All Fifty, Baby!

We really do have this road tripping thing down to an art. As you see below, we have all we could possibly need packed into two large suitcases, two backpacks, two camera bags, and a gym back full of shoes. Well, the snacks are missing, and of course they are a need, but I wasn't moving them from the kitchen island to the floor for a photo op.

We got out the door around 7:50 this morning. I was ready for a cup of coffee, but Tim had other things in mind. He is not usually the one to make the decisions for the dining destinations, but he definitely had one in mind as we were headed through Washington, where he teaches. Washington is his turf; he proved it by suggesting this beauty for breakfast:

Why yes, that is a chocolate long john with a crispy slice of bacon on top. And yes, it was as good as it looks. (You didn't think you'd get a food pic this early on, did you?)

We hustled our way up Highway 47 then 61 through Hannibal and 27/218/380 into Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Part of the fun of our road trips is the spontaneity...well for me anyway. Tim plans the trip including the route. I just hang on for the ride. As we crossed the Iowa border and I realized we were going to go through Cedar Rapids, I texted my sister-in-law, who is from there with this question, "Anything we need to eat/do/see in Cedar Rapids (that doesn't take long)?" It's not really a fair question, since "doesn't take long" is a relative term, but Carla gave the perfect answer, "Czech Village...get yourself a kolace."

Sykora Bakery, an authenic Czech bakery where we got these...

Kolace

And I checked the spelling on their website, it's kolace, not kolache, as it is in St. Louis.

Tim's was apple, mine was blueberry. They're better than the ones I've had in St. Louis--the pastry was more tender. Delicious!

Just right around the corner from Sykora is the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library. This is where my brother and sister-in-law's wedding reception was held. It sits right on the Cedar River!

From Cedar Rapids, we ventured further into the sweeping plains of the mid-west, covered by more rows and rows and rows and rows...and rows and rows...of corn fields. With cornfields come really big bugs. In fact, I almost titled this post, "We Killed A Lot of Bugs Today."

 This picture sums up what we saw for most of the afternoon and into the evening. 

I wish I could show you, but after about fourteen hours of driving/riding, we weren't getting out in the almost dark to take a picture at the state line, which was really just a sign over the highway. Today, at 10:13 p.m., we entered North Dakota, the last of our glorious fifty states! We'll find something interesting to do here to make it official, but we're claiming it tonight.

We pulled into Fargo around 10:20. I think Fargo may give Austin a run for its money in the weird category:

It's a terrible picture--SPACE ALIENS GRILL & BAR

We will not be eating there as our official event in North Dakota. Until tomorrow...