On the road again...

Well, travel season is back in full swing for me. After a week in the office last week, I am once again on the road, living in a lovely hotel, driving around the countryside and trying not to get lost in NE Iowa.


I am in Decorah this week, and I am visiting all of the schools in this area. I am getting to know this area a lot better, but the other night, I was trying to get from my hotel to some food downtown...well, I thought I would go around the back way, but the road I was on turned to gravel...I thought for sure it would just run right back in to town--yeah, no, not so much. I ended up driving aimlessly down this winding gravel road for about 10 minutes before I was freaked out enough to turn around--it was dark and raining and creepy!

Yesterday, I was at Crestwood, Decorah, Waukon, and Kee high schools. Kee is in Lansing, Iowa, which sits right on the Mississippi river. After visiting the school, I drove up to an overlook where I should have had an amazing view of the river. Unfortunately, my view was a little less than perfect as it has been raining, cloudy, dreary, grey and gloomy for the last 63 hours! I didn't let that get me down, though, and I took plenty of pictures--but I don't think they'll come out very well.

Today I am visiting several places between Nashua and Decorah. I had a few minutes to spare between schools this morning so I thought I would try to find the world's smallest church. Turns out, it's so small I can't even find it. However, on Thursday, I am taking a route that should take me close to where it's supposed to be again, and I *will* find it.

I stopped for lunch thinking Chinese sounded good, and this lady gave me a sample of the Orange Chicken that was way hotter than I expected. I somehow not only burnt the entire inside of my mouth and the entirety of my throat, but also touched my face with some gooey orange sauce and have a lovely little red burn mark right by my lip. Unsafe. She coulda told me to blow on it. Sheesh.

All in all it has been a great week so far. I have spoken with lots of great kids, and stopped at a few fun places along the way. I'll update you later in the week as to whether I find the tiny church...