After our last ISU show on Saturday, we drove to Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where Amber and I performed the new version of the sex show for the first time. Over the past year, Michael has been retooling and updating the show. There’ve been rewrites, some of which have grown out of improvisation we did last year, and the revisions definitely help illustrate some of the points more effectively.

We stayed at the Settle Inn — our first theme hotel of the trip. The building is designed to be reminiscent of a castle, and a knight in shining armor on horseback keeps a watchful eye over the parking lot. We walked past a dwarf-sized statue of a Crusader as we entered the lobby, whose walls were covered in paintings of Arthurian scenes. A full suit of armor stood next to the window which looks into the pool area.

We got dinner after the show. Michael knew of a particularly good restaurant and brewery in Omaha, Nebraska (only minutes away from Council Bluffs) called Upstream Brewing Company. Since I had the local signature dish (pork) in Iowa, I would have to eat steak in Omaha. The steaks were expensive, but Sam and I decided that we would probably never be in Omaha again, so we seized the day and were not disappointed. Michael and I enjoyed beer samplers of a higher quality than the previous night, although one of the beers had a definite dirt flavor. Michael concurred that it had a “dirty cellar” taste, and that it’s a known flaw in some beers. He brought it to our waiter’s attention, but the waiter, apparently thinking Michael was just commenting on the flavor rather than letting him know it was a bad batch, replied, “That’s how I like it!” Earlier, while pointing out the honey raspberry beer, the same waiter had said, “If you like that, I’ll ask ya where yer skirts are!” On the way out, Michael purchased a bottle of barley wine for later enjoyment.

Next stop: Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas.