I see.

Hicks aint no good for directions. I was down in Iowa this weekend, and got given some shitty directions for a shortcut to I-35. So I stop in a gas station in the middle of bumfuck, and of course the person working the register hadn't heard of 35, neither had her hick cousin/husband. Next town over. None of the three people in the gas station had heard of 35 either, one of them found a map - "Interstates is them blue lines..." after looking for a long enough time for 35, one of the two big blue lines cutting across the map, and then waiting for the lady holding the map to find HER OWN TOWN, we figured it out. Uuugh.

Damn, you must've REALLY been out in Bumfuckaroni. What town was that? I coulda probably given you explicit directions if my Ah-Wah map was nearby.

And what the hell were you doing down here? There's nothing to see at all along 35 until you get down to KC.

Visiting the girlfriend. I was taking a "shortcut" from 80 back to 35. I dunno what town it was, I think I ended up on Hwy. 30 or 330 or something to get to 35, and the second town was right off it.

Your girlfriend lives in Ah-Wah? Sorry to hear that.

If you're on 80 west of DM, there's no faster way of getting to 35 north than just taking 80 up to it; if you're on 80 east of DM, the same is true up until you get close to Ah-Wah City, where you'd take 380 up to Bumfuck and then 218/18.

Sorry...I like streets and directions and stuff.

Damn, if it was 80 east of DM and you were on 30 or 330, you must've been in the Marshalltown area. That area's close to des moines and I didn't think it was really all that hick. I'm blown away that they hadn't heard of 35!

Posted by Slim Jim Your girlfriend lives in Ah-Wah? Sorry to hear that.

So is she... Just for college.

Yeah, I was maybe "1-hour" east of DM. Headed north. Met hicks. Further north. More hicks. Dunno whereabouts that was, but I guess I don't really care either.

Anyways, even with the bad shortcut and the one bathroom stop I had to make at the border, I still made it in 30-60 min. less then the "4h30-5h" drive.

Grinell is significantly north of the highway, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a shorter route. Highway 30 is 4-lane in a lot of parts, and people speed a lot.

There are a shitload of abandonments near 35 in northern Iowa, if you ever want to see any.

Significantly north of what highway? It is like a mile from 80. Anyways, I think the trick was to take 330, to some random highway that goes straight to Grinnell, that you are pretty safe doing 90ish the whole way on.

We broke up since my last post anyways Ben... maybe if it didn't take you a year and a half to reply...