Holiday Inn Des Moines Dwntwn-Mercy Campus

... navigating us through Des Moines to the hotel. Tomorrow, head over towards the Quad Cities, see my aunt who just got diagnosed a couple days ago with stage 4 cancer that had spread to the brain, and then work towards home for a late night arrival. Sigh, there have been many things that have made us wonder if this vacation should have occurred, but yet we survived and life with hectic and chaotic once we get home, Sigh

... about Australia and our American experience to date. Some time passed and everyone was seated and then the bridal party arrived. First the bridesmaids and groomsmen and then the happy couple, in through the door, arms raised and to much applause. Alicia and Nate took their seats but Alicia being Alicia worried about everyone being hungry (as well as the football starting soon) so did a quick intro and got everyone eating. After dinner there were very touching speeches by Chris ...

Rightyo, another day begins with waking up on the couch way too early to the sun coming in the blinds and Kym battling the cats to get outside. Today though was the day before White Dress Day as well as my first challenge of the week - driving in the States.<br><br>Alicia was up early as she had appointments to keep and people to see so she drove me down to the airport to collect the car. I collected a Pontiac G6, a decent looking mid-size car similar in size to my Lancer but obviously newer ...

... it was pretty loud so I couldn't really hear across the table. I was talking to Mark and Stephanie and we all realised way too late in the night that it was Guinness Day, the 250th anniversary of the first batch of Guinness. And Stephanie likes it! Sadly everyone was on their way out and we had to forgo the addition of Guinness for another night.<br><br>So that's the end of my first full day in the United States. A good start to the trip and looking forward to what's to come.<br>

... little tougher than I imagined, but not horrible. We then showered and hit the road towards Des Moines. We arrived and parked downtown. After walking around for about 15 minutes, we felt like we had seen all we wanted to see, haha. It was a little bigger than Knoxvilles downtown, but it seemed like noone was smiling and there wasn't anything around except buisnesses. Maybe we were in the wrong part, but oh well. We left after grabbing a bite to eat for lunch and started towards Nebraska...

... did a quick bog lap around town. There was a fair bit of construction going, hopefully it will add further to the city when complete. <br><br> We had heard that the bridges from the movie the Bridges of Madison County weren't too far so we drove a little further south to Winterset, Madison County. How romantic, you drive down a dusty road through a corn field and there in ...

... rings were OK but I concentrated on trying to finish my sandwich first while keeping an wary eye on the weather outside. Check one off my food list!<br><br>I was then finally on my way to Buffalo Center where my parents and I were staying at Lola's Cottage - a nice little rental house in town. It's a very odd feeling returning to my homeland but not being able to walk into my old room at our house on the farm. While Dad still owns the farmland ...

... today, with heavier amounts to the east. Sincce I'll drop down into Colorado from Nebraska, I hope Friday'll continue my making-good-progress streak. Heading south from Des Moines looks like it'll place me right in the middle of the storm as it makes its way eastward, so that doesn't look like a good alternative. Stay tuned to see where I end up Friday night!

... Wales and it had been over a year since we had seen them, so we were due for a trip over that way. They would be able to provide us a base to begin and end our trip (and hopefully take us out to eat a few times). Both had the same reaction when we told them. "You're doing what?" "And for how long?" It's just five months in Europe. It's really not that long when you think about it. We'll be back before you know ...

... O Connor) and Mon which made it sound like I was saying Des-Mon. Still, it amused the locals. We pulled up at a Days Inn along the interstate and noticed a leaflet for a place called Prarie Meadows. Which was a local horse-racing venue with a Casino built on the side. So we checked in, got directions from the girl at the front desk and off we went in search of some horse racing. And what a fab little place it turned out to be. They had a full evenings horse racing scheduled, of ...