Omaha

We ended up sleeping last night at the styling Crowne Plaza in (HOly) Toledo. All we've done today is drive and listen to the Empire Strikes Back radio drama. In case anyone is wondering, we're not continuing on to Return of the Jedi. Mark Hamill wasn't available for it, so they got Jesse Bradford to voice Luke, and Jesse Bradford is my second least favorite part of the West Wing. Fun fact: the voice of Jabba the Hutt in the Jedi radio drama was Ed Asner. Now you know.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Port Drive In somewhere just east of Chicago. Well, southeast. East would have been in Lake Michigan. Anyway, they make their own root beer, they had phosphates on the drink menu, and the best chili dog I've ever had. It surprised me. It tasted fine while I was eating it, but then as soon as I was finished I became incredibly sad that there was no more. Poor Steve had a veggie burger.

While on the drive we wanted to see a nine foot tall guitar playing Elvis, and the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk, but we missed the exits for both of them. We also had a bit of a scare during the afternoon. I was driving in the middle of nowhere, when we heard the cheerful ding ding ding of the fuel light. We found a gas station in the middle of a corn field about ten miles from Reagan's birthplace. Thanks, Gipper.

For dinner, we sampled some of Des Moines' famous Indian food. You know how proud those Iowans are of their Indian food. Actually, it was very good, and we both enjoyed having some vegetables and nice spices. Turns out Iowa is really into pork, so Indian was basically the only place with any vegetables on the menu at all. I think Steve was the only vegetarian in the entire state. This one restaurant we looked into had four kinds of fish, and they were all fried.

We were surprised by how hilly Iowa is, and how pretty the hills are. I expected it to be flatter and more corn-filled, like Illinois or Indiana. Speaking of three of the four I states, the speed limit in Iowa and Indiana is 70, which is great. The speed limit in Illinois was 55, which wa really not so great.

Now we're at the stylish Omaha Hilton. Our room has two double beds. They look comically small.