I am slipping. It was very late in my second and last day in Iowa when I realized I am in the land of the early presidential caucuses. I haven’t met any of the candidates – how is that possible?
More than usual, this was a day when I was running from one thing to another. I did a self-guided tour of the state capitol building in Des Moines – whose most interesting feature is a multi-level law library. Then I went to the town of Pella for a recreated Dutch village and windmill. Last weekend was Tulip Time so the village and the whole town were very colorful. Then the museum/library of Herbert Hoover in the small town of West Branch and the tiny two room house where his family of 5 lived until both of his parents died, he went to live with an aunt and uncle in Oregon and he went on to Stanford and history. Then I drove down the lane to the Field of Dreams in Dyersville and took a tour of the 100 year old farmhouse that was used to shoot the film 30 years ago.
The bleachers and house at the Field of Dreams 
The field. Corn has just been planted so no ghosts to come out of the outfield yet 
Herbert Hoover’s two room birthplace home 
A panel listing many of Hoover’s accomplishments 
A model Dutch village at Pella 
Tulip beds in the outdoor village 
Tulips in front of a typical Dutch house 
The Vermeer windmill at Pella 
The Des Moines skyline 
The state capitol’s law library with a five story spiral staircase 
Iowa’s state Capitol building in Des Moines
Finally I attended my second Friday night service in a small but very welcoming congregation in Dubuque.
Two songs in honor of the “Field of Dreams” film. “Center Field” by John Fogerty (and the sun did come out today for the first time in a week for me and it was 60 degrees). Also “Jessica” by the Allman Brothers, an instrumental that is playing while Ray and Terence Mann are driving. In the film, Ray is on a road trip, like me.
A large Iowa farm with the just-planted corn field
Mark's cross-country trip 