THE PEOPLE OF IOWA WELCOME YOU

On Saturday, July 2nd, we began our Lincoln Highway Adventure with a 5-day road-trip from St. Louis to Iowa - Illinois - Indiana - Ohio, then a visit to my husband's family in Michigan. We packed on Friday evening as to get on the road at 8:15 a.m. the next morning after bagels and coffee. We filled up the cooler with ice, water bottles and mocha drinks. We headed west on I-64, then north on US-61 and after a few stops for photos, we arrived in Hannibal, Missouri. We had 15 minutes to order breakfast at the Mark Twain Dinette (they stop serving breakfast at 11:00 a.m.) We filled up the gas tank on the Mustang (the T-bird is not comfortable for long distance). At 12:18 p.m. we were in Lee County, Iowa.

There is a Vietnamese expression, "Di Mot Ngay Dang, Hoc Mot Sang Khon" meaning {A person gains an education when travelling} or something like that :) Up until July 2nd, I never knew about the Avenue of the Saints. Visit http://www.iowadot.gov/ for more information about this important highway connecting St. Paul, Minnesota, running thru Iowa to St. Louis, Missouri.

I would like to compliment the people of Iowa for the excellent coordination of the red, white and blue signs. We purchased a handy glove-compartment guide, "Lincoln Highway Companion: A Guide to America's First Coast-to-Coast Road" by Brian Butko. The guide provides charted maps, must-see attractions, places to eat and interesting facts along the highway. Iowa did a great job at strategically placing the familiar big L signs at intersections really helped us to stay on the right track without a need for constantly looking at the guide.

We enjoyed driving along the endless fields of corn. Far and between the fields are homes and red barns dotting the landscapes. We stopped a few times to take photos of decorated barns, especially those painted with the American flag.

After Cedar Rapids, we drove thru Mount Vernon, Lisbon, Merchanicsville, and stopped in Stanwood for a cup of coffee and homemade pies at Ditto's. CP had a raspberry cobler and I had the usual coconut cream pie. We highly recommended Ditto's when you are in Stanwood, Iowa.

The next towns were Clarence (look for interesting photos in the next post), Lowden and Calamus. At 4:41 p.m. we stopped in Grand Mound to add more gas before crossing into Illinois. The price per gallon was around $3.89 for mid-grade.