American Gam

“It is time to realize that of all the valuable capital the world possesses, the most valuable and most decisive is people.” ~ Joseph Stalin

Tuesday, after getting rescued from the muddy ditch by the wonderful Hansen family, I continued east to my destination of the Roseman Covered Bridge in Winterset, Iowa. This bridge is featured prominately in the book and movie, The Bridges of Madison County.
After getting a few pictures of the bridge and washing all of the mud from my boots I went to the town of Winterset where I took this picture of John Wayne’s childhood home. It’s amazing such a big man came from such a small home.

After that I called Dr. Grande’s office back in Warwick, talked to Cheryl who faxed a prescription, for this bad head cold I was experiencing (Thank you!), to the local CVS in Des Moine, Iowa. Then I washed off the body of my truck at a local car wash. Driving to Des Moines for forty-five minutes my truck wobbled down the highway and I knew I was still carrying way too much mud underneath so after going to CVS I found an empty, abandoned plaza where I could park my truck around back and remove the mud from my chassis. I was removing handfuls of mud from every nook and cranny of the truck’s underbelly when out of the nearby grove of trees came Doug.
As it turns out, Doug lives in that patch of trees with two other homeless gentlemen. He’s lived there for a few years now, in a two-man tent, since the company he worked for closed its doors. In the winter the state provides these guys with free propane heaters. Doug knew a lot about cars, was a smart man with some good stories to tell and he wasn’t afraid to work so I offered him twenty dollars to help me get all the mud out of my truck. We scraped and dug mud out from under that truck for over an hour! I gave Doug his pay, said goodbye, went back to the car wash again and blasted underneath with the hose…the front-end wobble disappeared.
Hell of a day!

I hope you embrace the people around you — family, friends, strangers, the homeless, all can change us and teach us to be a better person. The most fond memories of this trip are going to be of the people I was lucky enough to encounter. The tourists, the waitresses, the rescuers, the cowboys, the homeless, the ordinary people who turn out to extraordinary, all have an impact on the course of your life. Embrace and appreciate them.

The gam continues…