Moline, Illinois

Met the crew at the airport Hampton Inn. Greetings, hugs. Been too long. Celebrated by going to Exotic Thai in Moline, IL, which apparently comes highly recommended by The Hotel Guy. Rightly so. Menu surprisingly diverse, food excellent. Me: curry fried rice (pretty boring, but stomach friendly; in an ideal world: lemongrass spare ribs); Laura: pumpkin curry (which was probably the night’s winner); Ron: a chicken curry; Mary: teriyaki chicken; Sandy: peanut noodles (just noodles, please; actually, for her first Thai experience ever, a pretty adventurous order in my view). A bit of cold white wine hit the spot.

Strongest impression: Tongue swelling, sweat-bead inducing power of the Thai hot pepper sauce. For those who ignore warnings and heap the stuff on a corner of your curry fried rice, you get what you deserve. So much for the mollified stomach cramps. Next time at Exotic Thai, I’ll pay closer attention.

A quick drive (Ron, Laura, Me; Mary/Sandy at airport hotel) over the bridge to our spot for the weekend, Clayton (Ron’s brother) and Jan’s in Davenport, IA. An hour or so to visit and then off to sleep.

The Midwest continues to thrill. [Ed. note: That may sound sarcastic, but not so. I just checked. He's not being snotty. "This is our fifth stop in the Midwest. Detroit was awesome. Indiana was awesome. Chicago was awesome. Sabula was fucking awesome. What more do you want? The Midwest continues to thrill!"]