You Might Be In Iowa...

You might be in Iowa if you have a friend who lives on the corner of Third and Corn or on the small family farm on Turkey Road. Or you pass Hoot Owl Junction with regularity.

You might also be in Iowa if you visit the World's Largest Truck Stop (totes amazing, btw) and have the opportunity to stroll through a fun Trucking Museum. 

PC: Kevin E. Schmidt - Quad-City Times File Photo

Inside the Truck Stop

Inside the Museum

A truck with Utah plates. :)

You might be in Iowa when you can claim you live in MIMAL's nostril.

You might be in Iowa when your friends can actually live north of the Mississippi River - that doesn't happen very often. 

You might be in Iowa if your new friend laughs when you tell him swamp coolers actually work in Utah...and your friend's wife has no idea what a swamp cooler is. (Let me iterate how excited we are to experience 100% humidity in the summer time.)

You might be in Iowa if it can get so cold outside, it can freeze your laundry soap by leaving it in the car.

Thawing my Laundry Soap

You might be in Iowa when there are a few occasions you can turn your brights on while driving on the Interstate at night.

You might be in Iowa when billboards don't line the Interstate, but grow in the middle of fields - far away from the roadside (Marketing: It's become a driving hazard).

You might be in Iowa where the population of squirrels is...pervasive.

You might be in Iowa if you've officially had some REALLY delicious Mexican food.

You might be in Iowa if your Girl Scout Cookies look different and are named more generically than they were in Utah. But it all depends upon where you live!

PC: Mental Floss

Click HERE to See More Differences

Fact! It looks different, but still tastes delish!

You might be in Iowa if the nearest zoo worth going to is 4 or 5 hours away and in completely different states. Sad times...

You might be in Iowa if you run around outside and these little burrs get stuck to your socks (one of the girls in my church class calls them "butt ticks" - I don't know that I would disagree):

Hedgeparsley Burrs, aka Butt Ticks

You might be in Iowa if you meet some of the nicest people on the planet. :)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Lament

So this?

This is a thing here!

There are reverse vending machines at every Wal-Mart that I've been to so far. You put a designated bottle or can in, you get money back. Cool! Save the planet. Make a little money...perks right?

I'm not sure if that's how I'd frame it. But it's what they WANT you to think.

Do you see that little "IA Deposit - $0.30" ??? I was really confused as to what it was when reviewing my receipt. Then a conversation I just had on Sunday came back to me. Our friends the Teed's were telling us that Iowa charges you extra for soda pop as an incentive to recycle the containers. So a 12-pack of Pepsi will cost you an additional $0.60 compared to anywhere else ($0.05 for each can). I thought that was a bit strange, but failed to see how it could directly affect me...we don't buy cans of pop. I just responded to the conversation with a half-hearted, "That's lame!" 

Well...lately we've been buying bottles of pop to keep in our fridge while staying in the hotel. And all along, I've been charged a little sneaky fee during our month's stay here! I'm a little miffed! Because suddenly it is affecting me! And suddenly I care!

Why do I care?

Look, I'm a huge fan of recycling, but (as I've recently come to learn about myself) only when it's convenient. I'm happy to sort things and do my bit - pro bono even! - if you provide me with a bin. That has not been the case with the last few places I've lived. If I've ever felt obligated to recycle, I've always had the option to take it somewhere locally and sort it myself. But that takes time. And frankly, I value my time over the hassle of cluttering my home as I stock-pile my recycling in an attempt to save our planet (Gah. I sound like a witch!). This is my reality right now - twisted and sad as it may be. I've gotten used to chucking everything.

And I get it. I get that's why Iowa is charging you this little fee (like, really...$0.30...it's chill). It's incentive enough to make you think twice before you throw it away! I think my biggest issue is the fact that I didn't ask for it. It's forcing me to change the hierarchy of what I value and I get nailed for not feeling the same way as someone else. I guess that's really what irks me.

Waa. Waa. 

Another story about recycling!

My friend Linley lives in West Liberty and she was really awesome to take me on a tour of our future town (I can't wait to be out of the hotel)! She drove me through the streets and neighborhoods and pointed out significant places - like where to take my recycling. It's a community self-sort area (btw...you don't have the incentive of getting paid to bring it there). And the community is really awesome to wash and sort their recyclables in preparation of bringing it to this little outdoor space! 

As the story goes, the most recent town scandal involved the city manager getting fired when he was paying someone to haul the dumpsters off to the landfill and not a nearby recycling center. Gasp!

If that's the most scandalous thing my new town is up to, I'll take it.

I do understand why the community was mad though! If I was taking the time to set aside all my recycling and haul it off just so that it could be thrown away anyway, I'd be irritated too! Because if I'm finally going to make a priority to do that in my LIFE, don't just throw that away.

----------------------------------------- 

I'm going to need to find something else to be more passionate about around here besides recycling.

Some Initial Impressions

You guys...Iowa is nice. Like, REALLY nice. With 3.1 million people in this state, I wonder where everyone is! In my mind, this state is a really nice secret. From the things I've read, it appears to be a state where many people leave, but rarely are people thronging to be here. Unless you're in the middle of the Iowa Caucuses (which were this Monday) and Iowa is mentioned every time you turn on the news, it seems to not exist. After politicians travel through, it quietly maneuvers itself back into the quiet of America's Heartland.

I rarely saw yard signs for presidents in Utah. Maybe an occasional bumper sticker, but here, you would think it was election time for your local city council. Cruz. Sanders. Everywhere.

Towns are really far apart on this side of Iowa. Instead of one town slowly melding into the other, it seems like you have to drive at least five or ten minutes to get from each distinct place.

People told me that I would have no sense of direction when I got out here. That's totally true. There are no mountains with which to orient myself. And where Utah orients itself North and South, Iowa flows East and West...and I can't get use to that idea! I rely on my GPS a lot, a lot, a lot.

But when I'm lost (which I feel happens to me more than I'd care to admit), I look for the water towers. Every town has its name emblazoned upon one. Sometimes when I go out for groceries or to visit someone, I just drive and see where I end up. I know that if all else fails, I have a GPS on my phone to get me home. The other day I started in West Liberty, drove to Coralville with the intent of finding Coralville Lake (which I stumbled upon on a different drive), drove over some dirt roads and ended up next to the Tiffin water tower. I was on the totally opposite side of the interstate.

Everyone apologizes about how ugly winter has made things around here...but I have to remind them that I'm from Utah - I totally get the never-ending gray of melted winters. I have no room to judge this state! But they always follow up that apology with how much I will love it once it warms up. It's BEAUTIFUL with endless GREEN. And with how many people have made that claim to me, I'm eager to believe them! I can't wait to see it for my very own!

Then after all the hype that's made about the summertime beauty, they'll casually throw in, "but the humidity is awful and gross." Thanks guys.

You know, I admire passionate people. I thought Ute fans could sometimes be a bit over the top with their dedication, but they ain't got nothin' on Hawkeye fans. My mind was blown! On Saturday night, Bill and I went out to eat at Panchero's (the closest thing to Costa Vida/Cafe Rio...but not really) and the whole restaurant was flooded in black and gold. There wasn't a game going on, just casual dedicated fans...EVERYWHERE. I mean, we're minutes away from Iowa City, the home of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, but like...I can't even explain it. Everywhere. They're everywhere! Bill and I have never followed sports, but there is pressure for Bill to have Hawkeye sports updates shoot to his phone so that he can know if it'll be a good or bad day in the office depending on whether or not the Hawkeyes won their game. Like...even wrestling. Since when do people follow wrestling?!?

Even Wal-Mart has a Hawkeye's clothing and fan gear area as big as the entire baby section! Okay...that may be a slight exaggeration. Of course, we immediately felt pressured to purchase a Hawkeye car decal just so we can seemingly fit in a bit more...it's a travesty otherwise. I actually kind of feel like a moving target with my Aggie's license plate. Haha.

Wal-Mart's Hawkeye Section

An ice cream selection that can only truly
be appreciated if in the Midwest

There are a lot of kids here! Initially, I was told that it would be rare to see so many children everywhere, but that perspective is very different than mine! We went to the Coralville Mall (which has a merry-go-round and an ice-skating rink!) and I arguably saw more kids there than I typically would on a similar night in Utah. There are good people out here and family is incredibly important. I also get the vibe that people feel PEOPLE are important. Everyone knows everyone! The hospitality is 100% genuine.

People park really funny here? I mean...no one knows how to park straight. Maybe it's just our hotel parking lot and I shouldn't be throwing out blanket statements like that, but this is evidently a pet-peeve come to light since arriving out here.

Anyway...those are some initial thoughts that I wanted to jot down before it all becomes old news to me. Initial impressions can be funny to reflect on later on down the road.