right cornfield before I passed by. However, she paused momentarily and turned around half-way across the road and "yelled" at the 3-4 "kids" tagging behind her. They promptly stopped their speed-walking and took flight thus avoiding me running over them. On the return trip, in the same spot, they were at it again. Only this time mama "screamed" something at them from the opposite side of the road (she had crossed over safely) and they promptly turned around and disappeared back in the cornfield. Perhaps they all thought it was a game--cross the road safely or get creamed. Or perhaps mama was teaching them the proper ways/techniques in crossing the highway (until they got it right). In any event, it was amusing to see them on my return trip crossing the road again.
They don't call Iowa the "cornhusker" state for nothing. The corn is over my head in most areas and is looking good for now (could use more rain). I was somewhat surprised to see as many soybean fields as I saw. Who knows...maybe Iowa will one day be also known as the "soyhull" state as well (well--if husks are to corn, then hulls are to soybeans, right? Maybe not!)
I'm not preplanned with a trip as of yet for tomorrow. I'll arrive back at the warehouse in Milwaukee, WI during rush hour. I figure I'll either have a short-hopper to Chicago, IL in the morning/afternoon or perhaps take off later in the day to wherever.
miles driven = 576
Postscript: I was somewhat surprised to observe that I have free wireless Internet access at the truckstop I'm at this evening. I think it's do to the new adjacent hotel. This won't last--as soon as some observant IT guy with the hotel notices what's going on (bandwidth being used by more users than guests), security measures will be implemented. Until then, I'll have to stop here more often!
7:56:13 PM
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