I O Way... to Minnesota..... 071910

(Just pretend like you know what I was saying in my title for this one. Whenever I hear -or see- the word "Iowa," I can't help but think of a song I learned in grade school. The one about the 50 states. "I O way, Kansas, KentuckyLouisiannaMaine, Maryland... well, you get the idea.)

And it looks like I remembered the motel incorrectly. It was a year ago... and I'm working off of memory here. But perhaps you will notice the teeny little sign I was talking about in my previous post. I enlarged it, in case you can't find it either. Now imagine what that might have looked like at about 11 -11:30 at night. (No, it wasn't lit.)

Oh.. look, they have a lone lightpost in their parking lot. Wow.

Also notice how wet everything looks this morning? It was completely pouring when I went to check out. I was fortunate to have about 5 minutes when the rain let up to quickly load my car before the downpour started again. (The above pictures were all taken leaning out my car window... Since it was raining again, I didn't exactly want to take the chance of my camera getting wet. If you look really close, you can see it in this shot.)

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I seem to have this new habit of taking pictures while driving. No, I wouldn't recommend it. These are some favorite scenes along the way.

Actually, these were the most interesting views. Most of Iowa was quite boring (apologies to anyone from Iowa... not that there's anyone reading this but me... ;))

Personally, I really like the semi. I was fortunate to capture it... considering how fast we both were probably going.

There's a farm off in the distance. It took several tries to actually capture one.

And the clouds. Wow. Indescribable.

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Cue the "Hallelujah Chorus!" I've finally reached a cool destination again. It was my aim to visit Minnesota... Land O' My Birth. Plus, I've got really cool relatives who live there.

So glad to be welcomed by you again! I think this might be the first time I've actually seen the state sign. Usually we flew into this fantastic state. I'm just sayin'.