Whine and Roses

September 8: I woke with the sky still full of stars. Restless and homesick, I sat up until dawn, with much to ponder. The amount of miles and days to Omaha are shrinking. My I-pod has dropped dead despite all my attempts to administer CPR. Entertainment options are few when I stay alone, which is the case most evenings.
I complain too much I know. I had talked at the beginning of the trek about how I would not bitch. How could I when what I suffer is so little when compared with what injured veterans like Ken have gone through or what my friends Robert and Al have overcome? Sadly I haven't been able to keep my pledge, I just have to cleanse the bile once in a while to keep my sanity. I hope you understand.
Thinking more positively the walking is easy here, flat rail trails, like the Heart of Iowa Nature Trail I now travel. The weather is perfect, seventy degrees with a constant cool breeze. Most of the small towns have libraries so I can stay in touch with the world easily.
Cambridge and Huxley are two of the places which passed in the rear view mirror before I ended up in Slater. I've now visited Oxford and Cambridge this summer, but have not become appreciably smarter as a result.
Cambridge was the site for many of the scenes in the film "Twister." In Huxley I found an even greater disaster when I stopped at My Dairy and Burger Bar for lunch. I'm hoping their remodeling job is not quite through yet. The Dairy Queen logo was still in plain sight in front of the counter and the restaurant's signs were haphazardly painted on the window, most likely by someone below the age of five. The burger was a ball of much needed juicy charbroiled goodness, however, and quality of food always trumps quality of decor in my book.
I finished in Slater early enough to catch City Hall before closing. The original plan to use city parks in Iowa has had flaws, as Urbana and Melbourne showed. In truth I am well known for flights of fancy which crash shortly after takeoff. I feel, though, with better execution future problems can be avoided. A mere talk with local officials spared me difficulties in Maxwell and I have reason to believe the same will be true here in Slater.

Delightfully, I had an unexpected visitor tonight, my good friend Tedo, who lives in Kansas City. Those of you who have met the Bulgarian whirlwind won't be surprised to hear he showed up in the most nonsensical place possible to meet me. He broke up his four hundred mile drive to Moline in order to stop by, take me out to dinner, and then dropped me back at Grimm Park. How could you not love a friend like that?

16 miles/1597 miles