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Iowa. Anyone Have Anything To Report On Iowa?


Razors Edge

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My Vermont post got me thinking about states like Iowa.  You know they exist. People live there. Certainly things have to go on there. However, are they just in that group of "Meh" states where they're neither great at anything nor horribly awful at anything, so except for election years, they really don't do much.

Sort of sad. :(

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...I was pretty stoned both times I drove through Iowa, so I have little to report other than cornfields. And that was in the late 70's, so for all I know they might be growing something else now.  I do remember picking up a very attractive girl hitchhiking with her dog in tow.  I think that might have been in Iowa.  It was somewhere between Colorado and Minnesota.  As stated, I was pretty stoned.:blush:

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6 minutes ago, Page Turner said:

...I was pretty stoned both times I drove through Iowa, so I have little to report other than cornfields. And that was in the late 70's, so for all I know they might be growing something else now.  I do remember picking up a very attractive girl hitchhiking with her dog in tow.  I think that might have been in Iowa.  It was somewhere between Colorado and Minnesota.  As stated, I was pretty stoned.:blush:

Nebraska? Got anything on Nebraska?

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...I might have picked her up on the Nebraska side of the state line, and dropped her off somewhere in Iowa.  It's all a little vague.  The dog was very nice, handsome and well behaved. The dog left more of an impression than the girl, I'm afraid. :( So much for the romance of the American blue highways.

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I have family in Iowa.  I had a project on contract at a facility in Clinton for several months that was fun.  I have been to Iowa many times.  I've always had fun in Iowa.  You haven't lived until you've spent time in the Amana Colonies.

My sister lives in Lincoln Nebraska.  There isn't a lot in Nebraska but Lincoln in a very nice city.

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48 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Nebraska? Got anything on Nebraska?

Boring. There is a town in NE named Boring. Sums it up based on what I heard.

My only experience with Iowa was a co-worker who used her gender to swindle drinks from men at bars. She confessed that it was easy to get free drinks if they thought they were getting something in return. I told her it sounded like a form of prostitution. She denied that it was. Anywho, we were in Charleston SC doing an audit and she was texting a guy whom she had met in Las Vegas in the recent past. He lived in Des Moines. She changed her itinerary from flying back to DC to flying out to Des Moines for the weekend. When I saw her Monday, she said she regretted the trip. She found she was just one girl among several and spent her nights alone. 

She has a one-year old daughter now, compliments of some guy in Amsterdam.

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Folks in Iowa and Nebraska raise a lot of crops and critters.  We bought our Katahdin sheep in Iowa.  Nebraska is a big and diverse state.  I use to sell sheep in Palmyra, east of Lincoln.  The Sandhills region is my favorite part of the state.  Both states have outstanding Agricultural colleges. I am sure our Nebraska forum member, 'groupw',  will respond when he has time.

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

My Vermont post got me thinking about states like Iowa.  You know they exist. People live there. Certainly things have to go on there. However, are they just in that group of "Meh" states where they're neither great at anything nor horribly awful at anything, so except for election years, they really don't do much.

Sort of sad. :(

I was in Iowa last year for work (my prior company).  It was OK, people were nice and there was a lot of corn.  Seemed like most of the women looked like the mom from Honey Boo Boo and there was zero traffic.  We were 30 minutes early for a meeting factoring LA commute times.  Yeah not so much traffic even during the morning commute time...

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I've been to Omaha once and would actually like to go back in nicer weather (I was there in January).  Fun "old town" area with nice restaurants and bakeries.  Looked like they had a nice place for outdoor concerts in the park and the zoo is supposed to be world class. 

I've only been in Iowa briefly, but I have a friend whose husband is from there and he could spend hours telling you of the wondrous sites of Iowa, including the Field of Dreams and the American Gothic house, plus Iowa 80 Truck Stop and Museum. :nodhead:

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1 minute ago, Kirby said:

I've only been in Iowa briefly, but I have a friend whose husband is from there and he could spend hours telling you of the wondrous sites of Iowa, including the Field of Dreams and the American Gothic house.

Loved it so much he never moved back!

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5 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Loved it so much he never moved back!

I think he'd love to retire there.  Pretty sure his wife has other plans.

But this guy has a great attitude.  He really enjoys almost anywhere he goes.  He's curious about everything and can find things he thinks are interesting in each location.  He's got an upbeat attitude, but you can really see his enthusiasm when Iowa comes up in the discussion.

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1 hour ago, Digital_photog said:

My Sister-in-law is from Grand Island Nebraska.  It was a long drive through nothing driving across Iowa and Nebraska to go to their wedding. 

An USAF buddy and I took leave and drove all over the place. We went from Cincinnati to visited his parents in Council Bluffs IA so that was a long drive. 

Next we drove to Grand Island where a friend of ours had just got out of the USAF the month before. We didn't tell him we were coming and he was still sleeping when we arrived at his mother's house. (I think that he partied hardy the night before). We snuck into his room and started yelling "Gil you're late for duty!" He looked at us; freaked out; and was saying "It was all a dream!".

From there we drove to New Mexico via the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. Holy crap that's some desolate places.

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1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

Just so we're clear - a made up place from a movie and a slightly visible home from a painting?

And the John Deere Tractor museum!.  According to my friend, there are also a number of nice botanical gardens.

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1 hour ago, Kirby said:

I've only been in Iowa briefly, but I have a friend whose husband is from there and he could spend hours telling you of the wondrous sites of Iowa, including the Field of Dreams and the American Gothic house, plus Iowa 80 Truck Stop and Museum. :nodhead:

...does anyone else think it's odd that the "Corn Palace" is not in Iowa, but instead is in Mitchell, SD ? I always thought that was odd.

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Just so we're clear - a made up place from a movie and a slightly visible home from a painting?

 

59 minutes ago, Kirby said:

And the John Deere Tractor museum!.  According to my friend, there are also a number of nice botanical gardens.

...someone should give Iowa the "Corn Palace".  South Dakota already has the Black Hills.  :angry:

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2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

To my knowledge, IA has never been OK.

...this is exactly the sort of liberal, elitist nonsense you hear all the time from the coastals.  :angry:

Your problems are several:

1. You don't dance the polka.

2. You don't attend covered dish suppers, and probably did not go to the State Fair this year. :(

3. Food is something that comes from the grocery store.

4. You don't dance the polka (see #1)

 

 

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18 hours ago, sheep_herder said:

Folks in Iowa and Nebraska raise a lot of crops and critters.  We bought our Katahdin sheep in Iowa.  Nebraska is a big and diverse state.  I use to sell sheep in Palmyra, east of Lincoln.  The Sandhills region is my favorite part of the state.  Both states have outstanding Agricultural colleges. I am sure our Nebraska forum member, 'groupw',  will respond when he has time.

 

18 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

We have one????

I gotta say, though, that you keep us well informed about Montana, so that won't be on the "Meh" list anytime soon!

 

18 hours ago, Digital_photog said:

My Sister-in-law is from Grand Island Nebraska.  It was a long drive through nothing driving across Iowa and Nebraska to go to their wedding.

Nebraska has a new tourism slogan - "Honestly, it's not for everyone" and that's probably true. I was raised here so I am likely biased even though I don't always fit in as a stereotypical Nebraska guy. 

What about Nebraska depends a lot on what interests you. Scenery? The most important thing there is to get off of Interstate 80. The stretches when it is near the Platte River are nice enough, but there are some long boring stretches. Not as bad as Iowa, but yes. The Sandhills in the west/northwest part of the state are beautiful! The openness can give people used to lots of trees and hills vertigo, but that is part of the beauty. Aside from the highway you are on, you can look out and see just what settlers saw when the first crossed through and settled on the land. There are some nice state and national parks as well. 

People? We have some! Sure we have the redneck stereotypes in the lifted diesel pickups who think Larry the Cable Guy is a role model and not a caricature. We also have some very friendly midwestern people who never met a stranger. When I walked into Scratchtown Brewery in Ord for the first time, the entry looked like a gauntlet of local rednecks. By the time we got to a table everyone had told us hi and welcomed us and thanked us for taking the time to come from the "big city".  Politics are decidedly red here. However, we have a non-partisan unicameral legislature. You can still tell who is from what party, but because they are representing their neighbors and not just a party, the voting is more even-handed than you might expect. 

Beer - We have several very good local breweries. Many have won national awards. A few years ago, I would seek out breweries in other states because we couldn't get the same quality of flavors here. However many of our brewers now stand toe-to-toe with the best beers I have had elsewhere. 

Cycling - It's a mixed bag. Lincoln, Omaha and Hastings have very nice trail networks. Grand Island is slowly catching up. We do have a good mix of paved and gravel country roads to ride. Many of the paved county roads have relatively light traffic. Even if they aren't wide shoulders, most people give decent room when passing. The further in the country you go, the less likely to have people on their phone. We have BRAN (Bike Ride Across Nebraska) and Tour de Nebraska as multi-day cycling events. There are many other organized rides throughout the riding season. 

Sports - All Huskers all the time. Even though it's rebuilding and a couple decades from its past glory, we still like cheering for them. 

Digital Photog - I would be curious to know who your SIL is. Curious if I know the family. Feel free to DM me. 

What else do you want to know?

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, groupw said:

 

 

Nebraska has a new tourism slogan - "Honestly, it's not for everyone" and that's probably true. I was raised here so I am likely biased even though I don't always fit in as a stereotypical Nebraska guy. 

What about Nebraska depends a lot on what interests you. Scenery? The most important thing there is to get off of Interstate 80. The stretches when it is near the Platte River are nice enough, but there are some long boring stretches. Not as bad as Iowa, but yes. The Sandhills in the west/northwest part of the state are beautiful! The openness can give people used to lots of trees and hills vertigo, but that is part of the beauty. Aside from the highway you are on, you can look out and see just what settlers saw when the first crossed through and settled on the land. There are some nice state and national parks as well. 

People? We have some! Sure we have the redneck stereotypes in the lifted diesel pickups who think Larry the Cable Guy is a role model and not a caricature. We also have some very friendly midwestern people who never met a stranger. When I walked into Scratchtown Brewery in Ord for the first time, the entry looked like a gauntlet of local rednecks. By the time we got to a table everyone had told us hi and welcomed us and thanked us for taking the time to come from the "big city".  Politics are decidedly red here. However, we have a non-partisan unicameral legislature. You can still tell who is from what party, but because they are representing their neighbors and not just a party, the voting is more even-handed than you might expect. 

Beer - We have several very good local breweries. Many have won national awards. A few years ago, I would seek out breweries in other states because we couldn't get the same quality of flavors here. However many of our brewers now stand toe-to-toe with the best beers I have had elsewhere. 

Cycling - It's a mixed bag. Lincoln, Omaha and Hastings have very nice trail networks. Grand Island is slowly catching up. We do have a good mix of paved and gravel country roads to ride. Many of the paved county roads have relatively light traffic. Even if they aren't wide shoulders, most people give decent room when passing. The further in the country you go, the less likely to have people on their phone. We have BRAN (Bike Ride Across Nebraska) and Tour de Nebraska as multi-day cycling events. There are many other organized rides throughout the riding season. 

Sports - All Huskers all the time. Even though it's rebuilding and a couple decades from its past glory, we still like cheering for them. 

Digital Photog - I would be curious to know who your SIL is. Curious if I know the family. Feel free to DM me. 

What else do you want to know?

 

 

 

The Pirate Cycling League hosts the Gravel Worlds in Lincoln. 

https://gravel-worlds.com/

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6 hours ago, groupw said:

The most important thing there is to get off of Interstate 80. The stretches when it is near the Platte River are nice enough, but there are some long boring stretches. Not as bad as Iowa, but yes. The Sandhills in the west/northwest part of the state are beautiful! The openness can give people used to lots of trees and hills vertigo, but that is part of the beauty. Aside from the highway you are on, you can look out and see just what settlers saw when the first crossed through and settled on the land. There are some nice state and national parks as well. 

I've driven twice from Omaha to Denver across your state on 80 and I agree.... not much to look at.  Total snoozer.  The excitement is when one of the downed trailer rigs has broken apart and sent hay and other debris scattered along the highway.  It's basically a commerce highway and you don't get much variety unless you are in the western part of the state.  Everything -- and I mean everything was as flat as a pancake there.  It s no wonder you guys laugh your ass off when you hear about Seattle drivers and snow.  We have hills and mountains here and anything frozen is treacherous.  Although the outskirts of Omaha have some hills, I would think driving in the snow out there would be a blast.  Like a big skating rink.

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6 minutes ago, Dottles said:

Although the outskirts of Omaha have some hills, I would think driving in the snow out there would be a blast.  Like a big skating rink.

Did you notice the barricades to close the highway?  And like other flat western states, the wind can be a bear in NB.

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2 hours ago, Dottles said:

Wind. Chill. Ugh.

How about ground blizzards?  Highway in the Chugwater and Wheatland, WY area can be clear until you hit an area where small ground blizzards have moved snow across the highway.  These patches can be interesting when one is pulling a trailer at night.

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Just now, sheep_herder said:

How about ground blizzards?  Highway in the Chugwater and Wheatland, WY area can be clear until you hit an area where small ground blizzards have moved snow across the highway.  These patches can be interesting when one is pulling a trailer at night.

I don't envy you guys.  Hardy folks.

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7 hours ago, Dottles said:

I've driven twice from Omaha to Denver across your state on 80 and I agree.... not much to look at.  Total snoozer.  The excitement is when one of the downed trailer rigs has broken apart and sent hay and other debris scattered along the highway.  It's basically a commerce highway and you don't get much variety unless you are in the western part of the state.  Everything -- and I mean everything was as flat as a pancake there.  It s no wonder you guys laugh your ass off when you hear about Seattle drivers and snow.  We have hills and mountains here and anything frozen is treacherous.  Although the outskirts of Omaha have some hills, I would think driving in the snow out there would be a blast.  Like a big skating rink.

Judging Nebraska by what you see on I80 is like judging a school or business by walking down a hallway. 

I have driven in Colorado and the Black Hills with snowstorms.  Lived in the Black Hills for a year. The difference is in the mountains, snow falls like you see on postcards. Here it comes down sideways! It drifts, there are whiteouts and yes the wind will push you all over if you aren’t careful! By the way, if you got off the interstate, you would know that some areas of Omaha have steeper hills than San Francisco. 

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The University of Iowa has a great wrestling program, winning 23 National Championships since 1975.  Matches should be in season.

They invented a weight training method that has been adopted all over the world, the "Iowa Method," where you find the max you can do for each lift, take 60% of it, and use that to do 10 reps when working out, preferably 3 days/week. You increase the weight for each lift by 5% of the max each week: 65%, 70%, etc. until you're doing 10 reps at the max where you only do one 8 weeks previously.  Then you test a new set of maxes and start over.

The state also had a guy named Radar O'Reilly who was in the Korean War.

I'm sure there's interesting things to see there.

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3 hours ago, groupw said:

Judging Nebraska by what you see on I80 is like judging a school or business by walking down a hallway. 

I have driven in Colorado and the Black Hills with snowstorms.  Lived in the Black Hills for a year. The difference is in the mountains, snow falls like you see on postcards. Here it comes down sideways! It drifts, there are whiteouts and yes the wind will push you all over if you aren’t careful! By the way, if you got off the interstate, you would know that some areas of Omaha have steeper hills than San Francisco. 

Yeah, I get that.  It'd be a big mistake to equate Washington with rain, mountains or sound. We have a sage brush climate 2 hours from Seattle. In fact, lots of training there for the folks the sent off to Iraq. Most of our state consists of the Columbia plateau -- arid and ugly.

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On 1/8/2019 at 5:18 PM, Page Turner said:

...does anyone else think it's odd that the "Corn Palace" is not in Iowa, but instead is in Mitchell, SD ? I always thought that was odd.

Yes!  I was just going to guess the Corn Palace!  So now I got nothing. :D

We used to have a forumite from Iowa, Grampy, buy he sort of faded away like so many forumites do.  I think he did register here and post once or twice.

 

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