Monday morning was our driving day again.  We had to reverse the trip from Blue Springs, MO to Holiday Hills IL.  This was 8 hours and 10 minutes of driving time.  Then you have to factor in stops for breaks and breakfast as well as lunch, maybe dinner.  It would be 9 to 10 hours total.

We got up rather early for being out the night before.  We packed up and headed out to breakfast.  Rich had decided on the Bob Evans down the road.  It would be on the way out of town as well.  We got seated and ordered our breakfasts.  I love being close to the south.  You can get grits anytime you want them.  Our waitress just had to ask about Rich’s Mojoworkin t-shirt.  He explained the Muddy Waters song to her.  He also had to explain why we were in town.

We finished up and headed out.  The road was surprisingly clear of trucks and a lot of track.  I was sure it would be crowded.  We got up to the Iowa state in pretty good time.  Once over the line, we decided to go back on a lesser road and not the main highway.  This was Hwy 34.

It was a beautiful drive with little or no traffic.  We were making good time.  As if I had planned it, we went through Ottumwa.  If you are a M*A*S*H fan, you know this is the home of Walter “Radar” O’Reilly.  It’s a good sized town, but still farm oriented.  We stopped for a break and gas here.  I just had to be funny and post on my Facebook account, “Wonder if Radar is home?”  A couple of people got it.

We continued on to Mount Pleasant, once the home of a subscriber plant back in the heyday of Motorola.  This way led us up to Muscatine.  Rich checked the restaurant listings and found the Mississippi Brewing Company in downtown Muscatine.  Why not?

It was disappointing when we arrived to find a normal bar that didn’t brew at all.  Apparently, the owner had a sense of humor and decided to get in on the beer rage by naming a couple of restaurants as Brewing Company.  We decided to stay and eat anyway.  The food was surprisingly good.  Kind of reminded me of the bars in my town and the food they served.

We walked down to the Mississippi River to take a look.  It was apparent that the water had really been up high here during the flood back in the spring.  The entire parking lot had probably been flooded.  There was a huge statue of a clammer with huge tongs.  Apparently, this was the shell button capital of the world at one time.  I had no idea.

So we headed back out on the road. This meant winding our way through little Iowa towns crammed together to find the highway.  We finally hit the bridge and crossed over the mighty Mississippi.  The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  We did manage to rack up a lot of bug guts on the windshield.  I remember going through this part of the trip with little pinging noises and realized that we were hitting maybe 10 to 20 in less than a minute.  How strange.

I’m happy to report that most of the farm fields are in good shape.  There is lots of green and the plants are getting taller by the day.  The farmers appear to be working the fields and we saw several out there personally.  You ask how I can report such a finding?  I think we saw every farm field between Kansas City and Holiday Hills!

So we arrived home to a very happy Husky and a son who wondered why we returned.  Apparently, we just need to pay the bills and give him money for freewill spending and food.  Doesn’t he have a job?