Midwestern roadtrip

If those words don't stir up uncontrollable excitement, I don't know what does.
Thursday morning, I left my house and Marco and headed for the great state of Iowa, where there are apparently "Fields of Opportunity". Google Maps told me that it would take about 11 hours and 33 minutes. They were pretty much on the money with that estimate.
So I drove through Oklahoma, and then onto Kansas. I realized that I would be passing through the state capital in Topeka. Naturally, I had to take a picture. I mean, I was a history major in college!
Here is the capitol building:
And then to add to my love of history, I saw a sign leading me to the courthouse where Brown vs. Board occurred. What an important part of the Civil Rights Movement! So, here is where all of that went down:

Unfortunately, that was the end of fun little sites to see along the way. I went from Kansas, to Nebraska, then to Iowa. The rest of the trip looked a lot like this:
The whole point of this journey was to see one of my best friends, Mindy, get hitched. I was also the guestbook attendant so my presence was absolutely essential..haha. When I arrived in Sioux City, Iowa, it became clear why Mindy always called her hometown 'The Sewer'. Upon entering the town, you are hit with an overwhelming smell that I learned was the burning of animal refuse. Yummy.
But one cool thing about Sioux City is that it's on the border of Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. You can drive to any of those three states literally within a couple of minutes. We stayed the night in South Dakota. Who would have thought I would ever be in South Dakota?!?!?!

Back to the wedding....
Mindy was probably the tiniest little bride I've ever seen. She is one of those naturally size-zero people that we all love to hate (: But anyway, she looked so perfect in her dress and was just beaming. I was able to snag one quick picture with her at the reception. Please excuse my lifeless follicles. I was suffering from South Dakota-flat-hair-syndrome.
Here is a kinda blurry picture with Mindy, her niece Brittney, and her new husband Chris!

Because most of my college friends live all over the country and world, I didn't know a lot of people at the wedding. One of the biggest surprises was that my friend, Ian, made the trip from Florida. Ian was a baseball player at ORU who came in as a freshman when we were sophomores. He and Mindy became great friends through the years (and they even dated for a week or two). Ian was pretty much always there...even when we would have girls' nights. He is all grown up now and has a wife of his own. We got to hang out and talk before the wedding and it was really great to catch up .
This is Ian with one of Mindy's nieces, Ahnah. She has always loved Ian!!!
After dinner and dancing, Mindy and Chris were sent away with sparklers. This is the best my camera could do.
Congratulations to The Hemmelmans!!! They will be starting their new life in D.C.--no more Sewer!!

Because I spent a total of 24 hours in the car--partly due to an accidental jaunt to Missouri (oops!!!), there was a lot of time to think.
Here are some observations from the road.
**Midwesterners are seriously the nicest people I have ever encountered.
**The Kansas Dept. of Tourism needs to come up with a better slogan than, "Kansas: It's not as
bad as you think"
**South Dakota people really sound like the people in 'Fargo' (yes, I realize that is N. Dakota, but
it's pretty darn close!!)
**There's not a lot to do in South Dakota unless you have something in common with Kenny
Rogers
**Your foot gets really sore and cramped when there is no cruise control.
**I will hire childcare for my wedding so that parents without better sense won't stay in the
sanctuary with screaming children.
**I never want to live in Iowa. Ever. Even if Pete Sampras asked me to move there with him.
**The Chicken Dance is probably the worst song imposed on mankind.
**I got the best news ever from a friend right before the ceremony which I will share in a later
post. Seriously, I am so excited about this!!!

And finally, praise God that The Escort made the trip to Iowa and back. That was quite a miracle!!!!