East Des Moines (Altoona) Iowa

I have been driving in rain almost all day, much of it torrential. Fortunately there wasn't any traffic on the road until I got to Lincoln & Omaha, NE, and most of the way through Iowa. I am so tired I think I will close the curtain and fall asleep before it even gets dark outside!

I have spent a total of $6 for coffee so far this trip, but I have now run out of food. Since the motel is next to a Flying J, I decided to walk over and see what I might be able to find to bring back to my room. Nothing! Adjacent to Flying J is a Max's Diner. When I passed it on the way over I got an earache from the loud 70's/80's rock blaring through a loudspeaker. Since I couldn't get anything to eat at Flying J, I wandered into the diner and ordered a senior hamburger. I rarely buy a hamburger, preferring to know where the beef came from and what, if anything is in it, but about once a year I usually break down, especially on a long trip. (I sincerely hope there is no pink slime added.) While I was waiting for my order I was still subjected to the same rock that is playing outside, toned down a bit, but also TV screens in every direction. So the visual garbage on TV, plus the audio crap playing over the loudspeaker, made me glad I could just grab the food and go as soon as the order was ready. Sorry, but I don't like to see TV images in a restaurant (or even a bar, for that matter), and I don't really care for someone else picking their choice of music to blast out.

That rain today really has my nerves frazzled, so I won't take any more chances on saying something I shouldn't. The hamburger was pretty good, by the way.