June 17 Around Des Moines, Iowa

   Thurs.
 Only about a 100 mile drive today.  We have driven almost 5400 miles in 6-1/2 weeks, even with being at his mom's almost 7 days!  So many short trips and day trips with the truck that it doesn't seem like it.  Today I sent checks to the Bozeman hospital for the E. R. and the Livingston hospital for my share of the bills - "only" $1320.  That would have filled the truck about 14 times.  Diesel is sometimes as low as $2.85, but we usually pay about $2.95.  Have paid $3.15 several times.  Still good compared to WA.  And that's even in these tiny towns in the middle of the states or way up north.
    We passed a Bass Pro Shop, the Iowa speedway and a Maytag dairy.  Saw a sign for Sully, Iowa.  We stopped at one of the great rest stops on I-80 in Iowa.  They have RV dumps, big buildings, lots of covered picnic tables, WI-FI and vending machines and are located every 30-40 miles.  There was a sign about Fort Des Moines, saying it was used as a military fortress a couple of times in the 1800's and in WWI was used as a training base for black officers and in WWII as a training base for the Women's Army Auxiliary.  Des Moines is the capital and largest city in Iowa.
      Not far past there a pickup pulled up next to us honking and pointing at the back of the truck.  Tom pulled off and one of the sway bars between the camper and truck had come out of the hitch.  It happened a couple of weeks ago too.  We got off in a suburb of Des Moines and found a hitch place that was able to get the whole new mechanism with the bars and hitch.  It really was the hole in the hitch that was worn, but it's 20 years old, so not a bad deal.  The highway had been so bad and the juggling is what made it happen, just as on that last highway did.  (Editorial:  America needs to quit sending billions everywhere in the world and start fixing our infrastructure like interstates and bridges.  What we don't understand, though, is why these highways are so bad and there are hundreds of trucks, yet we haven't seen any with the truck wheel ruts that are always having to be repaired on I-90 in WA.)  Anyway, about 2-1/2 hrs and $400 later it was replaced.  It was 85 and so humid and I asked if I could sit in his yard next to his shop and his dad's girlfriend came out to talk to me and also printed stuff on where we were going the next day for us.  Off we drove to the KOA campground outside of D.M. in Adel. 
     We saw a grocery store with an emergency clinic on the second floor.  What a neat concept for saving space!  By this time it hit 90 and was so humid that we were really sweating.  We went to dinner at our ex sister-in-law's and had a nice visit with she and her new husband and our 13 year old niece.  We drove home about 25 miles on dark country roads, watching for deer and the lightning that had started.  We stood by the camper watching it.  The clouds looked like mountains and the lightning was behind it.  We had a thunder and lightning storm during the night.  It has rained every night for 2 weeks, some days as much as 1-1/2".  There is so much water standing in the fields everywhere that I hope the crops survive.