Hello from Des Moines, Iowa

Terry and I arrived at our hotel about 4:30 this afternoon.  We left my house at 7:40 AM.  It was a loooooong drive and a lot of it in very overcast skies and rain.  Thank God, Terry still sees real good and she drove the rainy part.

About five miles away from here my car started flashing the "Low Air in Tires" signal.  My car had just been serviced and the tires had been checked -- supposedly.  When we got to a gas station where we could check, each tire was 10 pounds low.  It is quite a bit colder here, so I don't know if that is what caused it or not.

Anyway, Terry knew exactly what to do.

Terry parked under the entryway and stayed with my car while I went into the hotel to check in.  A young man (I think) who had a shaggy beard and a mustache that grew only on the sides of his upper lip and then curled down inside his mouth waited on me.  I couldn't see his mouth much, but his mustache moved when he talked.

I asked him if there was a restaurant close by.

He said, "You just passed one!"

Terry and I drove past a place that said Farmer's Tools or Farmer's Mercantile -- Farmer's something.  It looked like you might be able to buy a tractor or a rake there.

I asked him what the name of it was.  He said it was "The Machine Shed".

I said, "The WHAT?"

His mustache moved rather nervously as he murmured something about it being a good restaurant, and he reached under the counter and pulled out a large tri-fold menu and shoved it across the counter toward me.  Sure enough.  It was "The Machine Shed".

Since it was quite dark and still rainy outside, we decided to try the place for dinner.  We entered through the side door which led us into a mostly vacant bar.  I thought, "This is a weird restaurant."

We asked someone inside if it was a restaurant, and some person took pity on us and directed us through the bar and  to the counter that was inside the FRONT door that we should have come in.  We still didn't see a restaurant.  It turned out to be down the hall and around the corner.

Hardly anyone was there except for a party of about 8 or 10 at a big round table in the corner.  It was someone's birthday at that table, and the people at it started singing "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, ...." but they sang it sooooooo slooooooooooow and so loooooooooow it sounded like a funeral dirge.  It was the somberest birthday party I ever saw.

Our table was large.  We noticed that on the end of every table there were two small upside down mason jars.  We thought they were decorations to go along with the farmer theme.  A young girl dressed like a farmer in a red and white checked shirt and dark blue overalls came to our table.  She put down a metal pitcher full of ice and water, and then she left.  Terry and I decided the pitcher MUST be to fill the two little jars with, so we did.

And we kept filling them, over and over and over.  The water was really good though.  The funny thing is, we decided everything was going to be tiny, because of the tiny cups, but THEN....

We got our dinner.  Check this out!

The little waitress kept bringing us extra stuff.  She brought coleslaw and homemade applesauce that had sliced apples (YUM!) and some kind of spice cake and rolls.  Terry and I honestly could have ordered one dish and shared it.  I left most of mine there.  WAAAAAAAAAAY too much!  I decided they HAD to give us tiny glasses or they wouldn't be able to fit the food on the table!

Now, we are each in our separate beds in the hotel room and each of us have our laptops on our laps.  Life is good, and we are happy.  Tomorrow at 9:30 our classes start.  We are excited.  Unless it is against the APQS law for me to take pics, I certainly will take some.  It is only five minutes away, but we will probably give ourselves 30 minutes to be sure we find it.

Have a great week, my friends, and I'll be back soon.

Hugs, Joy