Going on a mystery tour, help me follow the clues

I’m on the ambulance for South O’Brien’s first home football game on September 2^nd, so have been refreshing myself on the possible injuries we could see. It’s time to take a bit of a break. Next month I’m going on a 2-day mystery trip with my mom. She couldn’t decide who to ask to go, and realized I’d have PTO, so decision made, I’m going. 

I hate surprises, just tell me already. I’ve been trying to figure out where the trip is headed since June.  No luck. It has to be within a day’s drive from Orange City, so there is a LOT to see in that radius. Here are the clues we’ve been given, see if you are better at this game than I am:

June

We all love adventure and fall is a wonderful time to travel. The air is cooler and the autumn colors are abounding. Along the way you will meet a ‘living legend’ of the area. This flamboyant character will delight you with his story and what tomfoolery ultimately sent him to jail! Row, row your boat, but leave the driving to us. The B I B L E, yes, that’s the book for me… especially, following the jail tale. Cookies and apples and rocks, oh my! How about those “sketchy details?”

July

We all love traveling and fall is a wonderful time to venture out. The air is cooler with autumn colors abounding. Along the mysterious way you will witness some rock solid adventure which may also be pretty as a picture if Jack Frost holds off his magic. A European style evening tour with a visually enticing and elegant meal will be enjoyed Thursday. You will be blown away with bakeries, boats and bibles. Our trip includes something for everyone.

August

Fall is a wonderful time to venture out. The air is cooler with autumn colors all about. North, South, East or West… only the driver will know best. His Global Positioning System will show him the way. It will guide him safely around detours and road blocks as we travel all day.Our trip includes something for you and for me.

There you go, all the hints, including the same clip art (just dumb luck) except for the church. I’m thinking somewhere in Minnesota or Wisconsin, but have no idea. Where do you think we could be going?

How our Congressional Delegation spent their August break

Where did this rain come from? It’s very welcome, but is putting a kibosh on my chore list for today.

So, I will write instead. For some unwelcome reason I have politicians and politics on my mind this morning. Cory at the Madvilletimes comments on the lack of public appearances by the South Dakota delegation during the August recess, or lack of free public appearances, Kristi Noem had a $500/head appearance in Sioux Falls.

 Not that I pay much attention to the news these days, but I haven’t heard anything about Congressman King or about Senators Grassley and Harkin. The only one that surprises me is Sen. Grassley. I think the entirety of his senate career he has made a point to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties at least once every year, often more times than that.  A quick check of his events page shows he’s not hiding from his constituents, just hasn’t been to our little corner of the world yet. To me, this is what EVERY Senator should do, and every Representative also, take time to talk to the people who gave you your job.  Senator Tom Harkin is also touring the state, but his map shows a mighty big hole in stops.  But it’s more than I expected, I’ve always considered him to be an east side of Iowa guy, so the stops in southwest Iowa are good. But when is he coming our way, hmmm?

Now how about our Congressman?  Congressman Steve King is a lot harder to nail down from his website,  he does have a nice up front link to help people impacted by the Missouri River flooding. Bu I sure couldn’t find a link to where he’s going to be in his district, …… (a few clicks later) ….. AHA, found it, his office has been busy with news releases during the break! The congressman will be in SPENCER on Tuesday. King to Host Clay County Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday, August 30  Good to know. If you are able to go I’d love to have a question asked.   

A potpourri of thoughts

As I write this, the thunder is rolling, we’re getting our first rain in a couple of weeks, it feels odd to say that we needed it, after how wet the first part of the summer was in our area. Wish we could have sent some of that water to the folks burning up in Texas.

My mom spent yesterday cleaning out the garages… apparently, it couldn’t wait until Saturday when she would have younger help to boss around. (J ) My parents grew up after the depression and tend to save everything. Or almost everything… we have the bikes they bought for the grandkids in the late 80s and early 90s. But have no clue what happened to my brother’s Stingray. I remember that bike; it was orange with a dark grey, glittery banana seat and high handlebars. I had to be able to ride it across the yard and around the martin house before I could get my own bike. Mine was white, with a sky blue seat. Until I painted it.  My nephew says they keep junk and threw out the good stuff. I think the good stuff is the memories.

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There’s been a lot of talk of politics and what is happening in Washington. I consider myself politically neutral… not necessarily an independent, but neutral. Both parties have greatly disappointed me as a citizen, I wish the anger that my fellow citizens are voicing now, months away from any election would still be churning when they go to the polls and vote…. But it won’t. Voters will forget that the people we sent to represent us failed to even think about us, and held fast to party lines. The anger will be forgotten and those politicians will be re-elected and the cycle of a broken America will continue.

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And now my final thought to share. I’m hoping to write an article on members of law enforcement who are also EMTs or Paramedics… if you know someone, please have them contact me! lastruve@gmail.com.

Hello... is this thing on?

Tall corn and crossroads, an analogy for where I am in life. 

Crossroads represent a potential change in direction, and if you’ve ever driven down an Iowa gravel road in August, tall corn can create blind corners, so you don’t see what may be coming until it hits you. My best friend says I’m in autopilot right now, and something will come along that will be perfect. That could well be. But in the meantime, I will sue this as my creative and newsy outlet.

I don’t know what direction this blog will take, I confess, I don’t read a lot of blogs, I read Madvilletimes, The South Dakota Cowgirl and On My Plate, so this effort will probably include some political and local issue commentary inspired by Cory, photos inspired by Jen and recipes inspired by Fran. Otherwise, it will be stories that I feel a need to tell, interviews I just have to do, and opinion I just have to share. SO please, comment away, and give me ideas, especially if you are in the Paullina area, there’s news stories of local interest just waiting to be written!