Day 1 – Highway 30 Barn Tour

Sometime over the winter, in anticipation of our summer trip to Wyoming, Tommy found the Highway 30 Barn Tour which sounded pretty interesting. We are trying more and more to get off the interstates and see rural America. So we planned our route (yep–right straight across Iowa on Highway 30), got directions to the barns (so we thought) and hit the road.

We left the house about 6:20 a.m. and stopped in Cartersville for breakfast at McDonald’s. They really do have pretty good chicken and sausage biscuits.

Bubba is such a good traveler! He gets in the truck, moves to his back seat, curls up in his bed and goes to sleep.

Why does it seem like whenever we hit Nashville we get into rain or traffic (usually traffic). This time we were unfortunate enough to get both.


The sign said “American Recovery & Reinvestment Act”:

We drove about 12 miles and saw a gazillion orange barrels. We saw no workers. This was in the middle of the day on Wednesday. I guess the reinvestment and recovery was for the orange barrel manufacturer?


Tommy is always on the lookout for something out of the ordinary. Bubba and I were minding our own business (read: snoozing) when Tommy slowed down and made a u-turn and pulled into the driveway for the EnvoTech-Illinois Landfill. This is right next to a cemetery. Hmmmmmm….
I really think that these windmills are fascinating. I don’t really know why, but I do. But, aren’t they supposed to be moving? We saw lots and lots of these windmills all across Iowa and Nebraska but didn’t see any actually moving until we got to Wyoming.

While Tommy is usually looking for unusual things, I am usually looking for flowers. I found this Butterfly Bush and Queen Anne’s Lace at a rest area.


Bubba looks like he’s trying to keep an eye open, but he lost the battle!

We arrived in Clinton, Iowa at 7:50 p.m. (Eastern time). A long13 hour drive.

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