Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa...

Wow, it's hard to believe we started the day just outside Chicago. We covered a lot of ground today. The tripometer is up to 1441 miles. Not too bad for three days worth of driving. I knew today was going to be a good day when I saw the Dunkin' Donuts across the street from my hotel last night. So that was the first stop for a large cup'o'joe for the ride. But what's this? One free donut per person on Monday's in July!?!?!? So, after a free donut and the world's best coffee, how can this not be a good day?

Travelling west out of Chicagoland, we took US-20 for while and enjoyed the Illinois scenery before crossing over the Mississippi River into Dubuque, Iowa. The Mississippi isn't too big up here, but on the way back we cross in St. Louis, where it should be a little more impressive.

Then the car just drove itself to a farm in Dyersville....and what a farm it was. It's quite possibly the most beautiful farm in the country. It also happened to be where they filmed Field of Dreams. It was heaven....and Iowa, all wrapped up into one. Lisa's leg held up for some catch, and we watched some of the 'game' that was going on. The movie site is completely free to go to, and the field is always available for anyone that wants to play. So we played. And disappeared into the corn. I couldn't find Shoeless Joe though.

After Field of Dreams, the long part of the day started. Iowa, Minnesota and into South Dakota. But, here's an interesting note. In Iowa and South Dakota, Super Unleaded is cheaper than regular Unleaded. Fancy that! (note: maybe Minnesota too, but we didn't fill up there). When driving through southern Minnesota though, I did realize that the Yanks were playing the Twins, so we got to hear the game. Though the names sounded all different. Robinson Cano (2B) was now Raabinson Cahnooo. Yanks won, finally.

Lastly, my favorite roadside stop was a place called Carlos O'Kelly's, a Mexican joint. It's a chain out here. I just can't figure out if I would walk up to the bar and order a Corona or a Guinness. Thankfully there was a Texas Roadhouse next to the hotel.

And with that, I'll leave you with a link to way too many pictures, but some of them are pretty fun. Sorry I didn't separate them out.

Tomorrow is Badlands National Park and Mt. Rushmore for the Fireworks. Till then...