Van's trip through northwest Iowa

November 21, 2018

One of Iowa's true icons is Speed Herrig of Cookies Barbecue sauce fame. You've probably seen him on TV, at the State Fair, out and about grilling or heard him on my radio program.  He recently invited me to Wall Lake, Iowa, the headquarters of Cookies and birthplace of singer Andy Williams. On the way up I saw a huge pile of corn from miles away in Dawson, Iowa.  Having never seen one that big I drove right up to it to get a shot.  My only regret is that I didn't stand in front of it so you could get true perspective of it's actual size.

Time apparently really flew as I was driving because I got all the way to Jamaica.  It wasn't as warm as I had heard, but that was OK. I forgot my sun-block anyway.

The Andy Williams birthplace was closed, but the sign outside his house wasn't.

 

Then I got to spend some time with Speed.  The guy that took this picture grilled me on how I lost all the weight because he wanted to lose some too. He said, "Hey Speed, how come Van keeps looking younger and we keep getting older?"  In typical Speed Herrig fashion he said, "We?!?! What do you mean WE?  Speak for yourself!"  That's so indicative of why Iowan's love him.  

Then on the way home, I went through little Dedham, Iowa. That's pronounced Dead'em.  Anybody besides me see anything ironic about this picture?

Hope you enjoyed the brief tour.  By the way, the dog that you can just barely see between the Centennial Center and American Legion signs chased my car at full speed for a mile as I was leaving.  I guess he's the guard dog for the cemetery, and apparently doing a good job. No one was leaving.