A BEAUTIFUL TIME TO BE IN IOWA

    The small US Air turboprop bounced around on the warm spring air currents as we lurched into Des Moines airport. The bright golden dome of the state capitol was visible as we made our approach. It was a beautiful time to be in Iowa. A few spring rains, Edward Hopper green landscapes, rolling hills, and shiny blue silos just past the remains of old barns. New freeways and old gravel section roads. Corn stubble in one field and freshly plowed earth in the next. Ag-Talk radio calling it a "get out in the field" kind of day. "If you are on your tractor and using your cell phone, we'll bump you up to the head of the line of callers," remarked the host. Well-preserved covered bridges in Madison County, of course, but also in neighboring counties too. I stopped in a drug store, looking for a typical Iowa postcard. My young nephew and niece in Hawaii wanted me to send them cards from all the MIRA states I visited, and I chose one of the ever popular Jackalope genre postcards, a tractor pulling an ear of corn the size of a semi-trailer.