Iowa

I was born in Iowa, but I never really lived there.  My parents brought me home from the hospital and took me to their small trailer in a small trailer park in a small Iowa town.  Within a short period of time, my Dad got into Stanford to get his PhD in secondary education and we moved to Sunnyvale, California.

My parents both grew up in Iowa and met at the University of Iowa.  After retiring, they eventually moved back to Iowa.  I’ll be visiting with them in a couple of days.

When I was in high school, I spent summers in southwest Iowa, working on my uncle’s farm and getting into mischief with my same-age cousin, Tim.  We remain friends.  He’s a social worker-turned-truck-driver-for-the-money.

Tonight, I’m camped in south-east Iowa, a part of the state that I’ve never visited.  There are lakes, woods, hills–pretty much everything I like about Wisconsin.  Callie and I took a couple of loops hiking around the lake.  Then we drove to town where I had some difficulty finding a beer to buy that had any flavor.  Nothing local, but I did find a Deschutes Juicy IPA at the local Hyvee.

I’m having one of my favorite simple meals, prepared in the cast iron skillet:  a thin ribeye, sautéed mushrooms and spinach.

Here’s my campsite at Wilson Lake County Park ($20/night).

I have no plans to ever move to Iowa, but this is a nice, quiet campsite.