Your visits to the state of Iowa

You've been to Iowa couple of times in September and October 2008.

The first time, you entered on I-35 from the Minnesota border then took I-80 to the Nebraska border! All of us stayed overnight in Des Moines. I recall that we stopped at a travel center or wayside there, and you played on rocks they had in a landscaped area.

The second time, we did the same route in reverse but didn't stay overnight. I think we ate at the Cracker Barrel in Des Moines, but I could be wrong on that. Uusally when traveling through IOwa, that's my restaurant stop!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from our quick trips through the state - sorry!

States that you've visited so far

As you've gone through these pages, you've probably noticed that you've been to a lot of places. So today I've made a list of all of the states you've been to (and tried to include the dates you were there, if I could remember). The list doesn't include states you flew over in an airplane - you had to actually touch the ground and go into a building that was sunk into that state's soil!

Here's the list:
>>Arizona (Sept. and Oct. 2008)
>>California (Feb.-Dec. 2007; Sept. 2008-May 2012)
>>Colorado (Sept. and Oct. 2008)
>>Iowa (Sept. and Oct. 2008)
>>Minnesota (Dec. 2007; Sept. and Oct. 2008; May 2012-current)
>>Nebraska (Sept. and Oct. 2008)
>>Nevada (Sept. and Oct. 2008)
>>Oregon (Aug. and Sept. 2007)
>>Utah (Sept. and Oct. 2008)
>>Wisconsin (Dec. 2007-Sept. 2008)

You've been to 1 in every 5 states so far, and you're only six!

States where I've lived!

You've probably noticed from all of the entries recounting my life that I've lived a lot of places! Here's a list of all of the state's I've lived in:
>>Wisconsin (1965-1989, 1991-92, 1994-2002, 2012-current))
>>Minnesota (1989-1991)
>>New Mexico (1992-94)
>>Iowa (2002-2005)
>>California (2005-2012)

Through the Army, I underwent training in the following states (I didn't include Wisconsin or New Mexico as I was attached to those units located there.):
>>South Carolina, Fort Jackson (1983)
>>Georgia, Fort Benning (1983, 1984)
>>Minnesota (1986)
>>Nebraska (1987)
>>California, Fort Irwin (1988)

Working as editorial page editor in Iowa

After working for a couple of years in Manitowoc, Wis., I moved to Iowa City, Iowa. I got a job at the newspaper there, working as its opinion page editor! This was just the job I wanted ever since interning at the Duluth, Minn., newspaper some 15 years before.

While at the newspaper, I wrote the daily editorial, solicited/edited columns, selected the editorial cartoon, edited letters to the editor, spoke on behalf of the paper in the community, and wrote a weekly column called Cornfield Soul (I've posted some of those columns online).

As editorial page editor, I got to meet a lot of interesting people, including presidential candidates and governors. John Kerry probably is the most famous of them; he ran for president in 2004 and is the current secretary of state.

I received a lot of awards at the paper for my editorial writing and editorial pages. We were named either the best editorial or editorial pages among Iowa dailies for three years running!