this coming tuesday is veterans day.. which means i have an extra time off.. i went to keokuk ia for a mini roadtrip.. (last weekend it was indianapolis for the extra time off due to election).. keokuk is the nearest iowa city coming from springfield il.. the morning drive was fine.. if not for the freezing temperature.. the 20oz cup of coffee i bought at the gas station after filling the gas tank helped only a little to warm me up.. 1 hour into the road i ran into about 10-15minutes of flurries and sprinkles.. in addition to cloudy skies and strong winds.. (i was wondering what the weatherman meant by sprinkles in the morning news until that time).. fortunately it was not enough to slick the road.. long trip out of town can be boring without music that you like.. when you get far enough, familiar radio stations loose signals.. and are replaced by mostly country and gospel music.. i made a mental note to burn a cd of mp3 music for next long trips.. i took the country roads going to keokuk.. and freeways on the way back.. i managed to be there half an hour before noon after 2hours 40minutes of driving.. after debating where to have lunch i ended up in wendys.. yup almost 3hours of driving to eat in wendys.. like there is no wendys in springfield.. when i got inside the restaurant i knew i was in a white turf.. it was full of family with kids from football practice
view of the mississippi river from the observation deck
ioawa and illinois are separated by the great mississippi river.. geographically iowa is north of missouri.. and northwest of illinois.. the land at the other end of the bridge is the illinois town called hamilton.. at this point the river is about half a mile wide
going back to springfield il i took the missouri route.. the first town being alexandria mo
crossing the mississippi river again from missouri to illinois.. quincy il in sight
quincy il tourist information center.. the building was built in 1900 by a quincy resident after his travels in the mediterranean region.. inspired by islamic architecture
most of the farms are bare.. corns were just harvested.. last week during the trip to indianapolis the leaves of trees were of different colors and corn plants are still standing.. now trees have shed their leaves.. and fields are empty.. what a difference a week makes
the marker to 1/4 of the way around the globe from london
