The Cat Trip - Day 3

Last Monday i woke up in Beloit, WI down one cat (intentionally) and ready to collect more new states, but still a little sad about missing the Cheese Castle. Imagine how happy i was to look out the window and see this:

Across the street from our motel was this gem.

Cheese, fireworks AND gifts?
Yes, please.
Could it get any better?



How about a giant mouse on the roof, a silly pun on the sign and a hand carved badger at the door?


It's like i'd come home.
And cheese... boy, howdy was there cheese:

Hunks of cheese aren't really car friendly snacks so i got a little sample platter and a magnet and it was road time.


We had to go back into Illinois to hook back up with the highway west that would give me the most new states and i would like to say this about that: Illinois, you suck. Why all the dang tolls? I managed to do the entire trip on highways without tolls except for Illinois.
Around 2:00 we hit Iowa - NEW STATE!

Iowa is the transition state between the mid-west and the heartlands;
 i know this because of the trucks. There were more trucks than cars, more trucks than people, more trucks than corn. In fact, i saw a huge red thing that looked like a pick-up mated with a Hummer; it was a Ford F-650.
A 650?!?
I didn't even know that they went past 350's. Is there a 450 or a 550?

Also Iowa boasted the World's Largest Truck Stop.
We didn't go inside, but i had to pull into the expansive parking lot to do a cat transition.
And that is about all Iowa had to boast. I'm sure Jason will be quick to point out all of the amazing things in Iowa City there might have been to do and see, but from the highway at 70mph there wasn't much to comment about.

Just past nightfall countryside gave way to the city of Council Bluffs and we crossed the Missouri River into the city of Omaha.

they are serious about their trains here, just ask Colleen

We all know that Omaha is in Nebraska, but there is no Welcome to Nebraska sign on I-80.
Really.
There was tons of Omaha stuff as we drove through the city, but nothing to indicate that we were actually in Nebraska; in fact, it was like Omaha didn't want to admit that it was in Nebraska. It was sort of like the city fell from the sky cause at the edge of town we went right back into complete country: no suburbs, no sprawl, just city and then no city.

There was finally a rest stop to verify that i had indeed collected a NEW STATE.
YIPPEE!


We stopped for the night at an EconoLodge outside Lincoln, NE on Cornhusker Highway. Yes, i slept on Cornhusker Highway, which amused me greatly.
 At the local Perkins i found sweet potato fries that were crinkle cut and my day was complete.

Day 3: Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska; 516 miles