Ok, so maybe Iowa isn't as exotic as Madagascar or Nepal.   But it's still travel, albeit of a different kind.   Travel into the heart of Red America.   Travel into the land of farms, vast cornfields, tornadoes, white people, guns, soda pop, bibles, super-Walmarts, hunters, smiles, and pickup trucks.   Travel to places where seasonal allergies depend on the corn crop, where vending machines dispense live bait, and where the most exciting event of the year features a swine competition.

Where exactly is Iowa, you ask?   Well... it's in the middle. Very, very far from the two coasts that make this country bearable.

Iowans have a uniquely self-deprecating sense of their state.   They talk about Iowa like a spouse resigned to a lifeless, dull marriage - aware of what lies beyond, yet reluctant to pursue it in favor of the familiar.   Cross the border into Iowa and you'll see how the mildly depressing state motto "Fields of Opportunity" perfectly reflects the state's self-confidence level.

            Iowa is not the only state that suffers from a psychological complex. Most mid-Western states act like neglected middle children, begging to be noticed and loved. In desperate cries for attention, each city boasts a bizarre claim to fame. Iowa has the world's largest truck stop, and the world's third-largest frying pan; Oklahoma is home to both Hanson and the world's largest McDonald's, which actually spans an interstate. Liberty, Missouri is home to the first daylight bank robbery and apparently, Kansas City has the most fountains of any city other except for Rome.   These are not little-known facts that I've googled; rather, they form the collective cultural knowledge of many midwesterners.

Anyway - the Iowa essay will come later.   For now, browse through my photos and observations, and you'll begin to get an idea of what Iowa is like.  

Although Iowa was boring much of the time, I owe a huge thanks to all my friends out there who looked after me like the lost child that I was: Unni, Ashley, Kris, Aba, Beth and all the good folks at Ubersonic, whom I met (unfortunately) only a week before my departure.  

And god bless New York City. The more I leave, the more I miss it.

6.11.05 Kansas City and Missouri
7.8.05 Chicago
7.10.05 Oklahoma
7.22.05 Dan's Farm
7.23.05 Shooting Guns