Road Trip: Have you ever seen the rain?

     Waking up early on day two outside of Davenport, Iowa, I snapped a few photos of the mighty Mississippi before our day driving across Iowa, making a few stops on the way before our arrival in Omaha.

Our first stop was recommended by Ryan and didn't take us that long to arrive at the Iowa 80 truck stop, advertised as the world's largest. 

Iowa 80 is big and with plenty of food and shopping options, there is almost anything that you may need while traveling available at Iowa 80.

A few days before the trip as I was planning the route, I discovered the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library is almost directly off the exit.

 While I had plans to visit two libraries on the trip, the Hoover Library wasn't one of them.

However, if it was that easy to find, I added it loosely to the day's schedule.

It was that easy, so we made the call to make a visit to West Branch, Iowa.

Entering the library, you can drive around a local park on the library grounds, visit the grave of the former President and First Lady, and walk through a grassy area that is a reconstruction of the prairie that Hoover grew up with as a young man.

The library was filled with displays, a theatre to watch a short film, and seemed to be recently renovated with wide open spaces and modern decor.

The gift shop at the Hoover Library is by the entrance/exit area and we stopped there for a few trinkets, including one that I thought was really neat.

There was a small passport-like booklet for the Presidental Libraries that I purchased and a small foam fishing bobber (fishing was a passion for the former President),

I can't say no to cool fidget items and since the Hoover Library was the first I ever visited, I thought it would be cool to have as I visited others.

The Hoover Library was the pleasant surprise of our trip as it was much better than I had anticipated.

The drive across Iowa continued with our next stop at an antique mall that Ryan highly recommended, The Brass Armadillo in Des Moines.

The Brass Armadillo features lots of collectible items in huge stores and I thought the Des Moines location was their only one but they are in six cities in the Midwest and West.

We wouldn't be finished with the Brass Armadillo on the trip but on this one, I bought three programs, a 1977 Ohio State at Iowa football, a 1980 NCAA Mideast Regional basketball, and a 1969 Philadelphia Eagles at St.Louis Cardinals for the collection.

The local radar showed severe thunderstorms in the area and a tornado watch, so we tried to outrun the storm and we had success for a while.

However, eventually, we had to get off the interstate and into a McDonald's parking lot where I must admit it was a little scary with the van rocking from the high winds, seeing items tossed into the air, and hearing the tornado warning sirens, which is unsettling when you aren't used to it.

Once things had cleared a little, we got back on the road, and after a half hour or so, we had cleared the storm as we were driving west, it was later that we saw the tornado destroying the town of Glenville, Iowa, a town that we had passed earlier in the day.

I feel very fortunate even now that we dodged that storm.

We stayed on the road until we found Omaha and met Ryan and his family for dinner at a local Chinese buffet.

The dinner was nice, and then we found our hotel home, which Ryan graciously provided for us, for the next eight days at a Home 2 Suites in Omaha, located a short distance from Ryan's home.

I'm going to write about the places that we saw on the trip but some of the trip may be condensed for time and space.

I may do one or two posts on the various foods that we ate rather than try to remember every meal on a particular day.

I'll continue this series soon when I have time! 

Cleaning out the Inbox-Non-Sports Version

We finally begin the inbox cleaning of the non-sports notes as time has become a little more manageable.

The Cavaliers play the next two nights without competition from the Devils,but both games are eight o'clock starts,so there might not be any game coverage from either team until next week.

If that indeed is the case,look for lots of various articles coming up.

I'd also like to thank those of you that sent me emails or liked the status on Facebook about the beginnings of the podcast.

I'm very excited about it and I'm hoping that the show will be a success.

I think it is going to be easier to have interviews and it might help us add more of them.

I'm hoping that the biggest issue might be transcribing the verbal interview into the written word (I'm taking volunteers to you fast typists out there).

I plan on having interviews on the podcast and then over the long term having them available here as well.

The hope is to have the blog and podcast complement each other and have fun with both.

I hope you'll enjoy it.....

Onto the inbox and we begin with the picture above from long time favorite of mine and Ryan's-Battlebots,which will be returning this summer to ABC for a six episode season.

The first run was on Comedy Central,so Battlebots hits the networks for the first time and I'm hoping that it catches on,so that perhaps a full season could be ordered in the future.

I loved the show,which features homemade robots slugging it out in a battle for destruction.

Think UFC (the arenas are very similar) for remote controlled robots.

Ryan and I loved it and he sent me the note letting me know about the return.

I'm very excited for this!!!

We move to the space world where the late Neil Armstrong apparently didn't leave ALL of the lunar module Eagle on the moon as Armstrong's wife found a small bag of parts from the lander in Armstrong's closet.

Those few parts are all that is left from Eagle as it was crashed back into the lunar surface after Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin returned and entered Columbia for the return trip to Earth.

Armstrong was notorious for being buttoned to the vest and he never spoke of having these souvenirs.

The items are now on loan to the Smithsonian with the intent of a permanent donation...

Krista Anderson posted this on Facebook and Rachel and I leaped at the chance to look at this-Cuddle Clones.

Cuddle Clones takes pictures of your late pets and creates a very realistic looking stuffed animal of your pet.

They aren't cheap (some can be 200 dollars),but they are extremely well done and far less creepy looking than work done by a taxidermist.

I wouldn't be against one of our Teddy.....

Vox discusses the issues of retaining sounds from long ago using technology from days gone by.

Every generation has its version of cutting edge and all are destined to become obsolete,so this problem will never go away,although the digital format will be much easier to deal with,I would think,than vinyl or especially tape which degrades so quickly.

It's incredibly interesting from how these are being saved and the decisions that archivists face in their job....

FiveThirtyEight takes a look at ten of the biggest busts in Presidential primary history with this article on candidates from both parties.

All of these candidates were well thought entering primaries and for various reasons,badly sputtered.

I even voted for one of the guys on this list and remember writing a school paper on another,so it is not always bad people that make failed candidates..

We wrap up with a look at a President that didn't carry a positive legacy after his Presidency,but did have an interesting game that his doctor created for him to stay in shape.

Herbert Hoover's tenure in office might not have the fans of others,but the game of Hooverball combines some features of volleyball and tennis with the use of a net,but uses a four or six pound medicine ball to play.

Iowa State has started a Hooverball league in Ames on the club level,which makes sense as Hoover was born in Iowa and his Presidental library is there as well.

Hoover's great-granddaughter is the Republican commentator often seen on CNN,(and a Thoughts of RS favorite from her appearances on Real Time with Bill Maher) Margaret Hoover.

That cleans up the inbox for now.
May be back tonight from the road office with another post....