As I drove 576 miles from my Ohio hotel to the next hotel in
Iowa, the rain cleared from my morning run in Ohio. I drove most the way with
my driver’s side window rolled down. I looked forward to the Italian restaurant
that resided across the way from the Iowa hotel. As well, the tree lined park that
was a 1.3 mile run from the hotel too.
The tree lined park in Iowa had a path that was paved and
meandered past softball, baseball and soccer fields. There was a brook that ran
to its seemingly outskirts of the park where an occasional person fishing could
be seen from the path. It’s a walking, biking, running path which rolls along
gentle undulating inclines and declines on the outer portions of the park. Across
the entrance to the park appears fields of green with trees. I’ve yet to
investigate that on any of my runs from 2024. However, I may just do that on
another drive across the country in the coming years.
I drove briefly from the OH-65 onto I-75 South toward
Dayton; then onto the Ohio Turnpike going west on the I-80/I-90. Soon enough I
was in Indiana on the Borman Expressway, yet still the same I-80/I-90 west
route. After that short mileage the highway traversed to become the
I-80-/I-94/Kingery Expressway. And before I knew it, it’d become the Tri-State
Tollway I-80 west, as I was welcomed to Illinois.
Passing through the Chicago-Kansas City Expressway, I soon
arrived onto the US-218N/IA-27 onto I-380N. Then onto Tama
US-30W/US-151S/US-218N… Lincoln Freeway. After about 100 more miles I was on
the I-35N toward Minneapolis. Which soon brought me to my Iowa hotel. After checking
in, I got ready for my second run of the day and to scout out any new eateries
open and one from last year—that Italian restaurant across the way. I ran to
the park with the sun bearing down on me. Yet my legs felt quite well after
such a long drive.
On my way back I stopped by the restaurant to take a look at
their menu. They had a delightful salmon dish last year. However, this year I
wanted to see what else they made. Unfortunately to my surprise, the Italian
restaurant had closed permanently months before my arrival. So, I later settled
for a wrap at a franchised sandwich place half a block away. I hadn’t had a
sandwich, nor a wrap in years. The food was good quality though. I brought the
wrap back to my room, after cleaning up I put the television on and watched “Good
Fellas”. I knew the next day’s driving would be so much shorter and to another
hotel area I was familiar with in Nebraska, having discovered it early last
July.---Jody-Lynn Reicher
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