Thursday, July 22, 2004
Knoxville
That's Knoxville, Iowa, not the better known city in Kentucky. I didn't make it out of town until late last night, and had a hard time finding a place to sleep where I wasn't plagued with insect bites. I managed to find one (or fall asleep anyway), and then headed for Knoxville. I was barely up, though, when a thunderstorm rolled in, and I spend a good part of the day hiding from the rain, under the eaves of buildings and the like, and still managed to get wet: the forecast was for about a 30% chance of morning thunderstorms, clearing up in the afternoon, but after the morning thunderstorm went past, it just stayed cloudy and kept drizzling, and hasn't entirely quit yet. I need another sunny day soon so I can dry out.
After it let up some, about 9 miles past Indianola, I was offered a ride by a man who spoke of some of his experiences. He mentioned that he used to be involved in drugs and alcohol and sought out help from a pastor when he found himself wanting to murder someone. He showed he his "sword" (a bible), and seems to be making good progress towards getting his life in order.
No sooner had he dropped me off, than another man came and offered a ride the rest of the way to Knoxville. This one works in Des Moines with a partner managing a couple of commercial rental properties. I much appreciated both of them.
This part of Iowa is hilly and has a lot of trees. There are still a lot of corn and soybeans, but the farms are smaller and closer together than in eastern Iowa and Nebraska, and I'm seeing more hayfields. A lot of the farmhouses have well-mown yards. Having lived all my life in more arid parts of the country, I'm impressed by all these green lawns that don't need irrigation. The next leg of my trip is to Oskaloosa, Iowa.
After it let up some, about 9 miles past Indianola, I was offered a ride by a man who spoke of some of his experiences. He mentioned that he used to be involved in drugs and alcohol and sought out help from a pastor when he found himself wanting to murder someone. He showed he his "sword" (a bible), and seems to be making good progress towards getting his life in order.
No sooner had he dropped me off, than another man came and offered a ride the rest of the way to Knoxville. This one works in Des Moines with a partner managing a couple of commercial rental properties. I much appreciated both of them.
This part of Iowa is hilly and has a lot of trees. There are still a lot of corn and soybeans, but the farms are smaller and closer together than in eastern Iowa and Nebraska, and I'm seeing more hayfields. A lot of the farmhouses have well-mown yards. Having lived all my life in more arid parts of the country, I'm impressed by all these green lawns that don't need irrigation. The next leg of my trip is to Oskaloosa, Iowa.
