http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States , Iowa , Des Moines en-us Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:17:48 BST Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:17:48 BST Good Morning John has gone to find cheap gas and good coffee while I do my Yoga and strenghtening excersizes that's for all you Winnie the Pooh fans. We hope to be out of here by 10 so that I will have a few hours at the Historical Society before it closes at 4. That also gives John a chance to check us into the next hotel and escape the mind numbing experience of looking up someone else's http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-297980.html Hello folks Today the weather has finally become what I remembered from last year's trip mild breezy and clear. I'm sitting at the breakfast bar at the Vineyard eating homemade freshpicked blackberry pie and fresh brewed coffee. Not a bad start to the morning. John has already gone downstairs to secure the bannister rail spindles and newel post so they don't roll around the bed of the tr http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-297489.html Fri 30 May Spearfish SD Luverne MN Fort Dodge IAWe awoke to the fresh rainwashed smell of a South Dakota spring morning under nearly clear skies with the last of the mountains we'd need to cross in stark relief on the horizon. Judy made an early morning run back to the WalMart to replace her camera which had gotten dropped in Walla Walla and had finally given up the ghost Thursday night http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-282167.html That's my new motto. It's been brought out this year in response to the way in which the Christmas sleigh has overrun the Thanksgiving turkey. Now I like Christmas as much as the next person but I happen to believe that Americans should spend equal if not more time and effort towards preparing for and celebrating Thanksgiving than they do for Christmas. Why you ask Because Thanksgiving http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-221599.html It's a tragedy. Here's a link to an article about this horrible deed. httpdesmoinesregister.comappspbcs.dllarticleAID20071019NEWS017101903641001NEWS. We're all morning the loss of Eric and the injury of Annie. Anyone who was ever greeted by their shining smiling faces on the way to the State Fair which is pretty much everyone in Iowa is in mourning.Ok obviously we aren't reall http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-212563.html Here I am back in the U.S.A. It's very strange trying to adjust back to my own culture. My stomach doesn't like the food my mind is on language overload and even after 3 weeks I can't get over how terrible American television is. Seriously.I'm quite excited that I'm back in Iowa for the autumn. I haven't been in Iowa at this time of year for 11 years. I had forgotten how beautiful everyt http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-204001.html On Tuesday August 21st I left Rapid City heading for the ldquoLife on Wheels Conferencerdquo in Des Moines Iowa. Once I had left the Black Hills area there isnrsquot an awful lot to report about South Dakota. The scenery is quite blah I stayed overnight in Salem South Dakota a weather front came through during the night and it was drizzling a bit while I was packing up but nothing t http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-199658.html I have a little over two days left before I board my flight for Italy. My flight leaves at 1000 a.m. from Des Moines. I will have two layovers. One in Chicago and another in Munich Germany. My girlfriends mom Bobbi will be joining us for a week. We decided to go over a week before classes start to get used to everything I have got almost everything all packed up. I plan to spend the ne http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-194323.html My name is Charles Blake VerPloeg. I am a junior at Drake University double majoring in Accounting and Entrepreneurial Management. I am concentrating in Business Law. This fall I will be studying in Florence Italy through Institute of Italian Studies at Lorenzo de' Medici. My lovely girlfriend Sylvia will also be coming with me as she continues her education here as well. I am almost completley http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-194315.html I am back in one piece. On the last flight home Wayne Co. Detroit airport lost my luggage which was a less than jubilant return after a long long flight. Fortunately after some discussion it was returned later that night. Good deal. I was scared of my own bad luck and had packed everything important but dirty laundry in my carry on so it wasn't a huge scare. Without waxing weary wiser t http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-167497.html Meet Molly the horse I really struggled with which lame pop culture reference to use as a segue into the entry for our five day stay in Des Moines. I originally went with Oooh Baby do you know what that's worth but I thought Field of Dreams was more appropriate since we were staying on an Iowa farm and the actual site where the movie was filmed is less than a hundred miles from here. Throw in http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-167082.html Tomorrow is the big day I'm out of mind trying to get last minute details done before we leave tomorrow. This past week has been really good and really busy. Somthing really wonderful happened to The Husband and me and it's made financing this trip much easier. It's nice to be able to travel and do what you want to do and not worry about the budget so much. It's never happened to me before so I http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-112412.html Hello AllThis is the first post Today is 1213 and we're leaving for New Orleans next Thursday. Right now I'm just trying to get everything donelaundry money wanna give to the A and B Smith travel fund puppy etc. This is our first time traveling with a dog so I'm a little nervous about that. I'm a planner by nature so I think Ozy will be okay. He's got a little limp right now but it http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-110748.html Well today I delivered the load at Carpentersville IL at 900 local time 600 am for me and no problem with load. I traveled yesterday and today from Nebraska into Illinois. The traffic over in this area is a killer but the view is great. Both natural landscape and manmade cities look great from the privilaged point of view of an 18 wheeler driver seat I got a load going into Wiscons http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-87688.html I realized that I forgot to put up the few pictures I took with Byers family relatives while I was home. There was no organized family event while I was home so I didn't have a chance to see many members of the Byers clan but I saw Grandma a few times and my Aunt and a couple cousins too. My flight back to China left Des Moines at noon on Monday so the question arose as to how I was going to http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-77921.html LovedonesToday I write a blog of a different sort. The next installment of our happy travelblog will post next week. This blog instead is written with a heavierheart for selfhealing and shared with my family as we grieve a loss together. It is written on behalf of my brother Matt who shares these feelings and memories with me. This past weekend my brother Patrick Robert Meenan pass http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-57602.html Well we were adventure kids this weekend and in a completely different way.We had two amazing shows in Quincy. The woman in charge was very helpful and when we aksed her about a mechanic she called and got us squeezed in. They were sweet peas. We took pictures of the set up process so you guys can see what we go through. Lovely. The town was really old and had beautiful homes. It is right http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Iowa/Des-Moines/blog-49068.html