Keokuk Internship: So good? SO GREAT!!!

OK, so I’m now in Keokuk. What a place. I’ve only driven by the church, but I start work tomorrow morning, so it’ll all be good. Tonight was a great start to my summer here, though. Rodger and Lucille Whitaker are the first couple that I’m staying with. When I first drove to the house, I accidentally passed it (I used the excuse that I needed to see the house numbers first). After I drove around the block (one-way street), Rodger greeted me when I pulled into the driveway. We put some of my stuff in my room and then I parked my car in the street and we sat on the front porch and talked for about half an hour before he and Lucille started making dinner.
Here are some of the reason I miss Iowa so much:

• When I drove up from Ft. Worth a week ago, it was 102 when I left and it was an 11.5 hour drive.
• When I drove down to Keokuk today, it was in the mid-70s and it took about 4 hours, but that’s because I stopped and visited with my grandmother along the way in Fairfield.
• Iowans know how to eat. Sure, Texans can do some things great; but, my dinner tonight with Rodger and Lucille was t-bone steaks, potatoes, bread and butter and salads. What a meal. They were complaining too, because they said that they have steaks a lot but they’re usually bigger. WOW!
• On my way through all of the small towns, including when I was getting lost trying to find Hwy 34 again in Fairfield, people would wave at you even though they had no idea who you were. It was great. I actually enjoyed getting lost. I knew I wasn’t near the right road, but it didn’t matter.
• Tonight when I was talking to my parents and Ariane, I walked down the Main Street to the HyVee (the big grocery chain in the Midwest) which was 2 miles away from the house, got a pop (yes, they call it pop up here still — hehe), and then walked back. It was a relaxing time and while there was a lot of traffic, it was still calming. Lucille told me that 8 blocks the other way is the river — I’m definitely going to need to walk to that too!

Work starts tomorrow morning and I’m incredibly anxious to start. I only have a vague idea of what to expect. Expect to hear more about it as the summer progresses though. So when my mom asked me how it is so far, the only way I could respond was “so good … no … so great!”