Day 6: Homeward Bound (choo choo)

Miles: 500 (total 2,676)

States: South Dakota, Iowa, and 1/3 of Illinois

Somehow we managed to miss a lot today. Thankfully we missed a big storm that had golf-ball sized hail and blew semi-trucks over. We also arrived too late in LeClaire for the Buffalo Bill Museum and too late tonight in Galesburg for the Children's Museum. 

So basically we've had a full day of, well, sitting in the car and eating garbage food. Crisps, and cheese and M&Ms and pre-packed sandwiches. Everything that is listed on our pediatricians "do not let your child eat" poster has been consumed by me & Jack today.  Tonight at the fabulous Packinghouse Restaurant we both had salad because I'm scared we might be getting scurvy. 

The highlights of today were: 

• Crossing the mighty Mississippi River 
  
• Singing as loud as our lungs would allow to "I am the music man" and seeing Jack's beaming face in my rear-view mirror
  
• Talking about family history with my dad & Sheila
  
• Watching Jack talk to his dad on the phone and say "I love you" before he hangs up
  
• Getting 500 miles done even though I was on my chin strap
  

The motel we are at tonight is a bit scary. It's in a rough bit of town and I keep hearing noises outside. I keep thinking of the scary film "Vacancy" where local nutters film themselves killing people that stay in the room and then play it to new occupants. Stupid I know but I do have both doors wedged with chairs and my suitcases already and I keep peeking outside the curtains at every sound.  Talking of sounds, a freight train goes past every 20 minutes, about 50 yards away from the motel, so I have a feeling that there will be lots of complaining in the car tomorrow. Turns out, Galesburg is the biggest railway town in the USA! I'm going to turn the noisy AC unit on and have a couple of glasses of wine to knock myself out. Jack of course is delighted and yells "choo choo train!" every time one goes past. There's always an upside with kids.