Old home town

A 400 miles plus drive was facing us on Tuesday from the Branson area to Des Moines, IA.  We started early, broke up the day with frequent rest stops, bought some fuel and arrived at the RV park near Des Moines about 7:30 p.m.  By the time we changed sites (couldn't fit in the first site assigned) and got settled it was 8:45.  We were hungry and wondered if the restaurant owned by an elementary and high school classmate of Tim's would be open.  Tim made the call and confirmed they were open.  We arrived at 9:15 just before the kitchen closed and placed our order.

Tim by restaurant sign in Des Moines

Chuck's is a place Tim's family went to about every Friday night for years.  It was owned by a grade school and high school classmate of Tim's, Linda Bisignano.  It was great to see Linda after all these years.  Tim thinks it has been at least 30 years since he was back in Des Moines.

Linda T., Linda B.,  & Tim at Chuck's Restaurant in Des Moines

We did a drive by our alma mater, Drake University, where we met in 1970.

Drake Stadium, home of the famous Drake Relays

On Wednesday, June 20th we went to the Iowa Cubs baseball game.  It was a beautiful day with low humidity and nice temp.  The Cubs were playing a doubleheader, because of earlier rain outs.  Most of the midwest has been drenched this spring and so far this summer.  The Cubs were called the Oaks when we lived in town.  Over the years they've been AAA affiliates for various major league teams.  Tony Larussa from Tampa played and managed at the Oaks, before hitting it big as a major league manager.

Tim by Iowa Cubs mascot

At the entrance to the remodeled stadium were cute statues.  The remodel was well done.

Statues at the entrance to Iowa Cubs stadium

More statues

Nice statue by stadium

View of stands behind home plate

Principal Park is the name of Iowa Cubs stadium

The dressing rooms for the teams and umpires are located behind the left field wall accessed by doors through the wall.

Left field wall with doors accessing dressing rooms

The real Iowa Cubs mascot came over to see a couple of old people visiting from Florida.

Iowa Cubs mascot

We didn't stay for the 2nd game of the doubleheader, because we were to drive to Twin Cities the next day.  We drove by the Iowa Capitol building, which is famous for its gold dome.  In the late afternoon sunshine it was brilliant.  The building is truly beautiful.

Iowa Capitol building with gold dome

On the way back to the RV park, all Tim could think about were Maid-Rite sandwiches (http://maid-rite.com/).  These sandwiches are described as loose meat.  They are addictive.  We found a store and Tim got a sack of 5 Rites for 10 bucks.  Tim devoured 3 Rites at the blink of an eye.  He did have enough restraint to save and freeze 2 for his brother.

 The sandwich ready to be eaten.

Maid-Rite loose meat sandwich

We got back to the RV park and prepared for our drive to the Twin Cities the next morning.