Monday, September 9 – Des Moines, Iowa to Lafayette, Indiana

We were both awakened by a loud thunderstorm at 3:30 am. We left the motel about 7:15 in morning drizzle with a temperature of 67 degrees. The above photo is a pretty fountain we saw just a few minutes after leaving our motel.

Monday morning traffic in Des Moines

The windmills looked pretty in the morning haze

We saw signs of many farms and lots of farmland during our morning drive.

There was corn and soybeans as far as we could see in the morning drizzle and haze.

Cerwin pointed out this pretty truck with large smoke stacks.

Since we were traveling east on I-80 we decided to stop at the I-80 truck stop – the World’s Largest Truck Stop. We had driven by here several years ago, but didn’t have time to stop.

The entrance and store area was indeed large and unusual.

That is a full tractor trailer rig in the background.

There was a beautiful Kenworth in the chrome shop area.

A whole row of smoke stacks

This Peterbilt was continually turning.

Steering wheels

A pig bench. 🙂

This old Ford was on display in the snack area.

We decided to take a pastry with us for a later snack.

We enjoy strong truck stop coffee, so decided to add some “kick” to our motel coffee. 🙂

It was fun to have a break and see this huge truck stop in the middle of Iowa corn and soybean fields.

This was a corn field right next to the truck stop.

A soybean field next to the corn

We couldn’t decide if this was a field of weeds – or weed. We had seen other fields that looked like this. We thought it may be hemp as it is now legal to raise it some places.

On the road again

A large load

It was 10:35 am (Central Time) when we entered Illinois. Our trip odometer showed 4,485 miles.

You will often see a blur in the foreground of my traveling pictures, because most of them are taken while we are going down an interstate at 70-80 miles an hour – depending on the local speed limit. 🙂

A large windmill propeller going by us on the interstate.

I enjoy seeing creative mottos and signs.

When Cerwin said, “Look at those pipes!” I was looking for a truck with a load of pipes – not the smoke stack.

Someone definitely had access to unusual smoke stacks. 🙂

A blurry view of it in my rearview mirror.

We crossed the Indiana state line at 1:18 pm and by 2:25 were back in Eastern Standard Time – our home time. Now it was 3:25 pm. We have been in three time zones in the past twelve days – Central and Eastern Standard time twice.

After getting settled in our room in Lafayette, we went to a steak house for a 5:30 pm supper with friends who live nearby.

It was so good to see Peggy and Clayton again. I couldn’t decide if I liked flash or non-flash best, so posted both. 🙂 I like the softness of non-flash, but the clarity of flash.

Our friendship began many years ago (probably 2006) when Peggy and I were blogging on Xanga. We met face-to-face a year or two later when we were delivering a chapel to East St Louis.

It was an incredible blessing to spend the evening with them and catch up on our churches and family and talk about many subjects that are of mutual interest to all four of us.

Thanks, Clayton and Peggy for setting aside the evening – during a busy week at your house.