Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Lots going on in Iowa

My first solo posting of a pic on this blog, proving it can be done ,so I will build on this positive experience although there obviously is room for improvement in the pic editing area.
Before we left Indianola , Iowa this morn we stopped at McCoy True Value Hardware, using their UPS service to send a package back to Ohio. We met Gerry a very impressive self described "long long time employee" who basically runs the business because she "has more experience than anyone around here". She knows most of the customers by first name and when she learned our name she got a phone book to see how many were listed with same name. Never quit talking the whole time.
We talked about Ragbrai coming thru Indianola and that got her excited. She and her church group "The First Baptist--and don't forget it" will be selling rhubarb cream pies and she expects me to stop and buy some. She will be looking for me.
In Atlantic we stopped at a Maid Rite to see how the Iowa version compares to the one in Greenville. There are a whole bunch of MRs all over Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri since 1926.
The food is almost identical except Gville has a sweeter taste--maybe more sugar or something. I brought up a pic of the gum wall in Gville for Rob the manager and he was impressed. They do not do that kind of stuff in Iowa, but they may start.
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful except when we got to Council Bluffs and visited the Lewis and Clark state park--lot of cool stuff there. When we got to the park Monica suddenly changed her whole persona and became Sacajawea, the Bird Woman and for the rest of the day became my guide , directing my every move while driving, mostly by silently extending her right arm straight out with extended index finger indicating the direction I should go (just like all those Indian guide pics). She even asked that I call her Sassy for short . She started calling me her "Merriweather", but when I decided to play along and asked her to call me "Captain" , all I got was a "NO!!"
Tomorrow we will stop at a Goodwill store to see if they have any used headbands with eagle feathers along with beaded deerskin clothes for her to wear as we head for South and North Dak0ta.
Just rechecked the map and it is a long way to Astoria.


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2 comments:

  1. There is only 1 Maid-Rite & it is in Greenville, OH. I belive this picture to have been created by Tigereye photoshopping!

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  2. Still haven't been to any Maid-Rites because I know I have to go to the one in Greenville first. Greenville isn't exactly a hop, skip, and a jump away from NB!

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