Dietz Summer Road Trip

The journey across Nebraska and Iowa continued today. It was a lot of flat driving down some long roads. There was a McDonalds so we went for the atmosphere. About half way through our journey we were amazed when we saw a water tower for Altoona, IA. This was surprising since Danielle grew up in Altoona, PA! The Altoona, IA looked even smaller than Altoona, PA.

 No sooner did we take pictures of the the signs for Altoona as we passed, when the truck rang an alert that the rear driver-side tire PSI was 10..then 6.. and then 0. We pulled over immediately and you could hear the air rushing out of it. We had a flat tire, and not a slow leak from a screw like last time. This was the real deal, the one we have been training for. So we called Triple A, and they said anywhere between “now” and an hour or so. We decided we would start changing it ourselves and see if we could beat triple A before they get here.

 
We first had to take ALL of the stuff out of the back seat. Which after 5 weeks now is a lot of stuff. We had to get everything that was in the pockets under the back seats out.

  
John started to change the tire and of course we quoted the tire change scene from A Christmas Story the whole time. At some point a police officer stopped but it was after we already had the flat tire of and the spare tire ready to go on. He put on his lights and made sure we got it all taken car of before he left. Start to finish it took us less than 30 minutes and we were on our way! No sign of Triple A, so we called to cancel the road side assistance.

  
We managed to make it to the Herbert Hoover Historical Site in West Branch with time to spare. His birthplace cottage, his dad’s blacksmith shop, the one room school house he attende, and Quake Friends room where all there and you could walk through for a full experience. 

   
 
   
 
   
 A short walk from the visitor center was the Herbert Hoover Museum and Presidential Library. Typically it is $10, but since we got there with only about 45 minutes left the woman in charge didn’t apply the admission fee! There were some interesting parts, and some things we learned about his humanitarian efforts and aid to Belgium that we didn’t know a whole lot about. The time we had was plenty and were grateful we got to tour it for free.

  
 Our hotel reservations were  in Cedar Rapids, IA. It was only 30 minutes from the Hoover sites. We checked in, relaxed, and got showers. We then headed out for dinner. We decided on White Star Ale House in town as it advertised a great list of beers on tap and a variety of food. We were able to sample a few and each of use enjoyed some Iowa local brews. For dinner we had Prime Rib and Pistachio Chicken. Both were tasty and it was nice. We headed back to the hotel and just relaxed, It was nice to be in a clean bed and watch HBO!

Tomorrow we continue our Presidential journey and head into the Land of Lincoln!