Iowa Love

My last trip to Iowa was in December 08. Snow, fog and temps in the minus 20's greeted my arrival. This time around sun, warm temps and a shit load of humidity were ready to shower me with their love and Michele and I were looking forward to visiting her family and friends over a long weekend.

Thursday: I look back at it now and no longer shocked on why I was exhausted for portions of the trip. By noon on Thursday, I had put in 5+ hours of work along with an early 8 mile run to start out the day. Our flight to Omaha departed on time around 2:30pm and we were on the road heading out Nebraska and up I-29 to our first destination of Inwood, Iowa.

I had a special request of stopping in Sioux City to visit the Sergeant Floyd Monument. Michele was reluctant at first but I can tell she enjoyed the brief 10 minute stop of some cool US history.



We pulled into Michele's brother Tony's home just before 9pm. His kids Riley, Avery and Trey all greeted us with open arms and right behind them was his wife Lisa welcoming us in with some cold beers. The rest of the night was spent sitting outdoors drinking beer and catching up. Don't think we got to bed till well past midnight.

Friday: I think I finally got out of bed around 9am and I still think I could have slept a few more hours. Played around with the kids abit as I laced up my shoes and out the door I went for an easy 7 miler.

A lot of firsts occurred for me on this run. Never had I run in farmland. Never had I run in the Midwest. And never had I run in humidity. Holy Crap! Running in humidity sucks ass. Factor in 90 degree temps and I was hurting. I made it a nice 3 miles before all this heat and humidity set in. The next 4 miles weren't so much a struggle as I pulled back on the pace, but more just draining. The views and surrounding area were stunning though. Had I planned it better, I could see myself enjoying a nice 20 miler on these farm roads as they were far from flat being we were so near the Sioux River along the Iowa/South Dakota boarder.



Finished up my run and the rest of the day was spent playing with 3 kids under the age of 10. Chasing them around the house, the farm, the swimming pool. This stuff was more difficult then my morning run.

As the 6pm hour rolled around, Tony offered to take me on ride around the Sioux River bluffs in his old Jeep Wrangler. Loaded up a few road beers and off we went. Spent the next few hours driving some amazing land that part of the country has to offer. Tony being an Agronomist, offered up some very inter sting stuff in regards to farming.



I grew up as a city boy in San Francisco and I'm truly intrigued by stuff so foreign to me. 12 years ago, I probably couldn't tell you what a corn or soybean farm looked like. Now I can tell you how they're harvested and what they're used for.

Highlight of the night for me personally came around 9ish. Alone, with a beer in tote, I headed off Tony's property line to a huge plot of land growing soybeans. The sun had just set with splashes of red lighting up the sky all around. Far to the east was an intense electrical storm. Surrounding me were thousands of lightening bugs bouncing around all over the place. I took a seat on the nicely mowed grass and just sat around for the next 20 minutes appreciating how good life is.

Saturday: After a few days of hanging out with the family we were on the road to visit first Michele's grandmother and then her close friend LeAnn. Today was going to consist of a lot of traveling in what was turning into an extremely hot and muggy day.

The nice thing about being way up in the far north west part of Iowa is we were near the highest point in Iowa. Hawkeye Point! 1,670 feet in elevation. It crossed my mine to run to the high point but by the time Garmin would pick up a signal, I could have made it to the high point and back to the car. So I opted for the 20 yard walk with Michele instead.





Michele wasn't down for a side trip to pick off another high point in Minnesota, so we headed to Manson, IA and had lunch with grandma. Grandma is getting up there in age. 94 1/2, in a retirement home, not really able to walk and hearing almost gone. But bless her for still have a good sense of humor.

After an hour or so, we were off to Newton, IA to spend the night with LeAnn and family, Michele's friend since their freshman year in high school. The next 3 hours of driving were boring. Iowa is beautiful in certain parts of the state, but not along the stretch near Aimes and Des Moines. Just brutally flat.

Newton, IA is best known for it's ties with Maytag. Maytag for years had their headquarters, plants, distribution centers, etc...in Newton. Well about 3 years ago Whirlpool came in, bought them out and taking away some 3,000 jobs in the process.

Arrived around 5pm and spent the rest of the muggy evening drinking, eating and just chatting it up. Woke up some what early the next day in hopes of beating the heat but even at 8am, the temps and humidity floored me. All I had planned was an easy 5 miler along rolling terrain of this small town and that's all I got. The time spent in Newton was short but a lot of fun. LeAnn, her husband Kelly and their adorable daughter Landry are a solid group of peoples and I really enjoyed spending time with them.

Back on the road to Omaha and our flight left on time shortly after 7:30pm. Stepping into the hot not humid temps of Denver never felt so good.

So what was my favorite part of the trip? Easy. Hawkeye Point! Kidding aside, it was easily Michele's amazing family and friends. I knew I was a lucky guy when I met Michele, but little did I know that she came with a finish line as well.