Quick Trip

As part of my work responsibilities, I was one of the lucky ones who traveled to lovely Iowa this week.  I had been there before, so it wasn't like it was new or anything, but it was still good if a bit silly.  The trip was cut kind of short, so here's the lame list of memorable things:

1. Welcome to Iowa.  Fields of Opportunities.  Mostly I saw fields of corn and soybeans, but maybe the opportunities hide amongst all the other plants.
2. A little snippet heard on the radio:  "It turns out I don't have as many thoughts as you might think."
3. My travel companion was Kadmium, so I had more hours of travel time alone with a married man who's the age of my father.  Our political views are similar, so we were able to listen to a lot of talk radio without inciting heated arguments.  Our taste in food is also eerily similar.
4. I missed having a meal with Uncle Ducky because of silly stuff at work.  They schedule a build and insist people be there to support the build, and then twelve hours before it's supposed to start they finally face the facts they probably knew for several days that not all the critical parts were there to even begin the first steps of the build.  I suspect pride gets in the way somewhere in that decision making process.  So more travel may be in the near future.  Oh well - it may work out well for me.
5. Stopped at the town with the world's largest truck stop.
6. Lots of windmill blades on the road.
7. Lush, green rolling hills of fields with few trees to block the lovely view.  I'm telling you, it gives the interstate a whole different (good) feel.
8. Pizza at the Wig and Pen.  I heard from a colleague that they had really good pizza.  I would give it an average rating.  It wasn't terrible, but it didn't compare at all to Silver Beach Pizza.
9. Seeing some of my "babies" from last year go down the production line.  This was one of the ones that was rated a best buy this year.
10. Humidity so thick it forms a haze over the land.

Fruit of my labor from last year.  Don't mind the missing handle.  They add it later.

We fueled at the Pilot station next door, but we were very close.  I think that counts as visiting.