It will never cease to amaze me how much can happen if you let it. We’re staying in a studio apartment in Davenport, Iowa through the generosity of Dustin, another warmshowers.org host. He’s a printer – he makes the big signs on buses and t-shirts and giant sticks of gum the size of you.
He does all sorts of things. His apartment is above a newspaper publisher in an old brick building downtown. His apartment is his office, and a museum of creativity – Mississippi driftwood and bike pieces made into art. He’s working on a side project right now – making giant lollipops for an upcoming Christmas event. Big styrofoam balls and brightly coloured foil lay on the floor.
He does all sorts of things. His apartment is above a newspaper publisher in an old brick building downtown. His apartment is his office, and a museum of creativity – Mississippi driftwood and bike pieces made into art. He’s working on a side project right now – making giant lollipops for an upcoming Christmas event. Big styrofoam balls and brightly coloured foil lay on the floor.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving, so we climbed into his cargo van – me in the back in a folding lawn-chair next to his new bike with tires at least 4 inches thick. We head to his Aunt Margo’s where his family is gathered. Two total strangers and we’re welcomed with big smiles. It’s everything I imagine American Thanksgiving to be – lots of homemade pies and family recipe dressings, football, and everyone under 25 is perpetually looking at their smartphones. Dustin’s Aunt Margo and his mom, Joyce, make sure we’re fed to the brim, they’re lovely and friendly. We eat, talk about adventure with his cousin Ryan, and soak up the absurdity of finding ourselves in the midst of this family’s Thanksgiving in central Iowa.
One by one, they all begin offering their houses up for us to stay – “I’ve got two spare bedrooms” says Ryan. “I’ve got the whole basement empty” says Joyce. “I live in this big house all by myself” says Margo. We’re not strangers anymore.
After we leave, we stop by Dustin’s friends’ house – Tal is a scuba-diving lion-fish hunter who has patented a tool to exterminate the invasive species in the Caribbean. He and his wife Julie plan on sailing down the Mississippi to move to the Caribbean when their daughter graduates highschool.
So many memories in one evening, so many great, interesting people. And the funny thing is, we were kind of tired before we left. We were thinking “nahhh, maybe we should just stay at the apartment and rest.” But we went, we said “Yes, let’s!” and I’m so glad we did.
One by one, they all begin offering their houses up for us to stay – “I’ve got two spare bedrooms” says Ryan. “I’ve got the whole basement empty” says Joyce. “I live in this big house all by myself” says Margo. We’re not strangers anymore.
After we leave, we stop by Dustin’s friends’ house – Tal is a scuba-diving lion-fish hunter who has patented a tool to exterminate the invasive species in the Caribbean. He and his wife Julie plan on sailing down the Mississippi to move to the Caribbean when their daughter graduates highschool.
So many memories in one evening, so many great, interesting people. And the funny thing is, we were kind of tired before we left. We were thinking “nahhh, maybe we should just stay at the apartment and rest.” But we went, we said “Yes, let’s!” and I’m so glad we did.
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