Welcome to Iowa

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Well folks, last night I laid my head down in a small town just outside of Des Moines. We got on the road as soon as we heard that Lily got a good report from the doctor.

The clouds rolled in and we drove through a few minutes of rain here and there. Sometimes the sun broke through the clouds and the lighting was awesome. My header photo is one I shot from the truck window.

I played with the photo a little. Which one do you like best?

I used the "posterized" effect here.

Same photo, but with the "topography" effect

Some things I saw on the road:

Turbine propeller

This sign directs you to the town of What Cheer, Iowa. Who wouldn't want to live there?

Founded in 1865, it was first named Petersburg, after the settlement's founder Peter Britton. But the Post Office rejected the name! I don't know why the name was rejected, but isn't that a slap in the face? Joseph Andrews, a veteran of the Civil War, suggested the name of "What Cheer", and the town officially changed it's name in 1879. So I'm not sure if it was named Petersburg UNTIL 1879, or if it was a town with no name until that date. There are many theories behind the name of "What Cheer":

• What cheer with you is an ancient English greeting dating back to the 15th century. Supposedly a Scottish miner exclaimed, "What cheer!" when finding a seam of coal near the town.
• Some think that Joseph Andrews chose the name because of the connection to his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. When Roger Williams, (a theologian who began Providence Plantation), arrived in Providence in 1636, he was greeted by the Narragansett native Americans with "What Cheer, Netop". "Netop" means "friend". The native Americans picked up What Cheer from the English Settlers.

This company does some eye-catching advertising for farm equipment!

We got to our campground, which is situated on a farm. We had to pull into the farm to register. This is the outside of the office.

Looks friendly, doesn't it? Inside we met the owner, and her cat, Pillsbury.

To get to the campground, we had to leave the farm, go back out onto the road, turn down a side road, then another road, to get to the back "forty" as they say. Although it was bigger than that! We were surprised at how nice and clean the campground was; most of the sites were paved. There was a large building that had a game room, bathrooms and laundry. 

There were huge statues all over the park.

We walked to see the horses in the field. They wouldn't come to us, even though Jim whistled and I made kissing noises. Darn!

A road less traveled

And we're off again!