I am sitting in a Best Western in Fort Dodge, Iowa. It is 9AM, Monday morning, the 27th of June. Wow! I was getting ready to write last night, when a huge thunder and lightening storm swept in, and cut off the electricity. I was able however, to go into my IPhoto and pull some pics out to share so I could get ready to blog. I wanted to show all of you, my childhood home, The Diggings, which we moved to in 1947. It was then on the outskirts of Fort Dodge:

Friday and Saturday I drove down to Des Moines, and finished up at the Iowa State Historical Archives, but JUST finished, as it was 4 PM, Saturday, and the building closes at 4:30PM. Now the real fun begins, as I start to go through the letters and pull out all place names, names of people, unusual words, military words, and such. That will happen when I get out to New Mexico in September.

As I look over my stay in Nevada, Iowa, and in Iowa itself, I really found I loved the state. The soil is coal black. Right now after so much rain, everything is verdant and lush. The rivers run high, too high along the western border of Iowa, where levees are being breached and and folks are moving to higher ground. The corn and soybeans are growing fast, but would do so even faster, if they had some sun for more than a day.

Gas prices here are very interesting. They have been dropping steadily since I came here. But super regular is cheaper than regular. Why you ask? Because the 89 Octane gas contains ethanol, and is 10 to 20 cents cheaper than the 87 Octane. And if you have a new car that can take something called 85, it is over a $1.00 cheaper, because it contains 85% ethanol. All the official state cars in Iowa, have bumper stickers saying something like, "this car is using 85% ethanol." This is the ethanol plant located just outside Nevada, Iowa. With the corn fields around it.

Nevada, Iowa is a booming small town - booming I say, because the downtown is still alive and for the most part well. There are empty storefronts but that is true everywhere. I found some unique signs scenes around the town.

I am not sure what legally priced cigs are - is there an illegally price cig? Soft drinks are called pop in Iowa. And it has been that way since I was a kid. Night crawlers are the big fat worms that come out at night. As a kid, I would take my flashlight and go out into the yard, and find them and catch them for fishing. Yes, I even put them on the hook. As for leeches, YUK! And what is the difference between a large lottery and a small one?

Because this house is on Lincoln Highway aka U.S. Route 30, and they must have had to cut down a tree in front, someone got real innovative, and this is the result:

In Nevada, Iowa,I began noticing big pink trash cans, the kind you put out on the street and the city comes by and hoists them up and dumps the contents. They were everywhere, and when I look closer, they were all for Breast Cancer research. What a great idea, and it adds color to the back yards and the streets. So I saw this scene in my wanderings around town, and loved all the color seen here:

And now I leave you with perhaps the oddest and strangest bumper sticker I have even seen. When Tara saw it, she went over to the guy across the street, whose car it is one, and congratulated him for supporting feminism. He looked at her with a strange confused look...

I love you all,
A hui hou,
Sally