19. Des Moines – 28 April 2012

I was surprised by Iowa.

When I was a kid, my friend Jeff and his family used to drive to Iowa from California during the summer vacation. I think his Dad was from there. So, I grew up with an impression of Iowa based on the tales of those summer vacation drives — mile after mile of cornfield, hot and dry and dusty.

So, when I drove to Des Moines (actually Ames) from Arkansas – up US71 and then to I35 – I was not expecting a big city with a university and with good coffee! I actually found a cool coffee place (called Zanzibar). I did not get much of a chance to look around Des Moines, but it is one of those places I wouldn’t mind going back to for a better look.

The run was good, I ran 10 minutes faster than at St Louis two weeks earlier.