Took off to get to the John Deere factory by 10am, stopped for a take out coffee, got some fuel and then Greg realised he had left his hat and sunnies at the motel - but a quick call had the motel hold them until later.
We got to the plant in plenty of time and after handing in our phones and signing security forms we watched a movie and then rode some tractor drawn trailers to view the assembly plant. It is a huge place, one of 4 that John Deere have in Waterloo, and is about 20 hectares under one roof - the second largest covered area in the US! Only the Boeing factory has a bigger covered space. They employ 7,000 staff and turn out thousands of tractors a year - they wouldn't tell us the exact number.
The tour was very well conducted - and so it should be when 38,000 people do it each year - it was very professional and we saw most facets of the production process including watching the robotic paint sprayers which were fascinating!
The tour lasted a couple of hours, including a stop at the JD shop which had everything JD in form you could imagine naturally! We asked about their museum, but unfortunately for us it has been rebuilt and will not open until November! Greg was most disappointed.
When that was all finished we detoured back to the motel to get the hat and glasses and then set out for Milwaukee, stopping off at Dubuque to have a look at the mighty Mississippi River and to take a rickety old cable car to the top of a high ridge over the town, which gave us a great view. We also saw our first ground hog, which was chomping on flowers alongside the cable track - it looked like a guinea pig on steroids - and also saw some chipmunks and a squirrel!
Back on the freeway and on through the corn and soy beans, and there were a few dairies thrown in as well, until we saw a huge Walmart, so it was a shopping stop for an hour and we all picked up a few bargains.
We pushed on to the north east and by about 5pm had reached Madison in Wisconsin (that's 8 states we have passed through) and struck some very heavy traffic on the Interstate. None of us had even checked the size of the place, and it turned out to be the capital of Wisconsin with a population of over 250,000! So no wonder the 5pm traffic was bad, and it got a lot worse as we got closer to the city. A quick internet search (thanks AT&T) found a good priced motel at the next exit and so we crossed a few lanes and quickly found the motel!
There was a micro brewery next door, with a great menu and so a 50 metre walk got us dinner and a drink!