Sunday, October 26, 2014

What Week Is It? (Corny Tales from Tour)

I wish I had some exciting tour news to relay, but since last Sunday we have left Wisconsin, traversed Iowa, made it halfway across Nebraska, and what we've seen this week is much like last week.

Corn.

I have so many questions about corn.

For starters, how on earth can we consume all of it? I know it's used for feed and oil and maybe liquor?

But, seriously, I'm not talking about miles and miles of corn...it's been states and states and states of corn!

I understand we're in the world's breadbasket. But holy smokes. I can't even fathom processing all that corn.

Corn aside, we've also been to some great bookstores. The thing with indie stores is that they are all different. And I guess the one that was the most different this week was the Book Vault in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

The Book Vault is a repurposed bank, with three separate vaults inside that are used as speciality cubbies. There's the Mystery Vault (which pleased me enormously), the Local Vault (for local writers) and (if I remember right) the Science Vault.

There are three levels, with an open ceiling near the front door and register, and stairs that zig-zag up in unexpected places around and above the vaults. It was a bit like walking through a place with secret rooms and staircases--so cool!

A nice thing about this week was that we had our first real day off yesterday. No travel, no event, just stay put and relax (which meant reading, writing, and running...).

And why did we have a day off?

Well, because we were in Nebraska and had been (rightly) warned that nothing, could tear Nebraskans away from game day activities. Yes, the Nebraska Cornhuskers had a home game, and pity the fool who tried to compete.

So, when in Rome...

Or in Nebraska...
And it was actually great. We even watched a little of the game.

Go, Huskers!

And that, really, is the update. Next week I'll be writing you from Utah. I'm not sure where Corn Country ends, but I'm pretty sure Utah is past that boundary. But I'm also pretty sure they don't have a Book Vault.

Thanks for checking in, and for the comments you've been posting--I appreciate them more than you can know!

7 comments:

Kylie said...

That looks like an amazing book store! I want to visit it now!

It is insane how many corn we grow right? But also think how much oil we use. But still it seems like so much!

I am pretty sure Utah is out of the corn area so I think your good.

Have a great week traveling!

Kylie

Jessica said...

All this talk about corn makes me think of all the corn jokes in Killer Cruise (the last SK book I've read because I still have not gotten my hands on a copy of Kiss Goodbye, if you can believe it!).

I need to get to the Book Vault! Cool history? Mystery vault? Science vault? Secret passages and stairs? It just needs a reading tower, bay-windowseat, and/or emergency exit slide to have all my favorite things in a building.

Glad you guys took a day off to rest. Have a great trip to Utah!

Gabrielle said...

That book store sounds so cool! I wish I could've visited that bookstore. It sucks because there's not really any indie bookstores around me, but I wish there was.
And that sounds like a lot of corn!

Hope everyone has a good week!



Gabrielle

Optimistic4ever said...

I really want to visit that book store someday. And all that corn... I volunteer to eat it!
Happy travels!

Unknown said...

I would love to visit this bookstore. What a fun idea to have one in an old bank building. I decided to see if they had a website so I could learn more about the bookstore and its history. I found their website, but also found out that the bookstore is in Oskaloosa, Iowa, not Nebraska. Not hard to confuse the two probably, with all those endless miles of corn. Everything looks the same I bet.

Wendelin Van Draanen said...

Yes, Iowa! I fixed in in the text. Thank you, Jan.

Unknown said...

You're welcome Wendelin!