Live from Sioux Falls

Where the temperature is in the low 50s at 11:21 p.m. I'm checked in at the Towne Place Suites, which is less than a mile and a half from where packet pickup is. (Got lucky!)

The flight from Houston to Omaha was uneventful, although getting out of the Eppley Field (the Omaha Airport) area was. I'll have to research the best way into the airport going back because I have a 3-something flight on Sunday afternoon.

Here's a little highlight of the evening headed north from some notes that I took along the way:

7:40-something - We're on the ground.
7:49 - Sent Edwin Quarles a text message. (He didn't return it.)
8:12 - Out of the parking garage at Eppley Air Field. (And I didn't check a bag. Enterprise was slow. Personable, but slow. Well, the lady who was at the counter before me was.)
8:16 - Trying to head to Interstate 29, I come upon a train.
8:17 - The train stopped.
8:18 - I turned around and retraced my path. Followed another vehicle to a bridge that went over the train tracks. Delay averted.
8:29 - Finally made it to Interstate 680 which runs into Interstate 29. Welcome to Iowa!
8:38 - The (Kansas City) Royals win on Hispanic Heritage Night. Who knew?
8:44 - Some McDonald's around the country are scary. The one in Missouri Valley, Iowa is no different.
9:28 - Turn on KOA from Denver where I tune in as the Astros' Roy Oswalt is pitching in the bottom of the ninth against the Colorado Rockies with a 2-0 lead.
9:38 - Oswalt (or 'Roy O' as Milo would say) gets the complete game, 1-hit shutout over the Rockies. (Remember Milo Hamilton is not a Hall of Fame announcer. He just won an award - the Ford Frick Award - that is housed there.)
9:45 - I listen to a post-game interview with Kansas State's Aubrey Quarles. (I don't think he's related to Edwin.)
9:53 - Passed the Lewis & Clark Monument in Sioux City, Iowa. We had stopped there five years ago in 2003 on summer vacation.
9:55 - Called Waverly. She doesn't remember. Explain to her that it is in the shape of an obelisk. Had to explain what that was to her.
9:59 - Cross the Big Sioux River into South Dakota.
10:05 - Found out South Dakota has casinos. (No, I didn't play them. Not that I'm opposed to gambling or anything.)
10:16 - I pick up WSM 650 out of Nashville and hear Patty Loveless - a hottie - sing the George Jones classic, "Why Baby Why?" (I read on her website that Jessica Simpson was on there with her. Darn. Well, maybe not.)
10:46 - I've been listening to the guy on KOA talk about the McCain-Palin rally in Colorado Springs earlier today. The host got to get a picture of McCain shaking his daughter's hand and she signed his placard. The crowd was much more than what they expected. (It's interesting. People have called Barrack Obama, "Obama". They're just calling Sarah Palin, "Sarah". Gotta love it. And Obama being an angry guy today. Hmmm ... thought that was Biden's job or better yet, Howard Dean's.)
11:05 - Come into Sioux Falls to be reminded that Augustana College is here, but it isn't the same college that is the alma mater of former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson. That Augustana College is in Illinois. (I had to double check it to be sure.)
11:08 - Pull into the Towne Place Suites. I took a water bottle for being a Platinum Premier member instead of the 200 points. What's the world coming too? Oh, hydration for in the morning.
11:39 - I'm done with this. Good night.