On the road: Third stop.

Sorry about the radio silence; I wasn't able to hop online last night. For the record, I did almost try.

So yesterday, I got up in Kalamazoo and fell asleep in Nebraska. In between, I drove a whole bunch. Most of that was through Iowa, which has the "World's Largest Truck Stop". I found a sign that said "Electrical Employees Only". I would have snapped a photo, except for the fact that it was opposite the hallway that led to the men's room, which means it was in the hall that led to the women's room. On sale at this particular truck stop were:

• Katanas


• Everything you would need to cosplay the villain in an old west movie


• More testicle-shaped truck adornments than I've ever seen in my life.

Okay, that last one isn't hard (I've never seen any, and wouldn't have known what they were if not for a particularly dirty-minded coworker). My only other thought on Iowa: wifi enabled rest stops. In retrospect, I should've availed myself of them.

Then, on to Nebraska! I first saw Omaha, home (evidently) of Paypal. It was well after sunset, though, so I didn't see the parts of Omaha that weren't as brightly lit as the Paypal building.

Lincoln was similarly dark, but there was a home there which was full of dog hair. Also dogs. Also my good friend Wendy. Her dog Bear is actually larger in person than I'd expected from the photos. Check her blog. You know you want to.

This morning, I drove through the rest of Nebraska, which was windy, which killed my gas mileage. It was unfortunate, but I was going to have to drive through the wind anyway, so I'm still proud of my little Rio and the gas mileage it got under adverse conditions.

Then I went through Wyoming, where the wind was joined by it's friend, blizzard-like snow! Yay! I would give you a sample of my thought process while dodging a half-dozen semis careening around mountain roads in like three feet of visibility, but children might see this blog.

In Wyoming, I went to Laramie, Wyoming. I stopped at a Wendy's. I got a Frosty Float. I overheard one of the employees use the word "gay" as a synonym for "bad". I left Laramie. Okay, I tooled around the campus a bit (it reminds me of a technical college more than a state school), but I think I got all the impression I need.

On a happy note, here are the states whose license plates I've seen since the last update:

ME	TN	IN	OK	WI
MN	NE	OH	IA	ND
MO	MA	TX	FL	WA
NH	NY	KS	VA	SD
UT	VT	AL	CO	GA
MT	OR	NJ	ID	NV
AZ	WY	DC	KY	MD

Wow. I'm impressed with me. You should be too. If not, know this: I have also seen three Canadian provinces. Manitoba remains elusive, in every sense of that phrase.

Here's an updated map.