Day 35
7:01 PM CT.

The first of many sunsets that we’ll experience from the car over the next few days.

Tomorrow we’re leaving Sioux City, IA to drive across South Dakota, through Wyoming, and on to Montana. As much as this trip is about working, it’d be a crime to do this trip and not stop at the world famous locations we’ll be passing in the next few days. We’re definitely going to the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore as well as the Crazy Horse Memorial. Anyone have any other recommendations? I’m about to spend some time looking through Let’s Go Roadtripping USA for ideas. This is the part of the trip I’ve always anticipated the most.

Sadly we’re expecting to struggle with the Internet connection for the next week at least as it’s only going to get worse. We’ll still be blogging but it remains to be seen how we’ll do with photos and episodes.

-Josh

Day 35
12:43 PM CT.

While there’s no doubt that we’ve been on a true road trip for over a month, I feel like today is when the driving really begins. I am also starting to feel the time crunch as the days are peeling away towards November 7th and I want to make sure we get everywhere we want to be by E-day.

We left Des Moines, IA this morning after an extremely comfortable stay with a gracious host and true friend in Des Moines. David- you are a golden g-d and I can’t wait to see you again soon.

We are headed to Davenport, IA to interview Bruce Braley, candidate for the U.S. House in Iowa’s 1st district. For those of you who know the geography of Iowa, Davenport is on the far eastern edge of the state so we are booking it across I-80 E to make it there by 3:30 PM.

Braley is at a forum on Stem Cell research and will be joined by Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette. If we can talk to her today then we’re really killing two birds with one stone as we’ll be in Colorado too!

One piece of sad news I have is that there’s a good chance that one or more of us may not be able to finish this trip due to probable overdose on chicken skewers. Yeah, that’s right. The other night we were given roughly 50 grilled chicken kabobs that were leftover from an event that our friend organized in Des Moines. They are absolutely delicious and all three of us have eaten over a dozen so far today. This could be a long day!

Ok, so we’re going to Davenport now and then turning west and heading ALL THE WAY to Sioux City. We’ll arrive in Sioux City late tonight, have another wonderful night at Roger and Anita Wendt’s lovely home, and then tomorrow morning hop in the minivan and begin the 1,000+ mile drive to Montana.

Here we go…

-Matthew

Day 32
1:14 PM CT.

Good afternoon, friends. We are departing Sioux City, Iowa on a truly gorgeous day. It’s about 55 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We’re going to take the scenic route down to Des Moines where we’ll spend the weekend.

On the drive down I plan on reaching out to a number of people for interviews and I am looking forward to trying to get to the final gubernatorial debate tomorrow in downtown Des Moines.

Did you see the new RNC ad “Stakes?” (once it’s on Youtube I will change the link…I hate linking to the RNC.) It’s a copy of the “Daisy Ad” from Johnson’s campaign and it’s truly shameful. All they have left is to scare Americans and I hope that the American people are smart enough to realize that this Administration has made us less safe when it comes to terrorism. Makes me sick, really.

We’ve just uploaded a bunch of new photos so check them out on the sidebar of the page or on Flickr. I will put another post up tonight after we arrive in Des Moines.

And for the record, if you need a haircut I would not trust “Great Cuts.” They just weren’t that great…

Before:

After:

-Matthew