Thursday, November 3, 2011

Iowa

It was beginning to seem we were bewitched. Three times we tried to leave St. Louis. A trip in June to Virginia to visit my daughter had to be scuttled. A trip in July to visit my Dad and Sister in Michigan had to be canceled.  At the end of August plans to visit a friend I'd never met in Minnesota fell a part the very morning we were scheduled to leave. It was tempting to just surrender and stay put until another year, but we decided to make one last try. It worked! Finally we were able to break free and we headed north.

Day one of our trip took us through Iowa. For me Iowa, at least the part of Iowa we drove through, was all about the process of looking, rather than about sight seeing  I'm getting much better at looking since I began to ride scooters. No radio or CD going as we drove north. There is nothing wrong with either, but for me they nurture a passivity in my watching. Iowa calls for active looking. The route we chose wasn't a route for sight seeing but for looking, for catching glimpses of the life going on as we passed by. Sight seeing is about going somewhere to see something special. On the road we took there wasn't anything special to see, but there was plenty to look at if one was open to the land. It would have been easy to see nothing but corn, to endure Iowa as we made our progress to Minnesota and our real adventure.

Corn.

And, more corn.
But then a curiosity. Was it really necessary to warn about smoking? Or, was there some wry humor at play here.

Heather says Iowa is all about Corn.

For me it was about clouds . . .


















And moving houses . . .




And, yes, about corn . . .


Even if this water tower was in Minnesota.

10 comments:

  1. Iowa, no mountains, but corn. Lots of it.

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  2. yu learn some thing new every day....well I just did!

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  3. Keith,

    Where are all the beans? They must be out of the ground already. That corn's got to come out soon, too...

    And north in November? You're a crazy one, you are. Enjoy, you make me miss home. Where are you planning to visit?

    Brady
    Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life

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  4. Sonja: Yep, not a mountain in sight, but lots and lots of sky and open spaces.

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  5. Roger:
    Thanks for taking time out from riding that beautiful new GS and stopping by. Glad you learned something, but I wonder what :)

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  6. Brady:
    The Soys were pretty much all out and lots of the corn was gone as well.

    This trip was planned for the end of August when the weather was beautiful, but a bout of vertigo made travel for me impossible. So, we risked the weather and won. More about that coming.

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  7. This posting begs for a rendition of the Corn Song

    Great that you broke the jinx!

    dom

    Redleg's Rides

    Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner

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  8. You did get a pic of the moving house! Yes, Iowa is all about corn, and I see Dom already posted the video I was going to link to. hehe.

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  9. Dear Keith:

    I have been through Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri several times... And while the corn is like an ocean of yellow and green, it is a wonder all the same. I found these states to be as fascinating (in their own way) as were the places where I saw the Rockies, the Pacific, and the Badlands.

    Fondest regards,
    Jack/reep
    Twisted Roads

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  10. Love the pictures of the clouds. I am glad you and Heather were finally able to get out for a few days away. I tis hard when life gets in the way.

    Looking forward to seeing more pictures of your trip.

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