Flatland 6 May 1999, Thursday Started: Pewaukee, Wisconsin, 9:05am (Central time) Reached: Seward, Nebraska, 7:00pm (Central time) Miles: 630 (1489 cumulative) Route: Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Rockford Illinois - Rochelle Iowa - Davenport, Iowa City, Des Moines Nebraska - Omaha, Lincoln Interstates: 94, 894, 43, 90, 39, 88, 80, 35, 29 We had to go back East to Milwaukee to go South-West. Near Milwaukee, we saw traffic lights on entry ramp to a highway. Probably for controlling the congestions. As we drove South through Wisconsin, we saw houses surrounded by big farms. The houses had dome-shaped roofs, probably to avoid accumulation of snow on the roof. The soil of the farms was mostly black in color. It was here that we first saw a 26-wheeler truck! Sure beats the 18-wheelers we see on the East coast. We also spotted a long freight train in the plains, the only thing moving in the rain! The visibility was quite poor, but there was almost no traffic. I saw an armadillo on the road, unfortunately a road-kill. We crossed the Mississippi river at 12:50am to enter the Midwest and the state of Iowa, "You Make Me Smile". We entered Iowa near the Davenport "Quad City". The journey after this was mostly uneventful. Saw a truck full of buffaloes. The vast fields extended on either sides of the road. I didn't see anything that could stop the rain or the clouds. While I was driving, I spotted a jungle fowl in the middle of the road. I changed lane to save it from becoming another road-kill. I was feeling great for the maneuver, when I saw an 18-wheeler truck behind me in the rear-view mirror. The fowl was still on the road. Then the trucker did a very elegant lane-change to save the poor creature! Seeing the huge bulk curving around the tiny bird was a sight! Only then the fowl went off the road. The river names in Iowa were interesting. We saw North Skunk, South Skunk, and Middle Raccoon rivers. We went through Council Bluff, where we saw lots of railroads. Soon the trip-meter in Srinivas's car rolled past 999.9 miles! This is the first time I saw a trip-meter getting reset to 0! We crossed the Missouri river at 6:05pm to enter Nebraska, "The Good Life". Soon we were at Omaha, and saw ten engines pulling a freight train! We soon entered the rural area and the speed limit went up to 75 mph. Now there were lots of SUV's on the road, but the open pickup trucks were notably absent. We crossed the North Platte river around 6:30pm. It looked much wider compared to Missouri. Only now we could see lots of trees, something very scarce in the huge open farms of Iowa. We went past Lincoln and stopped at a small town called Seward. The motel here was much cheaper than Lincoln. Visited Pizza Hut, discussed the plan, checked the weather and went to sleep. The temperature was quite down, and we had to turn on the heating in the room. The data, again, was 6 May, and we were nowhere near any mountain. While looking at the map, we realized that most of the counties of Nebraska are rectangular. Even most of the roads in Iowa-Nebraska are East-West or North-South, giving the map a grid-like look!