It was probably 25 years ago when two of us set out on a trip to Iowa. On the list was to see some things such as the Field of Dreams movie site, but also to see Delhi, Iowa.
At the time, I was working at the weekly out of my hometown — Delhi, New York. Somehow, I came across Delhi, Iowa. It seemed the small town in Iowa was a sister to the one in New York, so I thought it would make a good story.
I did end up writing a story about this faraway town, after doing research with phone calls and other ways possible with how life was back before the internet.
Note the key part of that last sentence — life before the internet.
That means no maps via a smartphone and there weren’t the easy-to-use GPS systems we all know and love now. It’s was old fashioned — maps from AAA and anything else we could use.
Reality is, we were too young to be setting out on a trip like this. Our planning sucked, and financially we might not have made it. We didn’t have reservations or anything.
This wasn’t just a quick jaunt over the hill or something.
As we got to Western New York, my vehicle (a 1985 Ford Ranger 2WD) wasn’t sounding good. We pulled into a service station to figure things out and the mechanic there took a look as a kind gesture.
It seemed, in his eyes, this truck was running on three of four cylinders. A trip to Iowa, he thought, wouldn’t be too smart.
We weighed our options. In the end, we turned around and headed home.
Honestly, it was probably for the best. Especially what I learned this past summer.
Fast forward to 2018. A baseball trip is planned and we are going to Iowa. Field of Dreams, again, is on the list. And just 20 minutes away is the town of Delhi.
And so, the visit finally arrived. It’s a small, quaint town. There’s not much to it, and as I was told by the local librarian, there are probably only about 500 people who live in the town. A school is there — what seems like a regional one. There were a couple of parks, including one near a nice lake. As for businesses, there weren’t many.
Still, it was pretty neat.
We only spent about an hour there or so, but I had the chance to drive around a little bit and check it out.
Looking back, the trip many years ago probably would not have panned out too well. Who knows where we would have stayed and the amount of time it would have taken us to get there and back might not have worked, either.
And as I noted … the finances. But hey, things happen for a reason.
That being said, it may have come some 25 years since I first set out to see that town, but there’s no doubt I probably appreciated it much more at an older age. I’m truly happy I had the chance to finally visit this small Midwest town.
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