Leg 2 - Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois

I guess it's my turn to update our road trip log. So... Motel 8 is not a favorite. We didn't sleep well because the pillows are as hard as rocks. We should have just retrieved our own pillows, which happened to be in the car just outside. I guess it serves us right for not having brought them in, end of complaint. But, due to the unfortunate pillow situation, we were both wide awake at 6 am, and decided to get an early start. 

As we went through Nebraska, we saw a whole lot more of this:

Even more exciting, we saw some of these windmill things that remind me of "The Wizard of Oz".

Oh, and it did a whole lot of this throughout our trip:

Those beautiful droplets of gathered rain that you see are courtesy of Rainex, which we applied to our windshield and back window before our trip. 

Back to the story. After hours of driving we made it to Iowa, which is Nebraska's twin. It could even be Nebraska's identical twin.

We did get to see more of these fellows that were so prevalent in Wyoming. Just in case you were wondering, Iowa and Nebraska are not related to Wyoming, well, maybe distant cousins. 

Tonight we're staying in Keokuk, Iowa, bordering Illinois and the Mississippi River. Since we arrived early, we took advantage of our time here to visit Nauvoo. More importantly, we dropped off the stowaway passenger, Keokuk the snapping turtle, at his new home. 

About 2 years ago I found Keokuk (now named Toby) on the road while I was running one morning in Keokuk when my family was here for vacation. Long story short, I smuggled him to Utah, where he has spent the past few years beefing up so he can make it out in the cruel world. He was about the size of a quarter, you can see how much he has grown.

I was a little sad to let him free, but when he pretty much ran to the water and buried himself in the mud we knew he would be just fine. That, and he has been catching fish in the tank for the past while. I have learned one lesson, do not smuggle snapping turtles home. They are not friendly pets, and they are ugly. (Sorry Keokuk/Toby.)

We also had to take advantage of the moment for a photo-op. Bear with us, please.

While in Nauvoo, we decided to take it easy and just enjoy the nice weather. We walked around the temple, and took the walk down the "Trail of Hope", or Parley Street. 

Kenz got all artsy with this picture of the temple with some tulips. Looks great, right?!

A view of the temple from Parley Street.

Tomorrow we head to Illinois for good. We will spend some time in Nauvoo again, and stop by Carthage on the way out. There's a Chinese place in Carthage that serves some fresh out-of-the-can Chinese food that we may stop by to take a picture. (I'll explain this later.)