GTTC: Day 11

In Rapid City, we stayed at the Ramkota Inn and Conference Center. This mosaic was on the floor in the lobby.


The front entryway had bears (carved) all over it. Can you find them?


The road across South Dakota is about as straight as a road can be.


Somewhere along the way, we stopped at a Sinclair station and found their mascot.


All across South Dakota, it was gray and rainy. Just after crossing into Iowa, we stopped at a welcome center and were inside for a few minutes. When we came out, it was like the happy song in a Walt Disney animated movie -- the flowers were blooming, the sun was out, the birds were singing. Iowa seemed to be a much happier place than South Dakota.

Notice how the bench is shaped like a canoe.

See the sunshine filtering through the trees? The welcome center was very nice, with free wireless internet, a complete information center with free maps and brochures and magazines about things to do in Iowa, etc. Iowa seems to be a very progressive and happening place.


Tonight we're in Omaha, Nebraska, at a Candlewood Suites. The days are getting long.

This evening, we went to a vegetarian restaurant here in Omaha called McFoster's. It was yummy.

We've changed our plans a bit. Originally, we were going to stop tomorrow evening in Mount Vernon, Illinois. However, we decided we'd like to see more of Iowa. We've driven across Missouri several times, but never across Iowa. So tomorrow we'll go east on I-80 across Iowa, through Des Moines to Davenport and Rock Island. Then we'll head southeast across Illinois, passing through Peoria, Bloomington, and Champaign and stopping for the night in Danville, Illinois, on the border with Indiana.

Saturday, we'll go from Danville through Indianapolis, down to Louisville, across to Lexington, and then down I-75 to get home.

Or maybe we'll change our plans again. Stay tuned...