Greetings from the "Primary Iowa Welcome Center." Which is very nice, much nicer I am sure then the secondary or, god forbid, the tertiary Iowa welcome centers.

The day thus far, in list form:

• Ohio was fat,
• Chicago was windy,
• Indiana was mostly downhill.

In Ohio I discovered Ol' Glory -- America's best energy drink, a fact clearly stated on the can. Ol' Glory can be found in Wal-Marts across Ohio. I do not know what Ol' Glory tastes like, but I'm definitely going to buy a can at my next opportunity. How often do we get to taste sweet Liberty?

I beheld the mighty Mississippi.

My front seat companion for these travels.

It rained really hard somewhere in Indiana

People say we regret what we don't do more than we regret what we do. There's a truth to that, I think, but it's tough to distill. I don't regret not listening to the radio. That's an opportunity I can live without. But I do regret piling the bikes in on top of the stuff in the trailer. I messed up one of the stanchions on my new Boxxer. I knew things might shift around when I loaded the trailer, but I was in too much of a rush to take care of it. I guess the truth is that if you think something is risky but that it may be worth it, take the chance. However if you overlook a risk and don't weigh the consequences you will regret it. Or something like that.