Travels of author, soprano, researcher, and road diva Randye Jones
On my birthday (Thursday, September 17th), I took my usual day off. I decided to do some car shopping while I awaited the final steps before the insurance company claimed RB. My research had led me to decide on the Kia Soul for my next car. The closest dealership is in Des Moines, so I …
My 2006 Food 500, which I’ve dubbed the Red Barron (or RB for short) because of the way she handled herself on the road and anywhere I deigned to take her, and I have been through a lot since I bought her in 2009. I’ve noted many of our road adventures on this site and …
Unfortunately, the forecast of cold, rainy and windy weather for most of Saturday was absolutely correct. Since Sunday’s forecast was for more of the same, and I really had no interest in dealing with the anticipated crowds of the following weekend’s Tulip Time festival, I decided to just go and hope for the best. Pella, …
I’ve lived in Iowa for nearly 12 years and only visited Pella twice, neither time when the town’s famous tulips were in bloom. A library colleague has reminded me that this is tulip season there, and she found on her visit there yesterday, they are, indeed, in glorious bloom. So, I’ve decided to further delay …
One of the last posts I posted on my Iowa?!? travel blog was a recounting of my trips last May to the six Bridges of Madison County–yes, the ones upon which the book and 1995 movie were based. In Part one, I wrote about my first stop, which was to the iconic Cedar Bridge. It …
Busy day started with a stop at the Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. It seems that I missed much of the gardens, but the trees, shrubs and various decorations were enjoyable to view along the way. Back uptown, I found the Shot Tower a little bit off the beaten path. The building’s original purpose was …
On Thursday morning, it suddenly hit me that the Labor Day weekend was approaching, and I REALLY didn’t want to spend it in Grinnell. The answer: a one-tank trip. Relatively inexpensive and not too far away. I decided on Dubuque because my previous visits there had all been for conferences with no time to play …
I did a re-assessment of the trip and decided to delay departure until Tuesday and reverse the direction of my route. This would mean missing Trekfest, but with a four-day convention on the schedule and the possibility of attending another year, I could work with this idea. So,… I spent a relaxed 3-day weekend in …