Friday, June 6th: Highway 6

I trekked west along Highway 6 from Des Moines to Iowa City.  There were parts of the highway that were closed due to flooding (the flooding will continue to get worse) but it took me through gorgeous farmlands, the Amana Colonies, and some beautiful Iowa scenes. I *miraculously* found Allison and Nate’s place again in Iowa City.  After hanging around the apartment for a while, we had a great night on the town – they had to prove to me that Iowa City has more than PBR available to drink.  We went to a brewhouse, a bar with a great selection of taps — and then to a hole-in-the-wall bar to play/watch foosball with folks in Nate’s cohort, wander through a bluegrass concert, check out the local drag show, and then caught up with some of Allison’s former campaign friends at a sports bar.  All within the same block!  Hello Iowa City!

Thursday, June 5th: Living History Farms

An ominous day in Iowa, I spent the day wandering around Katie’s world – the Living History Farms. It is an re-enactment historical outdoor museum, for lack of a better description. I started my tour “in town” wandering in and out of shops, the printing shop, the doctor’s office, the lawyer’s office, the drug store, broom maker, blacksmith, etc. all set in 1875. From there I walked through “300 years of history” in farmlands – a 1700s farm, a farm from the 1850s (where Katie works), and a farm from the 1900s. The interpreters were awesome (especially since I met many of them at El Bait Shop the previous night) and really quite knowledgable. Needless to say, I learned quite a bit. After spending hours wandering around, I headed back to the house to enjoy the overcast afternoon. Katie and I went and picked up dinner, reminisced about people we know, left some absurd phone messages, and then scurried amongst sheets of rain to the basement of the 1900s farm when the tornado sirens went off. I would expect nothing less for my last night in Des Moines.