A table for two in Omaha

Day 2

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Danville, IL to Council Bluffs, IA

527 miles

By dawn the foul weather had moved out and was replaced by clear skies and sunshine. As we exited Kickapoo State Park, we got a better look at the place. It was quite attractive, actually. Most visitors come there because of a series of large ponds that people boat and fish on. The campground where we stayed, located in a grove of 20-40-year-old trees with mowed lawns between them, was quite beautiful in the silvery dew. We agreed that it was a nice place that we would return to if we were ever in this neck of the woods again.

We continued northwestward across Illinois through Peroria, which straddles the Illinois River, and Moline.  We got a kick out of crossing the Mississippi River into Iowa. Within the first two miles, we saw at least a dozen picturesque barns surrounded by fields of corn and soy beans.

The day remained clear through lunch time when we arrived in Des Moines. We needed an oil change so we used Bob’s iPhone to look up a JiffyLube near I-80 and pulled in, trailer and all. As it turned out, this was not just any JiffyLube. The five guys who serviced our car proudly showed us a huge trophy that proclaimed their store to be the best in the U.S. and Canada! If you ever need an oil change in central Iowa, we highly recommend the Merle Hay Road location!

Our good luck with traffic continued today. Except for a 4 minute slowdown for a fender bender outside Des Moines, we didn’t experience any hassles.

As we moved into western Iowa, we saw hundreds of wind turbines along the Interstate.  They looked strangly out of place next to century-old barns and dirt roads.

We arrived at Lake Manawa State Park and took a walk along the lake's shore which was punctuated by some very large trees (top photo) before driving into Omaha for a much anticipated steak dinner in the historic quarter along the (Missouri) riverfront.