We decided to leave Kimball early this morning so we would have some time to wind down at our destination, West Des Moines, Iowa (actually it is Adel, IA). One of the benefits of this early departure was one of the nicest sunrises we have seen in some time. There were a lot of low hanging clouds and haze so that when the sun started to come up, the clouds were painted in different shades of orange.

It wasn't long after we left Kimball, that we knew we were out of the foothills of the Rockies and into the Great Plains. The first hour or so we gradually lost elevation until we reached 2,000 feet and the land flattened out. Up to this point the terrain was prairie grasses and supported grazing cattle. When the land flattened out, we started to see the corn fields. There were other crops growing in the fields that we could not identify, but corn was king. Also at this point, the South Platte River ran parallel to the highway. The South Platte river meanders across northeastern Colorado and southwestern Nebraska. Because the land is relatively flat it runs very shallow and meanders so that sometimes it was in sight and other times we could only see the trees that grow alongside it (mainly cottonwoods) in the distance. James Michner referred to the river in his book, "Centennial," which takes place on the river. He described it as, "too thin to plow and too thick to drink."

As we continued east, the North Platte River joined the South Platte River at the town of North Platte to form the Platte River. It does a fair share of meandering as well and we lost sight of it west of Omaha. The rest of the scenery remained the same, flat earth, corn fields and more corn fields. We crossed the Missouri River at Omaha although we never saw it. We were so focused in the act of driving in the urban traffic of Omaha that we were a few miles into Iowa before we knew it. There is only one difference that we can identify between Nebraska and the 140 miles of Iowa that we crossed so far... both are covered in corn fields, but Iowa has hills. This campground is surrounded by corn fields and it looks like someone decided to dedicate a few acres to harvesting tourist cash.

Since we are in the middle of a corn field, we find ourselves without Internet service for only the second time on the trip. Consequently, this will be uploaded tomorrow if we have a working connection. This campground advertises free Internet. I think it only works when you are sitting next to the antenna in the office and nowhere else. This is a problem we found in a number of campgrounds where the owners want to provide a service but don't want to put up a professional system. They put up a wireless system that is designed for home use and feel it is OK. I have told more than one campground owner that I would rather pay for good service than be frustrated by a system that is weak or doesn't have the bandwidth to satisfy the demand.