Jim Robbins, Illinois Corn Marketing Board Director, showed up to greet the AASHTO convoy in Tinley Park, IL. In fact, he gave our convoy group and nice description of what ethanol means to him as a farmer and to our country.

We stopped in Illinois off the road in Ottawa where the original test site was set up by what is now AASHTO to test various highway products and procedures. To do this a lot of people put in a lot of work over years, including driving a track millions of miles.

When we got to Living History Farm in Urbandale, IA Tony Sartor, Iowa State University had an ethanol car on display.

The Lt. Governor of Iowa met our convoy off of I-80 after we got into Iowa. She’s Sally Pederson (right), seen here with AASHTO staff members Jennifer Gavin (left) and Kathie Leyendecker.

Before we were escorted into Living History Farms in Iowa I met with our escorts, the American Legion Riders of Iowa.

I didn’t get my own photo of Nebraska Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy today so I borrowed this one from his website. However, I did get to speak with him after our Omaha press conference.

Todd Sneller, Administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board (right of NE Gov. Dave Heineman) says that the board was created to help consumers understand and know that ethanol is safe to put in their vehicles. He says they conducted a 2.2 million mile test of ethanol blends in the mid 1970’s to get EPA certification for the blends.

The Grand Island/Hall County Convention & Visitors Bureau welcomed us to our fuel stop yesterday with bottled water and candy bars. Thank you.