David Recht, Irving, Texas
A Texan in Iowa on a cold day
In early March I visited Des Moines, and I’m glad I did! I live and work in Dallas and have a couple of
clients in Iowa. Along the way, I picked up some insider knowledge about an interesting part of the
country.
I arrived late on a Monday night at the airport. I had a busy day ahead of me, so I stayed at a hotel
nearby. I was a little nervous about the cold-weather driving I had ahead of me in the morning, as I
had to visit one of my clients 200 miles away in Orange City, and I was setting out before sunrise in
single-digit (yet dry) temperatures.
I headed west on I-80, then north on I-29, around Sioux City, and north into Orange City. I’m a civil
engineer by trade, so I’m naturally attracted to infrastructure. In this case, as the sun was coming up,
I noticed a steam plume on the western horizon. I later read about the George Neal North Power
Station Complex and learned a few things about power generation. Of more interest to nonengineers,
though, I soon learned about Dutch immigration to Orange City and the surrounding
communities (along with the delicious pastries, cheeses, and meats that I was directed to by the
city’s monument sign).
The trip back to Des Moines was a combo of county and state highways, which I relished, getting a
chance to see some o-the-beaten-path agriculture, and even experiencing “Iowa Nice” making
small talk with an Iowan at a gas station, before linking up with U.S. Highway 20 and I-35, heading
south into Des Moines.
I made my second work stop of the trip, an architect’s oice in a 100-year-old building near Woodland
Cemetery. I’m a cemetery aficionado, but my flight was fast approaching, and, despite the cold
weather, I’m even more of a zoo aficionado, so I drove over the river to the Blank Park Zoo!
There weren’t many people at the zoo. I had a brisk walk and got to see some of the cold-weather
animals frolicking (lions, sea otters, indoor rhinoceroses and giraes, among others). I was a bit
relieved that my flight home was delayed for an hour, so that I had time to relish the zoo.
As the zoo closed, the sun started to get low in the sky, and I picked up a copy of the Des Moines
Register at the airport and pondered the past 24 hours. It had been a productive workday, but,
perhaps more importantly, a snapshot into Des Moines and environs, and I made a mental note to
talk to my wife and kids about my trip, and plan a return someday (maybe for the State Fair, and not
in the winter!).