Rural Living in Iowa

I love the section of Iowa that my daughter and her family live in.  We live in a rural area of Kentucky but it's five minutes from the town where hubby works, 7 minutes to the town in the opposite direction, there is a subdivision across the road and one behind us.  Admittedly they are small towns and small subdivisions but then we aren't far from the nearest grocery, fast food, Walmart, and stores.

Where my daughter lives, you look out your window and you see fields.  There are houses and people out there but they aren't close enough to look back at you.  The first thing that strikes me is, that it is dark, I mean really dark, at night.  We don't realize how many lights we see from our farm.  Looking out at home you will see security lights dotting the landscape like fireflies, marking the other homes in view, the reflected glow of the street lights from the nearby communities, the house lights from across the road, and lots of car lights from the traffic.  In Iowa I see stars and velvety darkness.

When we first visited this area I was a little put off by the distances between things.  The sparseness of the population was a little strange to a girl raised in the more densely populated areas of the south.  My daughter's shop is 12 miles from her home, fortunately it is also where her daughter's school is.  Her mother-in-law's home is 10 miles and they are there almost every day since they still farm together.  The nearest small grocery is 12 miles, to get to a larger one is 25 miles, and for a Walmart is 50 miles.  The gas station is 12 miles--I've learned to watch the gas gauge carefully!  She drives 30 miles for horseback lessons, 30 miles for gymnastic classes (in another direction) and 15 miles for pizza from a convenience store.

Which brings up another thing that is fun about the area.  There are no fast food restaurants.  There isn't a McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, or Burger King on every corner.  Fast food is a treat gotten only in the city.  Thanks to this lack, they have kept the small "mom and pop" diners that I remember from my childhood.  Every little community or sometimes even crossroads has a little restaurant.  The food is good, the service friendly and the customers all friends--or soon will be.  Farmers, housewives, and  workers gather for breakfast, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon coffee, and sometimes dinner to eat, greet and share the news about crops, births, weather, deaths, forecasts, predictions, family, equipment, and more crops, crops, crops. Anyone wandering in is immediately recognized as a stranger and quizzed as to their home, family, and connections, then welcomed into the group.

A friend, whose work takes him to various areas of the country, landed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  His first day's meeting ended early and he was faced with a long evening in a motel room before the next day's agenda.  Upon being told that he was only 25 miles from Iowa, a state he had never been in, he decided to drive over the line.  Upon crossing the line he felt he still hadn't seen Iowa until he at least visited a community, so he drove on until he reached a small town.  He then decided that he wouldn't really experience Iowa until he at least spoke to some people so he stopped at the local bar and restaurant.  Once inside he was greeted warmly and soon experienced the quizzing of "where are you from?" and "what brings you here?"  Soon he was chatting away like an old member of the group.   A short time later he found himself playing pool with a thirteen year old boy who was at the diner having supper with his mom.  After an enjoyable evening he drove back to his motel with the cheerful good-by's and well wishes from his new friends ringing in his ears.  He still grins when he talks of his evening.

It's good to know there are still places like that left in the world.