Day 3.20: Overland Park, KS to Coraville, IA

We got up and were surprised to discover that our room had no full-size towels! The timing of this news couldn’t have been worse, as Arielle had just gotten out of the shower, and it took twenty-five minutes for them to be brought up. Fortunately, it didn’t delay us too much, and we ate some of the food we had with us for breakfast before heading a short distance over the border into Independence, Missouri.

We arrived at the Truman Presidential Library, which took us back in time one president from Eisenhower the day before. This museum was just as informative, and it was interesting to learn about the Missouri native who unexpectedly won a second term after replacing FDR just a few months into the vice-presidency.

We got on the road and found a random Chinese restaurant for Abe to get frighteningly fast take-out – chicken with cashew nuts – while Arielle microwaved leftover Domino’s Pizza from two days earlier at a gas station and tried to get a coffee from a nearby hotel (ask if you want more details). We crossed the border into Iowa and arrived at our amazing hotel, the Heartland Inn.

They asked if we wanted to upgrade to a whirlpool king suite for only $6 more, and we enthusiastically said yes. They also had food available for dinner (grilled cheese), which Arielle packed up for lunch for the next day. We drove about two minutes to Monica’s, an Italian restaurant, and tried sitting outside briefly before going inside because it was too buggy. Arielle ordered a salad with salmon and Abe got fettucine alfredo, and we both enjoyed our meals. We returned to the hotel and enjoyed watching TV in our own personal hot tub, which was a lovely experience.

Approximate number of miles covered: 342