Altoona, IA - Dull, Dull, Dull

Into everyone’s life comes an errand day, when you have to go to 9 different stores to find 9 different things, come home with 5 and, after a whole day, still have 4 things to get. And, this was our day. Did we have fun or what? I’d say ‘or what’. We began extremely well but it all went downhill from there. First we met Cathy and Tom at Panera for sweet treats and some coffee. Tom has just gotten back from a 500-mile bile ride along the Continental Divide. He said it was the toughest thing he’s ever done but then it was 10 days, 500 miles, up and down the mountains of the Continental Divide carrying all his stuff: he only spent 2 nights in motels with warm meals, showers and beds. He biked with another guy he met last year on the first leg of the trail and they are already planning their route for next year.
That’s the good part of the day. Now the errands. First the hardware store. Enough said.
We then drove out to Apple in the local mall where Gary wanted to ask some questions about our computers. That meant that I got to roam around the mall. I checked out the book store and found a crossword puzzle book that I might buy. I checked Sheels and tried on a pair of shoes but decided that bright neon orange was not my color and they didn’t have many shoes that were more my color than than neon orange. What’s with shoe colors these days? Did someone announce a contest for shoe manufacturers to see how many neon colors they could get in one shoe? Neon green soles, neon yellow laces and neon orange uppers. Whoo-eee.
Then I found a bargain among bargains: Merrell Moab hiking boots for 1/2 price, $45. I tried them on, they fit and I now have another pair of hiking boots. On second thought - why not another pair? Nope, no more in my size. Not only that, but we tried to get Gary a pair in men’s but were told that only women’s go on sale. Mens’ were $100.
We got a call that my new glasses were in, drove over to pick them up, a stop at a grocery store and then drove home. And, that was our day. Cool, huh? Don’t you wish your day were so interesting?
But, here’s someone who had has a terribly interesting last few years. It began a few years ago when Mary Lohse heard on the radio that an Iowan had won the lottery. Later, when she had some time, she reached into the lower depths of her purse to pull out the lottery ticket she had bought yesterday. She had forgotten it in the flurry of life but thought now she’d better check it. She called the lottery phone number, heard the numbers and checked her ticket. She dialed again, heard the numbers and checked her ticket again. She then called someone else over, dialed, heard and they both checked. Then a third person. All agreed - she had the winning ticket for a payout of $220,000,000. Holy Toledo. She called her husband, Brian, who thought she was playing a practical joke. She and her husband Brian, had, as many do, thought about what they might do if they won the lottery. In fact, they actually had a plan.
And, now they had won and could put their plan into place. But, here’s where the story gets interesting. How often do you read of people who squander their winnings? Who spend it all and have nothing to show for it? How often do you read about lottery winnings changing people? But there are some good stories of lottery winnings creating a world of good and people who aren’t changed by their big winnings. This is one of those stories.
For breakfast today, we drove over to a small town close to the campground where there is a new grocery store with a restaurant, a small wine selection, a bakery, a flower shop and loads of good will. It’s called the Brick Street Market and is the brain child of the Lohse’s. Beautiful new store, nice parking lot - which was packed, even on a weekday. One night as they were pondering their lottery plans, they decided they were tired of driving to the next town over for groceries. They put a grocery store for their town on their plans.

Along with the grocery store, they paid off the mortgage of their church, donated $3,000,000 for a new football stadium for their high school so their kids could play football there - when they got old enough. And, they’ve been funneling money to the town, their family and friends and are still astounded at how far their winnings go.
Funny, they had bought their lottery ticket at a local convenience store called Casey’s which now had gotten $10,000 for selling the lottery ticket. The manager of Casey's, who served with Brian on a local education foundation, wanted to donate 1/2 of this to the town and called Brian to discuss it. Did he know he was talking with the actual winner of the lottery? Nope.
Have they changed? Well, I don’t know them so I can’t say but I’ve read that they did not want to have the football stadium named after them. Their son, who wanted a new car, drives a used car. They have the same phone number now that they had before they won. And, they are still looking for good causes.
Pretty cool story.
But, there’s also the couple from Fort Dodge, IA, our home town who won $220,000,00 and built an animal shelter for Fort Dodge. But they were not done.

We drove through Fort Dodge a few days ago and noticed a new building, a new business, well, look at what we saw - it would be hard to miss. Arcade, bumper boats, mini bowling, Go Karts, Laser Tag, mini golf, skating, bumper cars, food, you name it, they have it. They looked around and saw that there was no place special for kids to play in. And, here it is. One Saturday, they had a fruitcake fling. Now, that’s a contest worthy of Iowa where one of the State Fair contests is the Cow Pie Toss.

My tendency at this point would be to say ‘Only in Iowa.’ But, I’m sure that there are other stories like this. I just know about these.