Day 5 - July 6, 2020

You won't believe what happened today!

First, Ian had a Zoom meeting this morning so I moved the car because we parked in a 2-hour max spot. I mention this only for foreshadowing purposes. I moved the car without a problem. So far, we have successfully avoided paying for parking.

We left the Hotel Indigo - which is by far the best hotel for COVID safety and overall quality so far. Today was my first day of driving because Ian worked remotely from the car. We actually didn't go very far west but moved up north toward Des Moines. For the first time, it started to rain while we had the top down. So, I had to pull over beneath an underpass to "reconvert" - you can't do it when the car is in motion.

Ian did some research while I was driving and found the Iowa taphouse in downtown Des Moines. It has 99 taps exclusively from Iowa breweries. When we got there, they didn't have any parking and recommended that we drive down the street where metered parking was 25 cents for an hour. We were the only ones parked on the street We each got a flight and drank on their patio. It was warm, but pleasant in the shade. While Ian went to the bathroom, I went to the car to refresh the meter...and we had a little gift for us! Wow, they must have been watching our car - I must have only been a few minutes past our time. Anyway, lesson learned - we'll be sure to put an alarm on our phones so we don't stay past our meter time.

We hit another brewery in West Des Moines - which seems to be its own thing. It was nice and had outside seating as well. I got a couple of tasters and was surprised by a sour beer that tasted more like a fruit smoothie than a beer. Yum!

Afterward, we headed to Omaha. There, we walked around the Old Market area...very few people were wearing masks. Next, we went to the Heartland of America Park, but it was under construction - there was no way to see it - bummer!

We got a cheap, but a nice, hotel in Lincoln, NE - Staybridge Suites (I'll be sure to report all our costs when I finish blogging this trip). People can only enter the hotel if they are a guest. There are sanitizer dispensers at the elevators. Impressive! We got two vegetarian Ronzas - a stuffed sandwich that is a local specialty. They were tasty, but nothing to write home about...but I guess I am here anyway! :)

Surprisingly, my favorite part of today was...the driving. The green, rolling hills with windmills were amazing to see. We saw multiple trucks hauling windmill parts across the state. It was very cool to see the midwest embrace renewable energy!

It's also been nice to see the fight for racial justice in multiple states now. White folks in Iowa seem particularly fed up (see below)!

Tomorrow, we plan to visit two breweries on our way to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We are rethinking our visit to the Petrified Forest because there is a serious COVID outbreak there. One of the best things about a road trip is our ability to be flexible.