Pugh News: The smells and feels of Iowa

Last night a friend commented he saw me riding my bike and asked what I was doing. And I said, "Riding my bike". And then I thought to myself...and thanks for the opening line to my next blog. I love being on my bike for many reasons. But, mostly, I love what my bike teaches me about Iowa...where I was born and raised.

I specifically remember a fall in my late teens when I was riding with my dad to my sister's house. She lived on a farm at that time. The car was quiet. I was looking out the window and just mentioned to my dad that we needed rain..the corn was drying up. Okay..let me just state again that it was the fall of the year... my dad replied in surprise, "Monica, it's supposed to be drying up for harvest".

I have always considered myself a city girl even though I was raised in Iowa around farms, farming, and farm animals. We gardened. My grandparents gardened. Obviously, I was not paying attention until that moment. And through the years I figured it all out and gardened and canned our home grown delights just like my grandmother did.

And then I started riding my bike. I realized very quickly that the feel of a hill, uphill or downhill, on a bike is completely different than being in a car. I have been told many times on RAGBRAI from locals..oh, no there aren't many hills from here to the next town. But a slow climbing hill doesn't look like a hill in a car but makes a huge difference on a bike.

I feel very blessed to have seen Iowa from my bike's perspective. I have ridden through many small towns, large cities, and even seen places I didn't know existed. Pedaling through Amish country in eastern Iowa is a scene I will never forget. It was so serene, simple, and beautiful. And the value of hard work spoke to me from their houses, gardens, and fields.

I also feel not so blessed to really know what road kill smells like.... we see road kill in our cars all the time..gross stuff. But the smell of road kill is like nothing else. And on a bike you just can't get away from it fast enough and there are no windows to roll up.

I don't like the smell of farm animals. Farm animals each carry a distinct smell... my niece used to say when she was little that cows smelled brown and pigs smelled green. I agree. I always talk to the cows. They watch me very intently as I pedal by... I usually just say hi but I've been known to moo at them. That alone should make you want to go riding with me. And the birds I see on my bike...well, killdeer, hawks, woodpeckers, and goldfinch... stunning. Funny enough there are also birds that dive bomb bikers and I talk to them, too. Silly birds.

This summer the most astonishing smell was the corn. I always smell corn on my bike. But this year it was of corn baking in the drought. I have never seen corn as dry or smell corn as dry as I did this summer. I couldn't smell the beans..the corn smell was shocking. It was working so hard to survive the heat and no rain.

I think that is a lesson for all of us. So many times in our lives we find ourselves stressed, too busy, sad, confused, and just trying to survive. I talk to God on my bike all the time. So my answer to my friend really should have been, "Learning lessons from God". Because that's what happens through the smells and feels of Iowa.

So...I'm not really a city girl...but I am most certainly an Iowa girl.

Chicory..my favorite...it can flank a country lane with the most beautiful periwinkle blue..but in the heat of the day it closes and the blue goes away

Queen Anne's Lace.... being a seamstress myself this is another favorite and grows deeper in the ditches behind the chicory. Story goes that Queen Anne was sewing her lace and pricked her finger with the needle. Can you see the red petal in the center?