Flatlands

Hello from Lincoln, NE, home of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. Appropriately, we spent the night last night at the Cornhusker Marriott hotel (at left). This morning, we woke up and went for a quick run around the town, winding up at The Mill, a local coffeshop recommended by one of our friends. The Mill sells some excellent muffins - Tiger had the pumpkin, I had the blueberry. I highly recommend them if you ever find yourself in Lincoln.

We are about two-thirds of the way through our drive out to Denver. After spending Tuesday night just outside Pittsburgh, we got up early and managed to make it to Chicago by early afternoon on Wednesday. Sadly, we'd missed the "real" fireworks on the lake, Chicago has those on the 3rd. But we did get the standard Wednesday night fireworks that they shoot off weekly on Navy Pier.

Yesterday, we met up with Tiger's mom for lunch on the riverside in Rockford, IL. Although I didn't bring a camera, we did see one of my favorite signs on teh trip so far. As you enter the gardens there, there's a large sign warning you: "CAUTION: Nesting Birds WILL ATTACK."

After Rockford, it was on to Des Moines, where we enjoyed dinner with some friends working on the Obama campaign in Iowa. With all the presidential candidates in the state this week, it's almost a surprise we didn't get sucked into a rally of some sort.

But today is the final day of driving, just 8 more hours through the plains of Nebraska and eastern Colorado before we arrive in Denver. After getting everything settled, I'll be headed back to DC on Tuesday to finish up my job there before coming back out permanently in August. While I'm back in DC, I'll also be joined by Joe, who will be spending his time in DC both working on capitol hill and at the tennis tournament.