Today was a lot of driving.
In the morning we jumped on 80 West for Des Moines. I edited while Andy drove. It was raining, sleeting, and passing semi trucks with their back spray was enough to make the heart jump a bit. 2 hours later we were screening at Scavo Alternative High School. There was freshly popped popcorn- which Suzet helped set up- and that seemed popular. About 60 kids in the gymnasium. The combination of small speakers and a large space is generally not the best- but for the first part of the documentary the students were able to keep quiet enough that folks in the back could hear. We had to leave after the first discussion in order to- yep- jump on 80 East- right back where we started in the morning. Not the best scheduling on my part. It would get worse.
Iowa Mennonite School and English Valley were kind enough to host us, and we had a good number of farmers turn out- probably about 20, and they matched up with the 50 or so students. Karen gave an impassioned speech about agricultural education before we started, and some students helped run the sound and computer. The conversations were pretty good during our breaks- some groups more engaged then others. It may have been that I was tired from the driving, or maybe everyone was a bit worn out from the slushy wet weather and the mud everywhere. All in all, we sparked conversations about farming, and put some new ideas out there.
We stopped by Doug and Justin's place to pick up our stuff and say goodbyes and thankyous- before getting on 80 again- retracing our steps again- West this time. Dinner in Des Moines at Zombie Burger where we had the best fried brussel sprouts ever- a bright spot in a road weary day. This was followed by a 2 or 3 hour stretch in a blizzard that was so strong there were moments that it seemed that we were moving backwards because the snow was so forcefully blowing into the windshield. We stopped hours short of our intended destination, holed up in a motel, and tired, tired, tired. We're supposed to shoot tomorrow morning with Daren in Schaller, and hope that the weather and roads will have cleared enough to make that viable.
