Iowa Road Trip

 I went to Des Moines on Wednesday to take the spare set of keys to the Jeep down to the dealership (I know I could have mailed them but I wanted to drive the new car.) and stopped for lunch at at Maid Rite.  I decided to drive home by the back way. Just to see the farmers in the field and the cows by the side of the road.

 This mural was on the side of a building in Woodward.  It is a nice little town and has a well-kept look.

 Two of my friends live there but I don't know where their house is.  And I would not have stopped unannounced.  They have a new baby and I want to see it sometime.. Oh well it is an excuse to go by some other time.

 This house has had some work done and it may be theirs but I have no way of knowing so I just took a picture and if Lucas sees it he can leave a comment and let me know.

 I have taken this picture before.  This is no longer the Masonic Temple but it does show that there has been a Masonic presence in this community for a long time.

 This is a nice brick home on the other side of Main Street.

 The black cows eat more grass than the white ones.

 I love the color of these "ditch weeds"  Except they are a little redder than they show in the picture.

 Down the hill to the Des Moines River Valley

 That is a High Trestle Bridge according to the sign.

 It was hard to get good pictures because of the traffic but I am getting pretty good at drive-by shooting.

 I love scenes like this one of the Des Moines River.

 A beauty.  This is in the town of Madrid.

 They just redid this stretch of the road and instead of paint for the center line they have this material which makes a noise if you drift over onto it.  Seems like we need to give Kudos to the engineers at the Department of Transportation.

 The horses did not want to pose for pictures.

Back to Ames,  This is 6th Street looking East by Duff Avenue.  Golden Arches, Natures way.
I met my State Representative for coffee at Cafe Diem while her son was at guitar lessons.  It was nice to have the time to visit with her and her son was an interesting young man. (He came after his lesson)  We talked about the Governor's new Education Plan for Iowa.
Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good day.  Lodge Meeting tonight.

A gaggle of Canada Geese up and away - Photo by Bob Kelly

This grouping of eight Canada Geese honk noisily as they rise from a pond on the West edge of Ames, and fly off to the North east for a goose adventure, leaving the glow of the sunset behind them.

Pillars of Gold - Photos by Jay Simser

 I took a little drive Tuesday over to Nevada for lunch (at Battles) and then back by the back roads to Ames.  Did some drive-by shooting of the woods on the Stagecoach Road. I will let them speak for themselves

I love this picture

This has a nice feel to it.

Monday Monday

On Monday I said goodbye to my Jeep

 and hello to my new wheels - A Denli

My Jeep was a 1999 Grand Cherokee.  when I got it there were about 40,000 miles on it. Today there are about 152,000+  I had to have a new (used) transmission put in it and it whined and made a crunching noise when I stepped on the brakes.  It was time.  


My friend Kurt introduced me to his friend who had helped him find a new van for them and frankly I would have been happy with that.  I was trying to work with a place in Ankeny but they kept sending me pictures of little cars.  I am a big person 6'3" and my legs between the hip and the knee are long.  I cannot ride in most cars and I need the additional height to get in and out easily.  When he showed me this one and I drove it and I could actually hear something beside the transmission noise and I could step on the breaks without feeling frightened.  I fell in love.  I drove it home and it is in my garage.  Oh it is a 2008 and only has a little over 35,000 miles.  


In other news I went to see my endocrinologist today and for the most part I am in pretty good shape.  I don't have to go back to see him for nine months and I got weighed and have lost 34 pounds since June.  So I am feeling on top of things and am looking forward to driving again.  Perhaps it is time to go out and take some fall pictures...Oh wait,  My car is black....I don't want to get it dirty, do I?  


Thanks for stopping by.  Hugs