Friday May 16th

There's not much to write about tonight, since basically I was just getting out of town.

I made it on the road shortly after 6pm. It was sunny and warm¹ through the first hour or so, then it starting raining. And hard. With lightning.

In spite of this I made it to the Quad Cities² in a reasonable amount of time and entered Iowa. The rain continued and was joined by road construction to help me along my way.

I made it to Des Moines³ around 10:30, checked into the motel, asked for an obscenely early wake up call, and started writing this.

That's about it. Tomorrow's agenda includes the Garden of Eden, The World's Largest Twine Ball⁴, and possibly a new state.

Until tomorrow...

1. By upper midwestern standards.
2. The tourist line for the Quad Cities is that no one is sure what four cities of the metropolitan area make up the Quad. Everyone else seems to be pretty clear on Rock Island⁵ and Moline in Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. The Quad Cities are located at the point where the Rock River enters the Mississippi.
3. In the Midwest, perhaps because of early French settlement, French name are pronounced in something resembling a French way⁶, like Des Moines and Illinois and Eau Claire, unlike other parts of the country⁷.
4. Not the one in Minnesota. I will explain tomorrow.
5. Home of John Deere⁸.
6. They don't enunciate the trailing S⁹.
7. Lafayette, Alabama, for example.
8. The company, not the man¹⁰.
9. Except for Des Plaines, Illinois, perhaps in an attempt to avoid Fantasy Island jokes.
10. He's dead.

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