Holiday Inn Des Moines-Airport/Conf Center

Day 15<br>10/22/2009<br>Witchita, Kansas to Des Moines, Iowa<br>Huh, yeah, reality is coming back slow but sure and that should just about say it all. It was insanely cold this morning, 40 degrees. Ok, so a week ago I was sweating bullets in the 90 degree weather on the first full day of vacation that we did not have any rain, and now 40 degrees and rain with predictions of heavy wet snow and I 70 is closed to the west ...

... Nate had some ornaments made up for the guests that were golf balls mementos but they had nowhere to hang them. Nate suggested they put the Christmas Tree up as Alicia's LOVES Christmas (a little too much for a healthy human being :p) to which Alicia tells us she objected to on the outside but was crying "YES YES YES" on the inside. It was very different yet a nice touch to the wooden interior room.<br><br>Guests started arriving and one of Nate's aunties sat with us so we traded ...

... br><br>Alicia had mentioned a couple of funny little things and the bane of my American road trip introduced itself to me on the journey to Alicia's place - 4-way stop signs. They kind of made sense, kind of didn't (we'd use roundabouts for the same purpose) but I managed to get home in one piece, without running stop signs and without attracting attention of the police; not that I wasn't worried about that last one.<br><br>The morning was spent with everyone packing things as Mark, Kym ...

... my rhythm against Alicia.<br><br>After the games it was time to head home but not before a trip to Hyvee; basically a large scale version of Coles/Woolworths mixed with Chemist and Liquor store but with way more things and much cooler and cheaper. Mark found the liquor aisle and dragged me down it and we were amazed at the prices. So so cheap! Mark took some photos for proof but the big one came in the form of beer. $6 for a six-pack! Ridiculous.<br><br>Soon it was off ...

... middle a gurgling stream is an enclosed bridge (as seen in the movie) stretching across. There are several of the bridges around town, we saw a few but our fav was probably at the town park where they also had a castle like structure and a big garden maze, fun! And to add to the appeal of this town it is also John Waynes birth place. They have the house he was born in ...

... it one bit funny. I quickly gave up and just threw my suitcase and bag in the back seat, got in and slammed the door shut. A quick glance in the mirror confirmed I looked like a drowned rat. Welcome home.<br><br>My first stopping point, and the most important, was Smitty's Tenderloin on Army Post Road for a genuine breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. Um um um. My most favorite food of all and it's hard to come by in the desert southwest. The ...

... big holes. Don't believe your GPS when it offers to navigate you to Greenough's Liquors in Des Moines; it's gone. Well, back to business. I'm keeping an eye on the weather for friday. Right now, I think I'll be in good shape as the snow will have exited Colorado to the south and east by the time I get near it. The Weather Channel says Denver got 7.5" of ...

... we didn't go now it would never happen. So we made the decision. At first it was just a big secret. Well, we told our cats. We let our parents in on our plans because without them none of it would be possible. Sarah's parents are in town and just so happen to have a tiny "apartment" that would get us by once we sold our house, and a basement we wanted to fill with our stuff. Jason's parents are missionaries ...

... impressive as well. It goes on for as far as you can see and it really does take some getting used to that it's a lake. It's just so huge. We headed out of Chicago and didn't really know where we were heading, except Nebraska, so we stuck a pin in the map (well, actually we read the lonely planet, but it sounds far more exciting to say we decided like that) and headed for Des Moines, which is pronounced D'Moine although I didn't realise this so kept pronouncing it as Des (as in ...

... For one thing, the U.S. has almost a three-month supply of oil tucked away in the Strategic Petroleum Res**ve (SPR). Established in 1975, the SPR is only to be tapped during an en**gy em**gency. The SPR was first used in January 1991, during the P**sian Gulf Crisis. The United States has also turned to non-Arab and non-OPEC ...