Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
clouds. A swift band of golden light swept over the fields and made everything instantly
warm and springlike. Every farm looked tidy and fruitful. Every little town looked clean
and friendly. I drove on spellbound, unable to get over how striking the landscape was.
There was nothing much to it, just rolling fields, but every color was deep and vivid: the
blue sky, the white clouds, the red barns, the chocolate soil. I felt as if I had never seen it
before. I had no idea Iowa could be so beautiful.
Idrove toStorm Lake. Somebody once told me that Storm Lake was anice little town, soI
decided to drive in and have a look. And by golly, it was wonderful. Built around the blue
lake from which it takes its name, it is a college town of S,000 people. Maybe it was the
time of year, the mild spring air, the fresh breeze, I don't know, but it seemed just perfect.
The little downtown was solid and unpretentious, full of old brick buildings and family-
owned stores. Beyond it a whole series of broad, leafy streets, all of them lined with fine
Victorian homes, ran down to the lakefront where a park stood along the water's edge. I
stopped and parked and walked around. There were lots of churches. The whole town was
spotless.Acrossthestreet,aboyonabikeslungnewspapersontofrontporchesandIwould
almost swear that in the distance I saw two guys in 1940s suits cross the street without
breaking stride. And somewhere at an open window, Deanna Durbin sang.
Suddenly I didn't want the trip to be over. I couldn't stand the thought that I would go to
thecarnowandinanhourortwoIwouldcrestmylasthill,drivearoundmylastbend,and
be finished with looking at America, possibly forever. I pulled my wallet out and peered
into it. I still had almost seventy-five dollars. It occurred to me to drive up to Minneapolis
and take in a Minnesota Twins baseball game. Suddenly this seemed an excellent idea. If
I drove just a little bit maniacally, I could be there in three hours-easily in time for a night
game. I bought a copy of USA Today from a street-corner machine and went with it into a
coffee shop. I slid into a booth and eagerly opened it to the sports pages to see if the Twins
were at home. They were not. They were in Baltimore, a thousand miles away. I was des-
olate. I couldn't believe I had been in America all this time and it hadn't occurred to me
before now, the last day of the trip, to go to a ball game. What an incredibly stupid over-
sight.
My father always took us to ball games. Every summer he and my brother and I would get
in the car and drive to Chicago or Milwaukee or St. Louis for three or four days and go
to mov ies in the afternoon and to ball games in the evening. It was heaven. We would al-
ways go to the ballpark hours before the game started. Because Dad was a sportswriter of
some standing-no, to hell with the modesty, my dad was one of the finest sportswriters in
thecountryandwidelyrecognizedassuch-hecouldgointothepressboxandontothefield
before the game and to his eternal credit he always took us with him. We got to stand be-
