Day 106 – Sioux Falls to Omaha
On Sunday, we had scheduled one of our longer drives, so we packed up early and headed south into Nebraska. Our destination was Omaha, where Judy (Tracey’s coworker from Mercy Corps) now lives. After checking into the hotel and unwinding a bit from the drive, we met Judy for dinner at the Granite City Brewery and then called it a night.
Day 107 – Omaha
On Monday, Michael stayed at hotel and worked, while Tracey spent afternoon with Judy at her new house, before enjoying some ice cream and window shopping.
Day 108 – Omaha to Kansas City
We had another long drive ahead of us on Tuesday, so Michael got to work early at the hotel. We checked out, grabbed a quick lunch and said an even quicker goodbye to Judy, then continued our journey south to Kansas City. Since we didn’t arrive until later in the evening, we stayed in for a quiet night at the hotel.
Day 109 – Kansas City
Wednesday started with working from the hotel, then driving to Tracey’s childhood home when she was in 1st grade at Mill Creek in Lenexa, Kansas.
On the way to our next hotel in Kansas City, we stopped for lunch and found a spot for Michael to get a haircut while Tracey window-shopped for a bit at Ross. Then we continued to our new hotel in Kansas City, which was directly across from Kauffman Stadium, where the Kansas City Royals play.
Since Michael’s favorite food is barbecue, we had to find a great, local spot to try some KC-style. After some research, we decided on LC’s Barbeque, which definitely looked like the kind of place we were looking for. We bought enough food for three meals each (but we ate most of it in two) and enjoyed every single bite. It was heavenly. Needless to say, we weren’t going to go anywhere after that feast, so we relaxed in the hotel with full bellies.
Day 110 – Kansas City
Thursday was a full work day from the hotel, then we made the short walk across the street to “the K” to watch the Royals take on the Mariners. It was a perfect night for baseball, about 72 degrees when the game started (and much chillier as the night went on). The Royals won and we had a fun night out.
Day 111 – Kansas City to Ottumwa
We had yet another long drive planned for Friday, so after a morning of work, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to the north and east for Ottumwa, Iowa, probably most famous as the hometown of Radar O’Reilley in M*A*S*H. We didn’t have much time to explore, but we did do some grocery shopping before settling in to the hotel.
Day 112 – Ottumwa to Kieler
Saturday morning was another crisp, cool morning and we had another fairly long drive ahead, so we decided to do a run through the park at the center of town before hitting the road. Our first stop was at the American Gothic House, famous as the background of Grant Wood’s painting, American Gothic. Next, we continued east to Dyersville and the Field of Dreams Movie Site. It was pretty surreal to see the field and house in real life. We also found an awesome souvenir, a toy VW Bus painted to look like the one in the movie.
After leaving Dyersville, we stopped in Dubuque for groceries and then took a slight detour south so we could drive through a tiny piece of Illinois. After that, we moved on into Wisconsin and to our destination, the Rustic Barn Campground. We got to enjoy an awesome sunset over the Mississippi River valley, and then we headed off to bed.
You really are seeing parts of “real” America. Are you planning on stopping off in Indiana to see that house?