The Center of Iowa

Blogging today from the center and capital of Iowa - Des Moines. Speed TV is on in the background, as we're watching the F1 Monaco race. A few of my favorites are in the points, but unfortunately my picks for the week did poorly. B, a co-worker of his and myself have a friendly bet going on (mostly for bragging rights) where we picked two drivers for each race based on skill level and teams. Too complex to describe...but I'm now in 3rd. Yikes, hopefully the next few drives will bring me better luck! I hate to lose, even if it is "fantasy racing." As the only girl I need to hold my own here.

Just arrived in Iowa late yesterday. The plan was to originally leave Friday, but I had a bone scan at CCF that took five hours. They give you an injection of this dye, take a few motion scans, then you have to kill time for four hours while it goes through your system. Then you go back for the series of 10 minute scans. Now the purpose of the scan is to look for fractures, healing, deterioration or cancerous bone. If there are issues with the bone, the dye they injection sticks to the bone and makes it look florescent on the scans. They did scans of my low back and legs - and the low back looked quite "green." They showed scans to the head doctor in the department, who also wanted to do a CAT/CT scan of my entire mid section so they could lay those on top of the bone scan results. Which was a little odd, since I had a CT scan two weeks ago. So, they either found something, or the glob of metal in my back skewed things. Unless my doc calls me sooner I have to wait until June 11th to find out, so no use worrying about things.

So B and I got on the road at 6:15am Saturday, and it was a good trip. We used our EZ Pass in Indiana and Illinois, and that was real slick - and a time saver. Checked into our Des Moines hotel, then drove another 45 minutes to have dinner with B's mom. She looks great, and we had a good time. We'll be here today and Monday, then head to Iowa City Monday night. Tuesday morning we're stopping by the farm to see Grandma G., then we make the long drive home.

I know most people think Iowa is flat and boring, but it's really quite beautiful. If we had the money, I'd buy property here. The trees, rolling hills, creeks and ponds....it's so serene. I see the land for the beauty it holds, and I'm reminded of my Grandpa G., who worked his small part of this land for 80 years of his life. Though he traveled often to see his kids (and often my family as we were the big "movers"), he was happiest here, working on and living off the land. Though I'm a city girl, I will always have a great appreciation for the beauty this land holds; it's my second home.

I digress. Off I go, as we should be heading off for our visit. Wishing everyone a great and safe Memorial Day weekend.