Iowa's done, on to South Dakota

Well, I never thought it would happen, but I finally crossed the border to South Dakota. Iowa is finally behind me. My overriding impression of the place is that the riding is hopelessly boring, but the people there more than make up for it by being incredibly generous and friendly. Two nights ago in Laurens, Iowa I was invited to stay the night at someone's house, and yesterday I had another good encounter in Boyden, Iowa.
I was sitting at a picnic table at the town park in Boyden when I saw a man carrying a bunch of fireworks in one hand and a propane torch in the other. He then continued to shoot off multiple fireworks in different directions, aiming them at dangerously shallow angles through the trees. I watched him with some degree of confusion, assuming him to be a pyromaniac who just needed to relieve some tension by setting off some explosives. After he was done with the fireworks display, he started walking toward me. I braced myself for a bizzare conversation with a potentially unstable individual, but my fears were soon put to rest. Turns out, the park has a problem with birds pooping on all of the playground equipment, so as a member of the town council, it's his duty to frighten them away with fireworks. We chatted a while, and I learned his name was Ken. He went home and left me in the park, and I continued to sit, eating dinner and reading. Before long, Ken came back and invited me up to his house up the street so I could take a shower. After the shower, he and his wife fed me ice cream, and we talked some more. Before leaving, I gave them my blog address, so if you're reading this, thanks again!
One of the few interesting features of the midwestern agricultural landscape is the wide variety of crop identification signs to demarcate which brand and variety of seeds are being used on a particular plot. There are a good number of brands, each with their own unique logo. My favorite by far is from Dekalb.

Seriously though, how awesome is that? It's a FLYING EAR OF CORN!! If I was into stupid tattoos, I would get this tattooed on my chest. If anyone out there works for them, send me a t-shirt or some stickers. That would make my dreams come true!

Today I was able to watch a crop-dusting airplane in action. It flies no more than ten feet from the ground in order to spray the field with pesticide. It then banks high and wide to double back and spray the next row. I even witnessed the plane flying under some power lines in order to spray the crops.


I also saw some interesting roofing today:

I always knew Jesus was a carpenter, but apparently he's a roofer too! I hope the people who own that house didn't mind him signing his name like that.
(bad joke, but I couldn't resist.)

Since I didn't include pictures in my last post, here are a couple of shots from Independence, Iowa.

Bob and Jean's tavern, where I met crazy murderer guy.

And the dilapidated Art Deco style theatre across the street.