Views of a Farm Boy--Dedicated to promote Iowa agriculture and Iowa values--Robert Vaughn--Urbandale, Iowa  EMAIL:   vaughnrobert@me.com

I like to share with you my day-trip adventures, but the past couple months have been pretty much a stay at home time for me. But I also like to tell stories so this month I am going to share a few mems from the past as I look at the pics on our walls.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (ESV) (Philippians 4:13)

A HIKE story! Here is a photo that hangs on my exercise room wall. It is a picture of Mount Monadnock in New Hamphire. Our son, Trent worked in New Hampshire for a couple of years. (1998-2000) This beautiful mountain was just a hop and a jump from their home. I never miss a chance for an outdoors activity so we put water and a sandwich in our backpacks and headed to the peak.The 3,165 feet climb to the top was an easy treck. After reaching the rocky summit we were rewarded with a spectacular view in all directions. But it isn't the view that is special to me.It is the memories of this father-son outing I think about when I look at this picture on the wall.

A BIKE story! My first story has a double whammy theme. Last spring I was walking the recreation trail south from the Des Moines Botanical Garden. I stopped under the Women's Achievement Bridge to check out this mural (left). At that exact moment, a couple pulled up on a tandem bike. We put our heads together trying to figure out how we knew each other. You guessed it--we all had ridden our bikes across Iowa many times on Ragbrai.The plot thickens. We all had mutual Ragbrai friends, including Jerri, Marshal and Larry. We talked a while then they rode north and I walked south. Wait--there is more to the story. A few months later I had a knock at the door. It was my Ragbrai friend, Larry. During the next couple of hours we relived many years--talking about our visits around the campgrounds after a long bicycle ride. Before he left, Larry gave me this beautiful handmade wooden American flag. It now hangs on my exercise room wall. It reminds me of my many years riding my bike across our great state of Iowa. Yet there is more--it makes me thankful for time spent building friendships that last a lifetime.