Day 9 - The Long and Boring Road

Today was another travel day. But unlike other travel days when there was a fun stop (or outrageous food) somewhere along the way, this was a day with very little options. We were driving from St. Louis to Dyersville, IA (for the Field of Dreams tomorrow). The only town along the way that I had ever heard of was Hannibal, MO, birthplace of Mark Twain. So, after two hours of driving we pulled into Hannibal around lunch time. Driving through Hannibal was kind of like one of those old Westerns, where a guy pulls into town on a horse and the town is empty. Hannibal is empty. Building after building had vacant stores, and there were about 3 people on the streets. We parked right in front of the Mark Twain Museum, and at that point decided to check on tropicana.com to see if they had any 2-1 coupons (side note: if you drink Tropicana orange juice and noticed the codes on the caps it's worth entering them into an account, as they had pretty good coupons all over the country. We have saved a decent amount of money by using them.)


Usually we check the night before, but this time we (read: I) forgot to look. Sure enough they did have a 2-1 coupon for the museum. So, I unpacked the printer (yes, in addition to our own drying rack, we have also been traveling with our own printer - what, you don't?) and set it up in the front seat and printed the coupons (good thing, because we saved a whopping $7.50 - it all counts).



Before we entered the museum, we had to find someplace to eat. Being that the choice was between an incredibly smoky bar/restaurant and a place that had a $6.29 all-you-can-eat pizza buffet ($3.50 for kids), we went with the deluxe buffet.


The museum was mostly about Twain's books, and since Ethan has only read Huck Finn (or so he says), and Brian and Amanda knew nothing about Twain (and Debbie and I could not remember if we had ever read any of his books), the museum was not really all that exciting. That is, until we met Mr. Twain himself. Then the fun started (not really, but it was something).




After we left the thrilling Hannibal, MO, we headed out for another 3.5 hours or so towards Iowa. This could have been the most boring ride this side of the NJ Turnpike. Basically, unless you are a huge fan of corn farms, there is nothing else to see. Picture a corn farm. Nice looking, right? Now picture them for 220 miles, one after another (after another after another...). You get the point.

We finally pulled into Dyersville around 8:00 and the choices for dinner were Dairy Queen, Subway, Quiznos or the Country Kitchen (a local restaurant). Frankly, based on what we had just driven through, we weren't really sure there would even be this large of a selection. We went with the local establishment, and it was surprisingly good.

We wrapped up the evening with some work while the kids watched Field of Dreams. I have told the boys that they are obligated to say to me on the field "Hey Dad, wanna have a catch?" If they don't, I am leaving them in Iowa.