Iowa Continued

Today I am still in Iowa. Waterloo is a large-ish town that is one hour north of Iowa City. Troy is from here. But first, I’d like to mention something very coincidental.

Last night in Iowa City, we were all at a bar called The Mill. Troy and his sister were telling me that many famous bands had passed through this place before they became famous. This included (maybe) Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, and Two Gallants. As we were leaving, we stood outside the bar for a little bit, trying to decide on where to go for some drunken snack face-stuffing. Taped on the outside of the door was a poster advertising a coming show. It was the Bicycats playing on August 21st. I shouted in disbelief “that’s my friend!” And I was pretty sure it was. My friend Zach Bernstein, who I attended High School with, is in a one man band called the Bicycats. I recently saw him perform at the Sidewalk Café on the Lower East Side, and we’d hung out the night before he left for his new home in Providence, RI. Anyway, like I said I was pretty sure it was his band, although it is entirely possible that there is another band that calls themselves the Bicycats. I sent him a text last night, and today I we spoke on the phone. He said that he is in fact playing in Iowa City Tuesday night, and that he couldn’t imagine I’d be around that area, but that if I was, I should show up. Crazy. I told him about my trip, he told me about his. Sadly, I’m leaving tomorrow for South Dakota, which does not pass the route of Des Moines to Iowa City. I love when little stories happen within a bigger picture. PS If you are in the area, he is playing a show in Brooklyn on August 25th. Check out his myspace page.

On another note, I finished a great book yesterday by John Steinbeck called Travels with Charley in Search of America. Steinbeck mentions how journeys are very peculiar things. Sometimes they continue long after all travel has ceased, and sometimes the journey ends before the trip is in fact over. I wonder how my journey will be. Something tells me that I will continue to learn new things about myself and my country everyday. Another part of me feels that I will soon tire of the road and the stresses that come with it. Having to coexist with another person for 2 weeks non-stop is a very difficult task. I’ve noticed that Troy is mostly constant in his moods. He’s always up for talking and joking around. I, on the other hand, have different moods. Sometimes I like to just sit and watch the road, read my book, write in my notebook, or listen to whatever song we have playing. Other times I’m up for a fun conversation, or a silly game or whatnot. It’s been hard to communicate to Troy that sometimes I like to listen to my own thoughts. I also feel that this trip would be a little more exciting and (dare I say it) fun if one or two other people had come along. I really hope that I don’t go crazy. Two weeks is a long time, and we are actually planning on not coming back until Labor Day, which makes this trip two and a half weeks in reality.

Here is a rundown of today: We passed through Cedar Rapids, home of the Quaker Oats factory. Troy rolled down the windows and told me to take a whiff of the air. No joke, it smelled like freshly cooked oatmeal. Imagine living in a city that constantly smelled of breakfast. I think that would make for a happier population.

We got to Waterloo and I took a nice, NICE shower. Then went to see Superbad on a super huge movie screen. So super huge that we actually had to pay an extra $.50 for it! Superbad was super OK. I enjoyed it more than Troy because I had low expectations. Troy thought there were way too many dick jokes.

We got to play a game of House of the Dead 2. They had one in the lobby of the movie theatre. We got pretty far, but then our quarters ran out.

Dinner at the House of Krouse was good. We had sweet corn, turkey cutlets and rolls. They served fruit-filled Jell-O WITH the meal. I thought that was so odd. I passed on that. The Krouses are a very nice family, though. They lent us a large tent, and Troy, the dad, and I did a trial set-up on the deck to make sure it worked. It did. We also have an actual ton of maps and camping guides that were dug up for us. I have my very own guest room with a wall of windows going across. It’s very pleasant.

Iowans are very nice. They are not at all backwards. Very homegrown American, I would say. If you ever head out here and want to fit in, make sure you substitute the word “way” for “very” or “really.” Examples: Last night was way fun! Your shirt is way cool! Also, pronounce the word “tour” like “two-or.”

Tomorrow we are on to South Dakota!

The Not Actually Great Serpent Mound

This morning we left the Econolodge, after having a "filling" continental breakfast of orange juice and a small blueberry muffin. We got on the road in search of the Serpent Mound. I knew it wouldn't be impressive. This excursion was really in homage to a professor of mine. Jim Petersen was the chair of the department of anthropology at the University of Vermont. I took 3 classes with him. He was the kind of guy who really, truly loved his job and his research. He was essentially a hippie who spent his life studying native peoples, and especially "Black Earth," which is very fertile soil in the heart of the Amazon rain forest. He was there the summer after my senior year, when he got shot during a robbery in Brazil. He unfortunately died from the encounter, but his legacy lived on. I miss him, even though I only knew him in the capacity of professor. Jim Petersen taught a class called Native American Cultures, which I took in my Junior year. He showed a slide of the Serpent Mound, which was made by the Adena Indians. It's a 3/4 mile long mound depicting a serpent uncoiling on one side, and on the other ingesting an egg, or a frog. Part of why I wanted to see this was in the honor of Jim.

We had to take a state route to get there from Parkersville. On the two-way highway, I saw a strange object on the shoulder of the road. It had a triangle reflector and seemed to be moving. At first, it really looked like one of those space probes that NASA puts on Mars to take pictures of the landscape. It seemed to have three legs. As I got closer, I noticed that one of the "legs" was moving, like feet. So my thoughts moved to thinking it was some kind of Flintstone automobile, with a person using their feet to propel it. As we got even closer, I saw that it was in fact legs - horse's legs. And finally, I realized it was a horse and buggy! THEN a boy in a round hat and overalls leaned out of the rear window. He was Amish (or Mennonite). He was as excited to see my car as I was to see his horse and buggy. It was a great moment of joy for both of us.

We rode on through Ohio, until nearby Cincinnati, when we stopped for lunch. I'm not sure exactly which town we were in, but we pulled into a strip mall, and there was an Indian restaurant. I love Indian food, and Troy was up for an adventure, so we entered the place. It was packed with Indians and white people. There was a fantastic lunch buffet, in which we consumed Saag Paneer, Chicken Mahkani, and some bindhi masala. It was really excellent!

We headed out, on our way to Iowa City. Troy's younger sister attends the University of Iowa, and we planned on staying with her for the night and getting some long needed alcohol in our systems. The city turned out to be very similar to Burlington. We stopped first at a grocery store that sold tons of imported Belgian ales, as well as local brews. Troy and I got some Rogue, which is brewed in Oregon. Then we got to Kayla's apartment. She lives with her friends Erika and Jake, both from Waterloo, Troy and Kayla's hometown. They are really fun kids. We watched Rock of Love together (a show that I am a big fan of), and then headed out to "Hamburg Inn." This is a famous place in Iowa City. Most presidential candidates give speeches from this place. Joe Biden is actually speaking there tomorrow morning at 7:30 - too bad it's so early (oh well). They also have something called a "pie shake," which is a milkshake blended with a piece of pie. Unfortunately they had no red velvet cake to blend my shake with, so I skipped it and had a piece of Boston Cream Pie instead.

We headed back to the apartment and played a few games of asshole. It felt so great to get a little bit buzzed and to relax and feel like I've arrived at a destination. I was having fun. We went out to a local bar called "Mill Run" and I got a PRB in a bottle (who knew?) for less than 2 bucks, and Kayla, Jack, Troy and I played cheap games of pool. There was a jukebox and I got to choose 3 songs for my dollar, so I put on "Jailhouse Rock," by Elvis, "The Laws Have Changed" by the New Pornographers, and "Let Down" by Radiohead. We all got nice and good with our beers, and then walked back to the apartment in the rain. We sat on some comfortable couches while eating Tombstone pizza and watched a documentary about a nomadic Indian culture. Then everyone went to sleep and now I'm watching the Cosby Show while typing this.

It was a great day. Very relaxing, full of the road, and with a great ending: a college town enjoyed with some young, happy college students. Iowa is a great state and I'm glad to be spending the night here.