Spring Broke - Day One

I packed up everything the night before we left as I had to pretend to be an adult for 9 more hours and go to work. Longest day of work ever. Of course we were busy, of course there were stupid crises, and of course I was not at my most efficient. Also on this day, I had to forego my lunch break to take a quiz for my Organization of Information class. I tried to sneak away to the Counseling Office, which of course is the only office in the building without an updated computer and didn't have Mozilla downloaded. After an hour and a half, and much needless technical difficulties, I passed, moved on, and rewarded myself with Panda Express for lunch. It was yucky. Never reward yourself with something bad for you. In my experience, it has never EVER worked out. Maybe my stomach is just more sensitive to my conscience. No idea.

Anyway, Steven came to pick me up and we got slushies and went back to the house to make sure we had turned out all the lights and that his computer wasn't hiding out on the front step. All clear and we head out. I have been making Steven listen to Marian Keyes' This Charming Man for the past 3 road trips to Omaha, and so we had to finish that before getting to anything good. If you've read the book, you can relate with Steven's boyish squirming. If not, you should. It's a good Keyes. We stopped at several convenience stores in Topeka, after realizing that neither one of us had even a dollar in cash. Why don't tolls accept debit cards? I haven't carried so much as a quarter since January. Steven finally convinced them (which was no small feat) into admitting that there was a Sunflower Bank in town so that we could get cash without ridiculous ATM fees.

Steven: Do you give cash back?
Conv. Guy: No. There's an ATM behind you.
Steven: Yeah, but I don't want to pay the fee. Is there a Sunflower Bank in town?
Conv. Guy: You're not from town? Creepy leer appears.
Steven: No, is there one nearby?
Conv. Guy: Uh, Gee, I've never even heard of that. What is it again?
Steven: Sunflower Bank
Conv. Guy: Naw man, you should just get cash here. We don't have that.
Steven: They have them all over.
Conv. Guy: Just use ours. It's right there.
Steven: Do you have a phone book? I'll just look it up.
Conv. Guy: Don't do that. There's no bank like that in town. Just get cash here.
Steven: Do you have a phone book or not?
Conv. Guy: Sighs. Fine, I'll look it up. Thumbs through some pages. It's 5 blocks South.

And we win the first battle! The rest of the trip was smooth sailing except for a giant billboard man advertising Terrible Harry's Casino or something like that. It was enormous and grotesque and is the first good advertisement I've seen for not allowing flashing lights on signs. Yuck. We stopped around 11:30 for dinner at Wendy's - Steven wouldn't let us eat at Bennigan's. "But the Monte Cristo!" I said. Apparently not everyone likes deep fat fried sandwiches layered in powdered sugar. Whatever. The Wendy's was abandoned except for one worker who could not, bless him, operate the drive-thru speaker button to save his life. We were worried about him until we saw a car parked in front of us and an older guy peeking in the windows of the restaurant. We get our food, all is well, and the guy comes rushing up to our car and sticks his head in the window, ranting and raving about not getting a straw. Steven and I put on our "don't mess with our straw" faces and the guy whimpers about having waited 5 minutes already. It was animalistic, the way he was hunched, fists clenched, jonesin' for his Wendy's straw. We got out and hid at a gas station until he drove away. Creatures of the night in Iowa are particularly creepy.

We switched there and I drove the final two hours to Iowa City, our stopping point for the evening. Iowa City is the land of Denis Johnson, the elitist Iowa Workshop, and Steven's old friend Colin. Having read Jesus' Son, I was a little disappointed to not see meth labs, heroine needles and hipsters laying in ditches, clutching their moleskins and reciting drunken poetry. Actually, the town seemed really nice, quiet and simple, free of giant roads, big buildings or other aggressive big city landscapes. We must've been on the outskirts. I like to sleep in a quiet part of the town. There's just something about being around other people who are asleep that puts me at ease. I like the lazy areas of the world, where people are content and have a little room to breathe. The hotel was about 8 million times nicer than the hotel we stayed at in Little Rock. That was the first night of our Oxford trip last year, and I think it set us on an uneasy course. Last year, Steven spent the first night puking in the tiny disgusting bathroom, while I tried to keep the windows shut so I didn't see the three men skulking back and forth in front of the door. Last year, the TV got three channels and was nailed to the wall. This year we had a clean room, with a TV and an armoire, and there were no gangs of men sitting in the bed of their pick-ups outside our door. Despite the Johnson letdown, it was a huge improvement.

The next morning, I slept in, exhausted from my 2 hours of driving, and Steven had coffee with a high school friend. I caught the second half of the Today show and what a joke! They had some segment about making your clothes high-fashion. Apparently exposed zippers are all the rage so you can now buy zippers with double stick tape and just attach them to your boring basics to give it some spice. This is what passes as acceptable television. I just hope no one else was watching. We left Iowa City with bagels from Bruegger's and Steven's first Naked Juice and set out on the final leg of our adventure.

To be continued... and with pictures! I have got to get better at taking pictures on vacation. I had this blog in mind the whole time, and still only came back with 8 photos. Grrrr.