stormdog

I I left directly after work on Friday for Iowa. I'd planned to sleep at the world's largest struck stop on I-80 the first night, but I was ahead of schedule and ended up nearer to the Herbert Hoover historic site in West Branch. The truck stop was impressively large! But not very remarkable other than that. I bought a splitter for the car's 12 volt outlet there.

I spent Saturday mostly in Iowa. I visited the Herbert Hoover site primarily to see a statue of the goddess Isis, presented to him by a grateful Belgium for his work in famine relief during World War One. The vaguely menacing statue did not disappoint.

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Isis, the Goddess of Life by Auguste Puttemans

I was caught in a nasty storm along the highway driving west out of North Platte, Nebraska. I decided to keep driving, but scanned around the radio for a weather update. When I found a severe weather announcement about 60MPH gusts and half-dollar-sized hail, I decided to get off the road for a while. There was a rest stop just ahead. The skies opened up as I was parking and I dashed for the men's room. I watched out the partially open door as thunder and lightning filled the sky and hail hit the roof like a shower of rocks. The wind whipped through the open area between the mens and womens rooms and the rain became nearly horizontal. The rest stop power flickered a couple times and went out entirely. I made a video that I'll post sooner or later, but here's a photo of hailstones I picked up after the storm passed.

Give me the world's largest anything and I'm there!

The world's largest wooden nickel near Iowa City.

Public art of a style and form I really like. This was at a highway rest stop near Roscoe, Nebraska.

Highway rest stops are wonderful things, both practically and, I think, culturally. They are underappreciated.

This sign greets visitors entering Tama, Nebraska from the east.

Basically across the street from the "Tama Welcomes You" sign. How could I not photograph it?

Kids, ask your parents.

While we're talking about asking people...

"Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call"

This really excellent piece of found-material public art lives at a service station near Big Springs, Nebraska.