I made the most of my time in Iowa, went to a high school football game on Friday. Aplington-Parkersburg beat Humboldt 34-7. A-P won, and never trailed, despite having more penalties and turnovers. The defense and special teams was helpful, defense holding when they needed to. Humboldt was stuffed on 4th down a few times, and the first touchdown was on a punt return. In addition, there was a short field more than once due to partially blocked punts, getting it near midfield, or Humboldt starting deep in their own territory due to a muff on a punt. One drive ended with an interception in the endzone, and another on an incomplete pass as it was halftime.
They threw shirts into the crowd after touchdowns, one bounced to me and just fell in my lap. But like foul balls at baseball games, I figured the proper thing was to give it to a kid. That's what I did shortly after the game ended, as I figured somebody locally might enjoy it more. I said I had contributed to the coach's memorial fund, the late Ed Thomas, who was murdered last year, and event that received national media attention. Also notable was at halftime as I was at the concession stand and somebody spotted me, and my Saints baseball hat, and said they had seen my car in the lot. It did remind me of what life is like in small-town Iowa, where everybody knows everybody. I did concede how I had to have been one of the few with out-of-state license plates on my car. After the game I went on to my hotel, a Motel 6 in Waterloo, about 25 miles away. It was no problem getting there, aside from a construction detour for a little while. Watched an episode of 'South Park' that night, the one about whether or not to pull due to a Mohammed reference. Also plenty of features on CNN about the upcoming 5-year annivesary of Hurricane Katrina that wrecked New Orleans. It was something that saddened and angered me, seeing a great American city drown.
I was rather leisurely this morning, watching some Cable TV in my room, eventually going to the McDonald's across the street for an Egg McMuffin. Also went back across the street to the Hy-Vee grocery store, wanted to see if there was anything good there. Found a DVD copy of a movie I only had on VHS, 'Smokey and the Bandit', so I bought it. Then it was on the Dyersville and the Field of Dreams, about 60 miles away. First visit there in 20 years, I rode up with my dad from central Iowa to see it then. It was a little tricky to get there, based on the directions I wrote down from Yahoo online, but I found it eventually. It helped there was a sign or two that directed people to the site. Spent about an hour there, sat on both of the wooden bleachers, and spoke some of the lines like 'people will come'. Or when I got to the outfield and the cornfield, I did 'Dinner, Ray' and 'I'm melting'. Helped with fielding balls hit to 3rd base, and ran the bases. Got a picture next to a sign on a fence that said 'Field of Dreams', somebody from Kansas City helped me with that. Got a few souvenirs as well, like a bumper sticker that asked 'is this heaven?' I put it on the back of my car while I was leaving. Also got a pennant, as well as a postcard and magnet.
I was tired near the end of the drive back home, but I still made it with just 2 stops for a more than 4-hour drive. I wanted to see a local comic perform at a comedy club inside a mall, and I did at the late show. He must be enthralled with me in some way, maybe since we're both from Iowa or I'm just funny to him. I say this because he often gives me a shoutout while onstage whenever I'm there. I made sure to say 'thank you'. Though for one of them it was a dead giveaway. I found him before the show and said I had arrived, and then when an earlier comic asked for impersonation ideas I said 'Lady Gaga'. So he did a 'callback' to it when he took the stage. This wasn't the only time I had been thinking of Gaga, as I heard some of her songs more than once on the radio while driving in Iowa. I brought the 2 CDs of hers I have, and listened to one song right after reaching the Field's parking area, and before going to the field, it was 'Bad Romance'. There was an article in the local paper on Friday, and the title was 'why we love Lady Gaga' as her two shows here are in a few days.
There's probably a few things I'd like to see and do on Sunday, need to figure this out after some rest.
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