Well, we finally made it out of the Chicagoland area, and are now sitting in Dottie's Cafe in Dubuque, Iowa. We left around 6 am, and had to return to my apartment because I forgot a pillow and that egg crate foam thing. We're still going to make it clear across Iowa today.
Our first real stop was at the Road Ranger travel stop. We had been on a quest for peppered beef jerky and finally found some. More on this beef jerky to come. I know what you're thinking, "Are you kidding me? I want to hear more right now!" Patience, my friends.
We took I-20, a beautiful and scenic route. The landscape changed from urban to rural to very, very rural. The cornfields changed to forests and quaint little towns. Barns and silos, little shops and bars, hills and one-lane roads And then there was the mighty Mississippi. We crossed into Iowa and Adam and I decided to get gay married, just because we could.
Actually, we decided to pull off and take in the steep and high hills of Dubuque. On Fourth Street, there is a funicular elevator that takes to to the top of a hill. It has burned down five times, and has been there since the 1880s in one form or another. An old man with snappy shoes and a cane got into the rickety car with us, a part of his daily commute. The ride up was $1, round trip $2. From the top, we could see the beautiful commerce district, the Mississippi River, Wisconsin, Illinois and (obviously) Iowa. Dubuque is far under-rated.
Dottie's Cafe is a small greasy spoon, perfect for reflecting on the morning's endeavors. Regulars sit and read the paper, the waitresses talk about the kids getting their hair cut in preparation for the upcoming school year. We got the morning special for $4 which included bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast. It doesn't get much better than that. The coffee is exactly the way you think coffee will taste at a greasy spoon diner.
Our next stop will be the Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa. I love hobos. And musuems.
I'm driving. :)
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