Like We Never Stopped

Carlin, Kevin, and the Fava Beans

Carlin woke me up trying to figure out how to open the door to his room.  I literally fell off of the 5ft couch I had spent the night on thinking that those measly 4.5 hours of sleep I received was nothing but a blink of the eye.  Much like the morning before, I dragged myself to the bathroom, took a shower, and immediately moved to pack up the car again.  Kevin had already been up doing his thing, and Carlin eventually figured out that, if you ask the door nicely, it will open by itself (we didn’t actually figure out what was up with that door).  Carlin sketched out a quick thank you note for our AWOL hosts, and we took our leave, now heading towards Storm Lake, Iowa to meet up with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins.

Welcome to Nebraska!

Surprisingly enough, we were out of Colorado in about 3 hours.  I had heard stories from my parents of that state being deceptively large,  but be it sleep-induced dementia, or the delirium from the morning Colorado sun burning my retinas through the Denver pollution, we made it through Colorado in what felt like a heartbeat.  That concluded my time driving for the day (I drive first in the morning when everyone else is sleeping, so I don’t have to drive as long!).  The biggest challenge yet was still to come:  Nebraska.

Stuff You Should Know

In an atlas published by The Onion entitled Our Dumb World, the state of Nebraska is described as “‘America’s Roadblock’ running 210 miles north to south, and over 17,000 miles east to west, Nebraska was constructed in 1846 as a mind-numbing, 16-hour-long barrier to prevent American travelers from getting anyplace else.”  Everyone who has ever driven through that state had told me the horrors of endless corn fields that I would experience.  EVERYONE!  In reality, it wasn’t that bad.  Maybe it was because it was described in such intricate detail as being the worst place on earth to drive, but I think it had to do with the fact that Carlin came to the rescue.  While my iPod was loaded with an odd assortment of pop and “classical” music, Carlin’s had about 60 episodes of a podcast entitled Stuff You Should Know put out by a website howstuffworks.com.  This is a seemingly random podcast published by two Atlanta-based writers named Josh Clark and Charles “Chuck” Bryant.  Basically, they get a topic, they research it, and they put together something that comes out as an “Idiot’s Guide to [Insert Random Topic Here].”  They are overviews of concepts, inventions, people, etc. that just give you a basic understanding of how it works.  I’m more fascinated by the historical background that they provide than anything.  The best part, though, is HOW they deliver it.  They have this really weird chemistry, that’s just quite enthralling (see the episode on Vikings).  If nothing else, I would highly recommend these guys to anyone who is doing something boring and monotonous and wants to learn something new at the same time.  Flying through Nebraska at 80 miles an hour was a perfect time to discover the magic of these casts.

Kevin Sleeping... again...

Passing into a new state demonstrated that between the three of us, we did not know that the Missouri river was the border between Nebraska and Iowa, which is why we did not get a picture of the sign for that one…  Upon entering the land of the Hawkeyes, we immediately turned towards the northwest quadrant of the state.  Oddly enough, we were making much better time than I had anticipated, even with Carlin driving like an old woman (he was usually going slightly under the posted speed limit.  I attribute this to the fact that he has a small child).  Kevin, having been asleep since Denver, was now driving.  My cousin called me to check up on our progress, and, with no help from Hugh, was able to guide us to here impossible to find farm house on the fringe of Iowa’s best kept secret:  Storm Lake.

A Little Bit of Vacation

I hadn’t seen this part of my family in about 15 years.  I had chatted with Erin, my oldest cousin, on and off for the past year and a half or so, but seeing them not as small children was going to be new.  Not surprisingly, Erin is pretty awesome, and her mother – my dad’s sister – had chilled out in typical Mehlenbacher fashion.  Her father was downright pleasant, too, and they all accepted us into their home with loving arms.  It was probably the best nights sleep I had gotten the entire trip…  but I’m getting ahead of myself.  My aunt and uncle had actually planned to go to their younger daughter’s track dinner, so Erin was left to entertain the guys on her own.  Of course, the thing to do when you visit people in a place you’ve never been before is to get a tour, thus Erin piled us into her stylish vehicle and took us into town.

Storm Lake is a beautiful little town.  It’s apparently attempting to be a tourist destination, despite its not so great location (in the midwest in Iowa), so the city was in the process drudging the lake to make it deeper, and they had built up some smaller condos, parks, and hotels on the coast.  We saw the library where my aunt works, several sculptures carved by chainsaw out of dead or dying trees, and a place that supposedly has the best ice cream in the state, though they wouldn’t be making any until school was out of session.  We all seemed to be quite entertained by one of the parts, as we took many  pictures there…

Carlin on a little kid's toy at the park

Carlin and the lighthouse at the park

Carlin, Kevin, me, and a chainsaw wood carving

Returning to the house, I encountered my other cousin, who did not know who I was.  It was an awesome family reunion.  The day was capped with my uncle giving us an alternate route out of Iowa to Illinois, and our important picture with the fava beans!

Cousin Erin, Kevin, Carlin, and the Fava Beans