Lincoln, NE

 Well, if we had arrived here a couple of months earlier, we could have visited Ryan Orth at the University of Nebraska; however, he is now firmly ensconced in the Research Triangle in North Carolina.  We at least got to see him in Fargo which was great.

It seems appropriate that we are in Lincoln since we seemed to be driving through a panoply of presidents yesterday.  Tourist attractions included the birthplace of Ronald Reagan in Indiana, home of Abraham Lincoln in Illinois and of Herbert Hoover in Iowa.  Lots of interesting places to visit, but we're anxious to get back home.  At least we're on familiar territory, having hit I-80 near Davenport, IA.  Not much navigational skill necessary to get back home from here.

We stopped at the rest area in Grinnell, Iowa which we have visited before.  It was interesting to note the connection to Vermont; however, my memory of Grinnell was when my sister, Mary Ann, visited when she was a young college student.  It was a memorable occasion in our family when she went from a small town in New Jersey to a small town in Iowa - kind of a big step in her growth.  Who knew back then that I would have even bigger ties to the Midwest.  Again, thank you to Fargo.

The countryside once we entered Indiana was pretty flat - pretty not only as an adjective, but also as a noun.  Beautiful farmland, interrupted by the large city of Indianapolis, home of the Colts and their huge Lucas Oil Stadium.  We wondered at the clean fields with no weeds, until at one point we were driving alongside a crop duster spraying the fields and making pass after pass as we drove by. Our trip yesterday was cloudy with patches of rain, but no big storms.  Planned on stopping earlier, but vacancies seemed to be in short supply in Omaha, so we went on to our present stop.  

Not sure where we'll end up tonight, but I can almost guarantee it will be somewhere on I-80!