Iowa Wrapup

Day 3: Wednesday

4am

What? That’s right, o-dark-hundred. Dammit. I managed to get ready without poking my eyes out, which was a surprise. Now we play ‘Keystone Cops’. As I’m walking away from the front desk guy to go get something, my Deere contact calls. As we last left it, everyone was supposed to meet at an in-town central location (chevy dealership, which doubled as the rental car place). When I get back to the desk, the guy tells me that the man was calling to make sure I was awake and then said he’d be there (the hotel) in 20 minutes.

Well, he had mentioned yesterday it might be easier to pick me up since I didn’t know my way around town. Fine, I’ll wait. Which of course meant that’s not at all what he said and we were both waiting for each other. Thankfully we both had cell phones.

We he said we were all going to ride down in a van, I thought he meant a van. He meant a mini-van. Focus on ‘mini’. One that suits 5 comfortably. If we were all elves. While I myself am a tiny little freak, most of the others guys weren’t. But worse than the lack of space, was the lack of comfort. You cannot sleep in one of these contraptions. Ugh. So 3.5hrs and no food later, I find my neck has actually broken and I can’t feel my right hand. But as soon as I get out, I don’t care, because now my whole body is numb form the cold (I forgot to put my coat back on in time).

Of course while at ISU for the software demo I was forced to resist the urge to flirt with one of the babe students there. And while driving on the campus tour kept having to say "Do not stare, do not stare!" All I’m saying is cold places have an interesting viewpoint on gawking – sweaters can be fun! Time to go back to DBQ.

So, 3.5hrs of contortionist fun later and we’re back. Mind you, that a good 30 minutes of this drive was consumed debating the proper stage/timing of corn harvesting of particular fields. These guys know way too much about corn. So out of one vehicle and into another. Now it’s time to drive the 70+ miles back to MLI. Both DBQ and MLI use the numbering system for streets in their downtown areas. Like 3^rd St, 5^th Ave, etc. Somewhere between MLI and DBQ I saw 183^rd St. Dammit.

Now I’m traveling around Davenport looking for food. On the way I saw men (one of them very large) shoveling dirt INTO a house. Odd. So I round out the day with dinner before bed. Of course I go to Hooters. Too bad it’s not as good as the ones in the South. And of course, the only place it would be fun to have it chilly, it wasn’t. At least I get to sleep in before my return flight home.