We hadn’t planned on the trip to Iowa. We were going to meet up with our friend on Friday in Omaha at a Dave and Busters. Somewhere we could hang out, play games, drink and let loose. Instead, the day that we flew into Nebraska, we made the decision to drive 2 hours one way with Ash, late at night, to meet up at a cemetery.
Ok, so the cemetery thing was for me, but we never ended up at one.



We got lost a few times, and had to call several times to make sure we hadn’t gone too far or that we hadn’t turned into the wrong direction. Ash had us laughing the entire time with her backseat commentary and I was not even upset about being on a road trip so soon.Eventually after several attempts to find a cemetery we ended up pulling into a lot outside a field. In what looked to be a town as small as Megargel, we just waited for our friend to find us.

It was hard to be upset about that when I looked into the sky and saw the most stars that I have ever seen at once. The beauty of that night will forever be etched in my brain. I’m sure that night won’t be forgotten for Tony either, seeing as how his phone became a glow stick that night. After deciding to follow Quinn and Lydia into their hometown instead of continuing to look for a cemetery that was eluding us, we got into the vehicle and started to drive away.
Someone must’ve forgotten to take his phone off the roof of the car because the next thing we knew a loud thud was heard as we were headed down the highway….after turning back we found a cracked phone. It was still usable, Just with a new green light that goes down the middle. It hurt Tony's soul a little and he spent quite a bit of time brooding, even as Ash was trying to show him the advantages of having a customized glow stick phone.

We actually had a good time that night just hanging out with our friends, not expecting much of anything else to happen. As we were learning about the area we were in, we started reading online about the little towns we were going through. It turned out the one we were going through, Avoca, turned out to be known for it’s spiderbug.



Ash and I made the decision we were going to see it on the way back but we didn’t go that night. The rest of that night turned into a night of laughter as Ash continued to give us her opinion on everything.
She’s very much an amazing person and I am very privileged to know her. When I asked her about her favorite parts of the roadtrip. She mentioned the longer than normal wait on something and my "nascar driver exit" from the car when I couldn't hear and decided to use the drivers seat instead of passenger seat to get out of the car....at least  my lapses of judgements are good for a few laughs at times.
While in Iowa that night, we noticed that Lydia lived near a wildlife reserve so we made the decision to come back and see it the next day in the daylight and we could also see the spiderbug in the daylight.
It ended up being just Tony and me that made that second trip. The reserve turned out to not interest me as much as I thought it would so we grabbed Lydia and decided to just have lunch instead, well after finding the spiderbug.
Small towns with quirky little fixtures make the heart happy.It could be a historical plaque, a bicycle sculpture, or a lending library. In this town the spider bug gave me the giddiest feeling as we walked up to it and took some photos to put into the memory book of life.
Detours happen, some good, some bad, a lot of mine happen to be random happy trips and I’m very grateful for that.
A few days later we did meet up, not at Dave and Buster, but instead at Ash’s house. We decided our adventures outside that state cost us a bit more than we anticipated so we grilled out, played some games, drank some booze, and just in general had a great time. Tony and Quinn built a fire, we occasionally interacted with our mutual friends online, and we played with the dog a lot.



The best of times don’t have to cost hundreds when you are surrounded by good company. Fortunately Tony and I know some amazing people all over the United States, and even a few overseas.
I can’t wait until we take our first international trip. It will happen one day, I’m sure. I hope when that happen, we get as lucky as we did on our first trip to the Midwest.Well, minus the glow stick phone and the visit to the E.R.
Don't ever forget to value those who make  a trip worth it. The one's who let you visit as soon as they move in. The one's who will drive a state  over to come see you.They help to make what could've been a disasterous trip into one of the most memorable of my life so far.