We leave the bags at the front desk, have a quick breakfast and walk our way back to the Hertz office, 10 blocks north. When we get there not only do they not have our reservation for today but they also don't know anything about us dropping off the car on Sunday. After quite a bit of telephoning, being irritated and nervousness they finally confirm the closure of the last rental contract and open up a new one. We get the same car in a different colour. This time cobalt blue.
We miss the onramp for the highway out of town and detour through a latin-american neighbourhood. Then we have a straight drive for the next 5 hours. The woman at the toll booth gives Fabri our change with this friendl greeting: 'Go kill yourselves, motherf*$%&rs'. I swear. I couldn't make this stuff up. It took us at least 2 minutes to register that that's ACTUALLY what she said.
We stop along the way at the I-80 truckstop. It's the biggest in the world! We see alot of trucks parked. See a store full of things to buy for the trucks. Take a photo in front of a truck and then eat tacos.
We divert off the route to the Amana Colonies in Iowa. It's a group of villiages that were once run communally and are now very tourist friendly. They're not like the Amish but did start in a similar way. We popped into an antiques shop and ended up spending quite a lot of time and a little bit of money there on things that surely only Fabri and I see as having any value. A few items on the list: a fan, a wagon, a milk bottle, mustard seeds, Jughead comic book.
We get into Des Moines only to find out that I've done it again. It seems I've booked a Inn on the outskirts of town instead of actually in the city and the Inn is inhabited only by long-term residents who are either running from the law or fighting with their wives. The only lady round these parts is the landlady. Oh, and the only thing Bavarian about it is the name. I feel terrible about it at first but then remember that it's all part of the adventure, and anyhow, the restaurant we thought about going to isn't even that far...
... by American standards. It's actually quite far if you think about it, 6 miles away, but we get there in a flash and order a steak and a plate of spaghetti with meatballs. I don't manage to eat even a third of my portion as I'm overwhelmed by the size of the plate and was force fed a soup as a starter. Why do they give you soup or salad with everything???
We rush out of dinner to catch the 9:15 screening of UP in 3D nearby the hotel. We get there in time and are even provided free popcorn (which I accidentally spill all over the floor). The lights go down and we watch the billions of 3D trailers of films coming out. Then we watch Partly Cloudy, which is adorable and fantastic and I have a signed poster in my office!! I liked UP but I cried through most of the movie. I don't know why they had to make it so sad. Is that a style that's going on now? I also cried in Mary and Max but at least int hat one I was spared until the end. With UP I was waterworks from the getgo. Embarrassing as there were a total of 3 of us in the cinema... sniffle sniffle... wipe wipe.
Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa
355 mi – circa 5 ore 40 min
Bavarian Inn
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