iowa

one day a few days ago, we crossed the iowa border. we've been loving it here. first lansing, now mcgregor, now guttenburg. nice nice iowa nice. visitors asking good questions, and visitors teaching us good.

and things have been happening, like wolfspider hatchings and snakes amidst our ropes, like a future rafter swimming aboard, like heatstroke in august, like friends visiting, like the quad cities and st. louis and vicksburg asking when we'll be there, like finding out big river magazine has a link to us, like backwater cruises, like eating our first ripened beans, like drinking our first hooch, like learning well that sometimes you have to let the wind do what it will, like plans for better propulsion, like first drafts of manifestos, like meditation to rock quarries and barges, like melodica to rain percussion, like twilight in lillies and loti, like sleep just off the channel.
bernadette's doing fine*, we're doing fine**. we've got a steady current of 1.6 miles an hour usually. you should come and visit. and stay a while. we've decided three is a magic number when we go. you know? good. see you soon, much love.

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