Motivation Has Kicked In!

Wow, after last weeks lunch of a scrumptious pot of chicken and dumplings I decided it was time to kick it up a bit. I've decided to sign up for a half-marathon! I started my 20 week training this week and I must say, the legs are a little sore. I'm not going to be running this marathon but will be giving it a very fast walking pace. Now, I have to ask myself why do I take on a half-marathon for my first, dunno! After losing all this weight, I just thought it was time to keep up the good work so why the heck not. Some of my friends from work are doing it and to be honest, I already feel so much better. The martahon is in June so by then, it should be a breeze, it's only 13.1 miles.

Tour de' towns - that's what a friend and I did over the weekend. After re-connecting with someone from my past, I wanted to show what some of the differences of Tennessee living vs. Iowa living was.

So here we go - we headed to A.J.'s in Mt. Sterling, Iowa for one of their famous jumbo tenderloins. What do you think? Jumbo?

( yeah, I know, not a good choice for my training, but trust me, I only ate 1/4)

After lunch we rode around some looking for anything that caught my eye as an only in Iowa, picture but you know in all honesty, it's all about the same. Well, except for the flat lands and no mountains. We did find some dilapidated houses, that I just love to ohh and ahh over with camera in hand!

Now on to Eldon ,Iowa, home of the American Gothic House.
A little story behind this -

In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed a small white house built in the Carpenter Gothic architectural style in Eldon, Iowa. Wood decided to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house. He recruited his sister Nan (1900–1990) to model the woman, dressing her in a colonial print apron mimicking 19th century Americana. The man is modeled on Wood's dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby (1867–1950) from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The three-pronged hay fork is echoed in the stitching of the man's overalls, the Gothic window of the house and the structure of the man's face. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house.

Now once we arrived I was sad that we didn't bring a pitch for for a picture but guess what, they have all the attire, pitchfork included in the visitor center and it was open!! Yeahhh!

The sun glasses kind of add a little Blues Brothers look to the scene. ☺

Well, after a complete day on the road and lots of laughs it was time to head home and wrap it up.

Next weeks blog will feature yet another recipe but this time something a little healthier than a pot of chicken and dumplings.