Westward, Ho!

The next leg of our journey took us across the entire southern strip of Iowa.  It was also a four-state day.  Recall that Keokuk is in the southeastern most portion of Iowa.  We crossed the Mississippi into Illinois and turned around back into Iowa.  We then headed south into Missouri and turned west for a bit, popping back into Iowa as soon as circumstances allowed.

Once back in Iowa, we hit Iowa Highway 2, which took us across the southern-most part of the state.  The best way to explain this leg of the trip is "relaxing."  The roads were relatively straight, with the occasional gentle bend.  The pace was easy.  The landscape was relatively flat.  Lots of farmland and countryside.  I was once again pleasantly surprised.  I expected that this part of the trip would bore me, but it didn't.  I enjoyed cruising through the tiny towns that dotted the road.  I appreciated the sunshine and countryside.  It was a full day, but it didn't seem that way.

We hit the western-most point in Iowa before we knew it, and decided to continue into Nebraska, again, just so that we could say we hit four states in a single day.  I think we covered a bit over 300 miles that day, but again, it didn't seem like that big of a deal.

Another thing I noticed on that day... people in Southern Iowa have accents that are distinct from those in Northern Iowa.  Those in Northern Iowa have an accent similar to those in Minnesota or Wisconsin... a bit of a Norse accent.  Those in Southern Iowa are starting to pick up a bit of a southern twang.  And these accents are both more pronounced in the Eastern part of Iowa than they are to the west.