The end is near or to be more specific it has already past. I have ended my cross country trek at the half way mark. I stopped on August 13th and spent the next two weeks going around catching up with friends, again no rest for the wicked. Now I have had some time to relax for a few days and it's time to start catching up on some posts and emails/posts from people. I will be posting some more after this one to include other pieces of the journey. Let me start with the end though.

Iowa was a brutal monster this August and that is being nice. The heat and humidity were very hard to deal with. I was hit several times with rain but since it was so hot out the really only thing that was a bother besides being wet was that it kept the humidity up. ...
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I was expecting an easy Iowa but it is Iowacked. Thunderstorms, bugs, heat and humidity have made Iowa hands down the hardest piece of trek.

Mosquito's or other bugs have been biting the heck out of me. I think some of the bites might be chiggers, not really sure. With all the rain and flooding I think the bugs are loving it. The cycadia seem to be loving the weather they seem to be everywhere and loud.

There have been some pretty nasty thunderstorms and the wet weather just bumps up the humidity. It sounds like many places in the U.S. are getting hit with high temps and it is brutal here. I could literally ring enough water in my clothes to drink it if I was inclined to do so. I however am not inclined to try, that would be pretty gross...

I don't have anything against Iowa but ...
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Man it is freaking hot in the Midwest. I knew that having lived here before and it is not been disappointing me. I have salt tablets and gatorade mix to help replenish and hydrate. I am drinking at least 150 ounces of water a day, usually around 170 ounces. I drink two camelbacks of water a day plus 1-2 water bottle full. When I am moving in this heat it seems like I am constantly drinking. I got light headed when I stopped yesterday but I sat down down for awhile and just drank. It really is hard to stay hydrated.

This has definitely been one of the hardest things I have ever done. One day or a few days worth can be a challenge but rucking up and doing it day after day is a trial. I still don't wish for the cold at all but well.. cooler would ...
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My break is over now and it was good. I am around 1900 miles in and around Cedar Rapids IA. My girlfriend and I stayed in Iowa City and saw everything there was to see, we did it all, not that it took very long to do so. It has a nice little downtown area and we ate a couple of good places and not so good.

(insert/edit - forgot about it)
When checking into the hotel I was staying at with my girlfriend I was talking to the motel clerk and she was was mentioning some of the things the hotel had. I noticed the little brochure thing said "no pets" so I asked her totally straight faced if you could have chickens in your room if they were not pets. She said "As long as they are dead." So then I asked "Well how about cats?" She said "You ...
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Dogs. I see a fair amount of dogs on trails or in parks and campgrounds. I suppose that is because they need and like to go outside, they are social animals. I can't recall seeing any cats other than a few stray cats along the way, none leashed up with people anyway. That would be be interesting, I know some people do that but it can't be all that many and I haven't seen any.

An ex of mine had two dogs and two cats, the cats were inside cats. One of the cats thought it should be an outside cat. When the dogs would line up at the door to go outside he would pop right up with them to march outside. That one cat did it with amazing frequency like somehow he just knew today would be his day and he would just slide outside with dogs unnoticed. ...
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