Unless You're From Iowa....

This MIGHT be funny.....

I dunno about anyone else, but I've heard that IOWA stood for "Idiots Out Wandering Around", or even "Idiots Out Wandering Aimlessly". Now, don't get me wrong, there are some good people in Iowa - I even have relatives there (.....although, they started out in Nebraska....Hmmmmmmm....), but things just seem to get "stereotyped" along the way - sorta like everyone thinks all the people in Minnesota talk like the movie "Fargo".

Ya, sure....you betcha.....

Well, the other day, my lovely wife and I had to make a trip up to Des Monies. Most of it was an uneventful trip - and AGONIZINGLY slow, because the speed limit is only 55 on two lanes roads. She drove most of the way, until we got to Indianola, a nice little city that has the National Balloon Museum (no, HOT AIR, not water balloons.....). They also have a National Balloon Classic every summer with LOTS of Hot Air Balloons.

They are also home to Valu-bilt (Central Tractor) tractor parts.........

Ok, back to the real subject......

So, my wife pulls over at a convenience store, and we switch seats. As I pull out of the parking lot, we look across the street, and spot a mid 1990's Dodge pickup with a REALLY oddball tire rack over the cab. It does the job, but looks like an upside-down "cow-catcher", on the guy's roof. They take off to the SOUTH, and we head north.

There we are, zipping along, until we accidentally take the wrong turn off. This takes us about 6 miles out of the way before there is a (legal) way to turn around. As we are coming back to where we SHOULD have been, we look ahead of us, and spot that Cow-catcher-on-the-roof Dodge, about 3 car lengths up, and in the other lane.

Deb says - "You SURE that's them?"

"Uhh....YES, there CAN'T be TWO of them....", says I.

Sure enough, we caught up in time to see them turn the corner - yup, same guys.

We went on about our business, got some things done, then headed back home. We were WAY late on getting something for lunch, so were on the look out for something to munch. We spotted a "Long John Silvers", so decided to stop there.

They must have had to go catch the fish, because, after we ordered, they told us it would be awhile to wait. We were hungry, and nobody was behind us in the drive through, so we paid, and parked by the window to wait.

After a couple minutes, here walks this young couple in front of us, headed into the restaurant. A minute later, they cam back out to talk to someone who had just left. A few seconds later, they wandered back inside, and the other couple started the car and drove off.

Nothing odd, there, except a couple minutes later, the car came cruising back through the parking lot, and headed out the other side. In the mean time, another man came walking out of the restaurant, toward his car, then abruptly did an about face, and headed back inside.....

The "wanderers" were out in force.....

Finally, the girl from Long John's, wandered over to the window with our food, and we had to leave before we spotted anyone else wandering around the parking lot.

We were still having a pretty good laugh about it when we got back to Indianola. Our amusement was just about subsided when we spotted our friends in the old Dodge pickup, driving down the street ahead of us.....

It's one of those "you had to be there" times, but I'm sure glad we were there to witness it. Now we know what Iowa stands for - we've seen it with our own eyes.