Corn Corn Corn!

We spent much of today driving through Iowa -- Heartland Country. For the most part, we saw corn. Fields of tall and short corn stretched from horizon to horizon in neat fields. Actually, we drove for a bit through southern Minnesota and then dropped down into Iowa. The northern part of Iowa was flat (with corn fields everywhere) and gradually, the terrain became more rolling -- but the corn fields continued! As we neared Illinois, there were a few more cities, most notably Cedar Rapids. I had pictured Cedar Rapids as a very pretty, green riverfront town. Wrong. I didn't see the river, and the town is clearly heavily industrialized. There was evidence of factories and warehouses everywhere -- not all that beautiful! We carried on and soon approached the Quad Cities. We clipped the corner of Davenport before heading in a southeast direction toward Peoria.
We are now in Illinois -- in Galesburg. We aren't very impressed with the Super 8 Motel. It's expensive and it smells like smoke, even though a sign informs us that it became smoke free in January 2008. There isn't much around here, so we walked to McDonald's and ordered McRib sandwiches. Supper for both of us cost about $5.50 -- one extra dollar over and above the combo price bought a second sandwich, so we shared the chips and had plenty for two. I suppose it is also fair to say that we bought sundaes for dessert. One thing this motel does have is reasonably good coffee available in the rooms, so I had coffee with my ice cream.

We've made pretty good time today. I forgot to reset the trip odometer, so I can't tell exactly how far we've traveled. However, I estimate that it was about 800 km. Tomorrow, we expect to be in Louisville in good time since it is only about 600 km. I'd like to find a shop that can give me a hand with my camera. Something is wrong with the power. Most times when I turn it on, the lens moves out and then immediately moves back in and the camera shuts off. It's almost as if the batteries are dead, but I have tried putting new ones in several times. I have a sneaking suspicion that something is "on" regardless of what I do. Anyway, that's the reason for no pictures -- my camera doesn't work. Here's our route for tomorrow though.