Fall Trip 2024 Day 6

27 September 2024

This is sort of the route I took today, more or less:

It was secondary roads again and it began with strong winds, which continued for most of the drive, and rain. By the time I ended the day in Iowa City IA, the air was calm and the sun was breaking through the clouds. I crossed the Mississippi at Muscatine IA after a few hours of driving through cornfields and small towns such as Farmers Town. That one makes me wonder … was there someone named Farmer who established this little burg? Or were the founders just not very imaginative (it’s smack in the middle of the farming districts!). There were also miles and miles of wind farms in addition to the corn. It was interesting to note that whereas the corn in the areas of Indiana I passed through just a day ago was completely brown and being harvested, this corn still had some green on it. How things change in just a few (hundred) miles.

I stopped once to charge at a Casey’s gas station (ubiquitous in this part of the country) next to a Walmart and it was free Electrify America charging once again. There were four chargers; three were open when I got there and one was inexplicably blocked by a Tesla that wasn’t charging but had a couple of guys seemingly asleep. Weird.

I went from 39-70% in 11.5 minutes and was back on the road with plenty of reserve to get to my destination.

Tonight, I’m staying in Iowa City IA, a university town that has exploded in population since I was first here in the mid-70s. My hotel is in an interesting area of shops and I hope to get out for a walk in the morning and have some photos to share. For now, here is what I see from my window (and pardon the reflections):

Because of the winds today, I didn’t improve on my 3.8 mi/kWh average for the trip; I’m just pleased I was able to hang onto it! I’m at 1,384 miles so far. Tomorrow will be the shortest day’s drive when I’m not staying somewhere for more than one night, just a couple of hundred miles up to Madison WI.