Iowa, The Hawkeye State: Some Random Reflections on My Visit to the 2011 AVA Convention
I want to start out with a big THANK YOU to our hosts for giving us such a fine convention and such a wide variety of interesting walks. It must have been a lot of work, but for the most part, everything went smoothly. It would have been nice to walk on the new High Trestle Trail, but I don't know which of the other walks I would have been willing to give up in order to fit the High Trestle Trail in. (Oh, yes, I do! I would give up Loess Hills.)
Iowa was much nicer than I expected. There is a lot to see and do. Most of what we saw was clean and well-maintained. I was particularly impressed that Iowa's goal is to become the Trails Capital of the World. The state has 99 counties.
The people are very polite and mostly white. We did encounter a couple of young men smoking dope in a Walmart parking lot, but we always felt safe and comfortable among the friendly, non-threatening Iowans.
They have nicer grocery stores than we do. I really liked the chain called Hy-Vee and will make it a point to seek one out on future visits to the midwest.
And there are a LOT of farms. You always hear about the family farm dying out, but you wouldn't know that from driving around Iowa. What you would learn from driving around is that Iowa is a leader in renewable energy, thanks to the huge investment in wind turbines made by MidAmerican Energy ("Obsessively, Relentlessly At Your Service"). There is a LOT of wind in Iowa.Which brings me to the weather. The western side of the state was experiencing severe flooding during our visit. There were frequent tornado warnings and severe storm warnings during our trip. I'm not sure I would want to live with that on a regular basis.
The rest areas along the highway were modern, clean, and interesting. Each one has a different theme and public art display. (Not all states have nice rest areas.) What does this say about the state? I'm not sure, but it surely says something positive. Iowa also lays claim to the World's Largest Truck Stop, in case you care.
Corn is clearly king in Iowa. The entire town of Cedar Rapids smells like corn (in different phases of processing at different places). Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma") would not be pleased. I always like to know what names colleges and high schools give to their sports teams, so I was tickled to find that Cedar Rapids has a minor league baseball team called the Kernels. (Iowa State: the Cyclones, University of Iowa: the Hawkeyes)
Hawkeyes do seem to like their sports. You might not want to stay in a Hampton Inn on a weekend as it is likely to be packed with members of youth sports teams who tend to forget their manners.
I saw a highway sign indicating there was a Grout Museum in Waterloo and I thought this might be worth seeing just to see how they could fill up a whole museum with displays of grout. Silly me. Turns out, it is the Grout Museum of History & Science. I swear the road sign did not give the full name.
I saw another road sign for the town of What Cheer. We didn't go there, so I can't report on the demeanor of the residents.Iowa's Governor, Terry Branstad, served as Iowa's Governor from 1983-1999. He decided to re-enter politics in 2010 and won re-election to the governorship in November. He took office in again January of 2011. This must be some kind of record.
" My father liked Iowa. He lived his whole life in the state, and is even now working his way through eternity there, in Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines." -Bill Bryson
