​        Like my dad, I’ve developed a somewhat bad habit of gawking while driving.
      Debbie reminds me often to put both hands on the steering wheel and quit gawking at the scenery.
      That was the case last Saturday while traveling to Pleasantville to set up a booth and sell our books at a craft show in the school gymnasium. 
      I was checking out Red Rock Lake and apparently was weaving on the highway some. I hit the rumble strips on the side of the highway several times on the curvy stretch of road between Pella and Highway 14.
      I was trying to eat my McDonald’s sausage biscuit and drink my ice tea with one hand on the steering wheel and it was putting Debbie on edge.
      Plus, I was checking out the road to nowhere at Red Rock Lake near Highway 14. There’s a road and a bridge that goes right into the lake. I suppose it was the old Highway 14 that was flooded when the lake was built.
      And then there is the mile-long bridge on Highway 14.
     I think they need to have higher guardrails on that stretch of highway across the lake. When there is a crosswind, it feels like I’m going to fly over the side of the bridge into the water. I always have two hands on the steering wheel when going across the mile-long bridge.
     My dad was bad about gawking and talking to strangers. I remember one time on a family vacation when we had stopped in Springfield, Mo. We were at a stoplight and a fellow was walking across the road.
      “How are you, Fred?” my dad hollered from his window.
      The fellow looked at him, like “do I know you or are you some kind of nut?”
       I’m sure his name wasn’t Fred.
      My dad would laugh as he got the biggest kick out of having fun with a complete stranger in some other town.
      I typically don’t holler at folks out the window, but I do seem to get easily distracted as I enjoy checking out the scenery.
      I enjoy God’s beauty and as one of my elementary teachers said, “I usually don’t pay attention in class.” I need to do a better job paying attention to where I am at on the road.
    Texting is another issue of concern for those with cell phones these day, which is most everyone who walks and breaths.
     I haven’t figured out how to text and drive. Some people are experts at texting and driving, but not me.
     Sometimes I will make a call and talk with someone on the phone speaker while driving, which is almost as bad as texting and driving. 
      I see people all the time texting and driving on the two-lanes and interstate highways. In fact, on the way home from the craft show, I saw a driver on the road from Pella texting at the intersection of Highway 14. She wasn’t paying any attention to where she was on the road.
     And speeding is another issue. Most folks drive too fast these days. I probably drive slower than I should, especially while on deer watch when driving in the early morning hours or at night after covering a game or some community event.
     I dislike people tailgating me. If I’m driving too slow, go around me and move on. If a deer pops out of the ditch, we are both going to be in trouble and I’m going to get it from the front and back. So, please slow down. If you are late, leave five minutes early.
      Another bad habit I have is not coming to a complete stop at stop signs. Debbie said her dad once got a ticket for coming to a rolling stop at a stop sign and she often reminds me of when I do the same thing.
      I never got a ticket for making a rolling stop, but my dad once got a ticket for turning right on red in the 1970s before it became law.
     There are all kinds of statistics on districted driving and many states have band texting and driving with fines if you get stopped. They probably should band gawking, too.
      I’m thankful for Debbie paying attention and helping me get to and from where I am going and through life.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.

​            My cell phone rang and woke me from my slumber on Friday morning a week ago.
        I had taken off work at my day job to get some things done and was sleeping later than usual. 
        It was John Dodds of rural Montezuma on the line.
       He called to see if I might be interested in joining him for lunch at Culvers in Pella. The timing couldn’t have been better, so I agreed to join him.
       I had written a story on John last spring about his hobby of making wallets from old baseball gloves. In fact, I bought a wallet from him made from a George Brett glove. George played for years with the Kansas City Royals and I had the chance to see him play a few times back in the day.
       John appreciated the story I did on him and promised to take me to lunch.
      I’ve known John from when I was working full-time in the news business. At the time, he was serving as the minister of Grace United Methodist Church in Brooklyn.
     He came to Brooklyn in 2005 and after a few years, moved to a church in Carlisle before retiring from the pulpit and getting remarried and moving to a farm south of Montezuma.
      John, who is several years older than me, grew up in southern Indiana and was a big New York Yankees and Micky Mantle fan back in the day.
     “I liked him (Mantle) because he had a cool name,” said John in an earlier interview. “A lot of kids back then were Yankees fans. It was a time when baseball was truly an American pastime.”
     As a youngster, he had aspirations to play baseball in the big leagues, but after playing the game for three years in high school and running cross country for two years, he opted instead to become a teacher. While attending community college to study elementary education, John become acquainted with a young man who shared his faith with him.
      “He invited me to a revival service where I asked Jesus into my heart,” recalled John.
    After much prayer, John ended up switching gears and enrolled in Nazarene College in Kankakee, Ill., where he earned his bachelors in religion. He went on to attend Nazarene Seminary in Kansas City where he preached at a church in Missouri on Sundays while taking classes during the week.
     After becoming an ordained minister, he spent time in the pulpit at churches in Arkansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Iowa before retiring.
      One of those stops included a few years ministering in Oklahoma City, Okla. It was there that he spent two years as chaplain with the Oklahoma City 89s baseball team. The 89s were a AAA farm team for the Texas Rangers organization.
      “I didn’t get a chance to play baseball professionally, but I did get a chance to minister to some major league baseball players,” recalled John in an earlier interview. “I sure enjoyed that.”
Since I grew up in Tulsa, John and I seem to have a Oklahoma to Iowa connection of some sorts and we have visited often through the years.
      I always enjoy a trip to Culvers for lunch, supper or anytime and spending it with my friend made for a great and relaxing day. We enjoyed visiting about life and our love of God while enjoying a double cheeseburger with the works. It was a wonderful day.
      When I interviewed John last spring, he said one thing that I will always remember.
      “People will forget everything about you, except how you made them feel,” he said.
      There’s a lot of truth in that statement and one I have taken to heart.
      I’ve enjoyed making friends with many folks, both young and old, during my nearly 27 years in Iowa and most importantly, meeting my wife, Debbie, in this fine state. I’m so blessed and so thankful for all of life’s experiences and all the people who have crossed my path. 
     I’m thankful for all the people who have allowed me to share their stories. My favorite part about being a community journalist is finding and telling people’s stories.
       I’m looking forward to sharing more stories in the coming years, months, weeks and days.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.

        I wore two pairs of socks, two shirts, a pullover jacket and a stocking hat to stay warm. The only thing missing was a warm pair of gloves as I held on to my camera, switching hands and pushing them into my pockets one at a time in an effort to stay warm.
          It helped, but I still had to thaw out my hands when I got home.
         It was all worth it as I paced the sidelines at Badger-Gabriel Football Field in Montezuma on Friday, Nov. 1. It was a great game between Montezuma and the favored Bedford Bulldogs in second round 8-man playoff action.
         I could have easily been home relaxing in my comfy chair with a blanket, but then I would have missed all the fun of the playoff game.
         And what a game it was.
       With just under two minutes left, the Montezuma Braves took the ball and drove it nearly the length of the field, scoring with 10-seconds left on a short pass from quarterback Brady Boulton to Carter Michalek to win the game, 32-28.
       Montezuma led most of the game until shortly after halftime when Bedford took the lead. The Bulldogs pretty much had the game in the bag until the final Montezuma drive.
        I call it Montezuma Magic.
       The Braves move on to the quarterfinal round and will travel to Lenox to take on the Tigers on their home field on Thursday, Nov. 7.
         The winner advances to the semifinals at the UNI-Dome.
        It was exciting to watch the Braves came together, play as team, overcome all sorts of obstacles and pull off the win.
      I’ve covered a lot of Friday night football in my newspaper career and Friday’s game was one for the record books.
        There have been a lot of good ones through the years and I’ve enjoy them all.
       One that comes to mind is a first-round playoff game in 2006 against Appleton-Parkersburg. It was a cold, cold night. In fact, Montezuma set up a tent with a heater for fans to stay warm. I spent halftime in my truck with the heater blowing full blast to keep warm.
      I remember then Braves head football coach, Joe Donavan, telling the team, they were not playing AP’s history, they were playing this team.
    I don’t remember the final score, but it was Montezuma 20 or 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. Montezuma kicked off to open the game. The ball hit the knee of an AP player and bounced off and a Braves defender recovered it to score a touchdown.
      AP, as it was called, was coached by the now late legendary Ed Thomas, who was killed on June 24, 2009 by a former player in the school’s weight room. Just a year earlier, Thomas led the charge to clean up Parkersburg after a tornado had earlier tore the town apart.
     Thomas coached at the school for 37 years, winning two state championships and nearly 300 games. Four of his players went on to play in the NFL.
     Montezuma lost the first three games of the 2006 regular season before going on a run that ended with playoff wins against AP, Dike-New Hartford and St. Ansgar, finishing the season as state runners-up. That included a 20-0 win at Iowa City Regina during the regular season.
     About every Montezuma fan was at the UNI-Dome games and I was walking the sidelines, capturing all the excitement from the field and in the stands.
     And in recent years there have been lots of great games with last second 40 plus yard field goals to win and former quarterback Eddie Burgess dragging a half dozen players into the end zone to score for the Braves.
     I didn’t play football in high school. I went out my sophomore year during spring drills to play my junior year. In the 1970s, Oklahoma had spring drills in high school.
    I struggled to run the drills. The coaches sent me home to try something more my speed. I now get to capture the action and fun of the game with my camera.
     Congrats to the Braves on all their success and a hearty thanks to all the young people who put in the hard work and effort all season long to make Friday Night Lights special for all.
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.