State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Home Life

Historical category no longer used.

  • Gravel Roads

    We rely on the county secondary roads department to keep farm-to-market routes in good shape. Each spring, gravel roads need grading and gravel application. While they are not well-traveled, people notice if they are in disrepair. Secondary Roads did a great job on those I use, like the one in the photograph taken after my… Read more

  • Summer of 1996

    During Wednesday’s walkabout there was frost on the ground. It was clearly the last frost of spring. It’s time to plant warm crops in the ground and get ready for summer. Here we go! Some parts of our lives stand out more than others. For me, the summer of 1996 was one of them. At… Read more

  • Pandemic Weekends

    In the isolation of the coronavirus pandemic, weekends are less of a thing. Days go by. Without a calendar, one day can’t be distinguished from another. Even before the pandemic, when I worked full time, the idea of a Monday through Friday work week followed by a weekend was seldom reality. Perhaps the best expression… Read more

  • Stir Crazy

    A year ago Governor Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation of disaster emergency regarding COVID-19. It’s still on. I had to get out of the house today to preserve my sanity. I put on my army boots with buckled overshoes bought in Indiana, my Carhartt coat from the home, farm and auto supply store, the U.S.… Read more

  • Denial, The Coronavirus Is Your Friend

    When the U.S. Congress passed the CARES Act there was an unspoken assumption the coronavirus pandemic would be of short duration and gone by now. Based on this, the Republican president and Republican Iowa governor pushed to “reopen the economy.” As they did we discovered Iowa and the nation were still on the upward slope… Read more

  • Quarantined

    Parts of the quarantine are tolerable. Children running among my garden plots with inexpensive butterfly nets. From the house I can see only butterflies and nets bobbing to and fro above garden greenery. Sometimes they leave their toys in the garden. I walk them across the property line to the scrub woods where they make… Read more

  • 4.875 Miles

    It’s been 12 days of riding my Puch Cavalier 10-speed bicycle. I’ve had it since 1980, one of the last built in Austria. When we married, my wife had a women’s Puch 10-speed in the same color. When not being used they hang together in the garage. Taking up bicycling again is a treatment for… Read more

  • Bicycling Again

    When my medical practitioner diagnosed plantar fasciitis in 2015 it mean I had to give up running. I’d been running for exercise since 1976 when I enlisted in the U.S. Army. Doc suggested bicycling. I took my Austrian-made Puch Cavalier ten-speed down from the hooks in the garage and delivered it to the bicycle shop… Read more

  • Snapping Out of Coronavirus Funk

    Eventually I will snap out of this coronavirus funk. For weather and productivity this was the best spring I remember. The garden is doing great and I have time to give it daily attention. Without work commitments each day is mine. I spend more time outside and at the state park. I’ve gotten my bicycle… Read more

  • Stormy Day

    Thunderstorms are forecast until 7 p.m. Between showers I hope to accomplish some gardening tasks yet most of the day will be spent indoors: in the kitchen, garage, and at my work desk. There’s always something to do. The Washington Post reported the White House is preparing for a fall resurgence of the coronavirus. My… Read more