For those LONG GONE from Iowa... what do you miss?

Bipolarcy

Well-Known Member
Oct 27, 2008
3,194
2,066
113
Pork tenderloin sandwiches and Iowa beef. I called a butcher and asked him to make me some pork tenderloins for sandwiches. I specifically told him to use a hammer to flatten them into about the size of a dinner plate because he seemed to be confused as to what I meant. So I pick them up and get them home and he had given me pork cutlets. Instead of hammering them flat, he had run them through the tenderizer. Lazy butt. A pork cutlet is NOT the same thing as a pork tenderloin, you moron. I couldn't do anything to save them, so I tried to make pork tenderloins out of pork cutlets. They fell apart in the skillet before I could ever get them onto a bun. Very disappointing.
 

MeanDean

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
Jan 5, 2009
14,586
20,788
113
Blue Grass IA-Jensen Beach FL
I snow-bird it but this was my list of what I miss while down south. Having lived in Eastern IA/QCA affects my list, obviously:

Dwyer and Michaels
Rudy's Cheese and Onion Enchiladas
Kitchen Cooked and/or Sterzings potato chips
Tones Liquid Smoke. Every other brand I could get basically sucks balls.
Driving on nice county roads with little to no traffic

The smell of new-mown hay. Even the smell of a new mown lawn - the grass in Florida is Bermuda grass and it's completely different.

This first spring I came back to IA, in the morning waking up, I was shocked in a very pleasant way, at all the birds chirping - even a bit before sun-up. Something I had been so used to I didn't notice before, then after having spent 6 months away, I suddenly noticed it big time.
 

TOFB4ISU

Well-Known Member
Nov 6, 2010
1,025
436
63
The QC
Yes, there are nice people every, there's just more of them in Iowa. And by nice, it's the little thing. People smiling and saying hello in the street. People stopping and helping someone broken down on the side of the road, that sort of thing. That is not the same anywhere else, and if you think it is, I'm very curious to know where you live.
Green Bay and Champaign are two places I would say are 'nicer'.
 

SpokaneCY

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
13,294
8,489
113
Spokane, WA
I snow-bird it but this was my list of what I miss while down south. Having lived in Eastern IA/QCA affects my list, obviously:

Dwyer and Michaels
Rudy's Cheese and Onion Enchiladas
Kitchen Cooked and/or Sterzings potato chips
Tones Liquid Smoke. Every other brand I could get basically sucks balls.
Driving on nice county roads with little to no traffic

The smell of new-mown hay. Even the smell of a new mown lawn - the grass in Florida is Bermuda grass and it's completely different.

This first spring I came back to IA, in the morning waking up, I was shocked in a very pleasant way, at all the birds chirping - even a bit before sun-up. Something I had been so used to I didn't notice before, then after having spent 6 months away, I suddenly noticed it big time.

Is Rudys the taco place in Davenport down by the river?
 

jahfg

Well-Known Member
Apr 19, 2006
3,708
132
63
Ames
I'm in Cedar Falls and I really miss BBops and yes, Chipotle. No, I'm not a hipster

Chipotle is everywhere. And I wasn't aware it was a hipster hangout.

Fall in Ames is probably what I miss the most. Also lazy summer nights in late August. I can second the poster that mentioned cicadas. There is something so relaxing about sitting outside as the sun is going down while those things hum.
 

cyrocksmypants

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2008
91,284
89,025
113
Washington DC
Chipotle is everywhere. And I wasn't aware it was a hipster hangout.

Fall in Ames is probably what I miss the most. Also lazy summer nights in late August. I can second the poster that mentioned cicadas. There is something so relaxing about sitting outside as the sun is going down while those things hum.

Not where I live. Closest thing I've got is Moe's Southwest. Yuck.
 

Cyclonick182

Well-Known Member
Oct 12, 2007
5,546
842
113
39
Orlando, FL
I've been gone one year but non ISU things I miss:
Good produce
Fall
Family and Friends
Steak that tastes right
Caseys Pizza (WaWa is close but not Caseys)
Trust worthy strangers
Drivers that can keep their composure in the rain
Midwest work ethic
I miss being able to drive 15 miles in a few minutes rather than an hour

Its a lot of little things but I haven't missed the snow and cold, Iowa fans, or small town drama.
 

DurangoCy

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2010
6,447
4,377
113
Durango, CO
In no particular order
-All things Anderson Erickson
-Sips
-Fat girls (Fat girls at Sips especially)
-Happy Joe's
-B-Bops
-The smell of corn and hay silage
 

ISUME

Well-Known Member
Mar 13, 2012
1,890
93
48
I snow-bird it but this was my list of what I miss while down south. Having lived in Eastern IA/QCA affects my list, obviously:

Dwyer and Michaels
Rudy's Cheese and Onion Enchiladas
Kitchen Cooked and/or Sterzings potato chips
Tones Liquid Smoke. Every other brand I could get basically sucks balls.
Driving on nice county roads with little to no traffic

The smell of new-mown hay. Even the smell of a new mown lawn - the grass in Florida is Bermuda grass and it's completely different.

This first spring I came back to IA, in the morning waking up, I was shocked in a very pleasant way, at all the birds chirping - even a bit before sun-up. Something I had been so used to I didn't notice before, then after having spent 6 months away, I suddenly noticed it big time.


The RadioPup app will let you listen to 2 dorks.
 

Hoiball92

Active Member
Apr 23, 2015
3,726
11
38
33
Des Moines
Chipotle is everywhere. And I wasn't aware it was a hipster hangout.

Fall in Ames is probably what I miss the most. Also lazy summer nights in late August. I can second the poster that mentioned cicadas. There is something so relaxing about sitting outside as the sun is going down while those things hum.
I think they are annoying af
 

cyclonesurveyor

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2009
1,297
264
83
Fort Collins, CO
I snow-bird it but this was my list of what I miss while down south. Having lived in Eastern IA/QCA affects my list, obviously:

Dwyer and Michaels
Rudy's Cheese and Onion Enchiladas
Kitchen Cooked and/or Sterzings potato chips
Tones Liquid Smoke. Every other brand I could get basically sucks balls.
Driving on nice county roads with little to no traffic

The smell of new-mown hay. Even the smell of a new mown lawn - the grass in Florida is Bermuda grass and it's completely different.

This first spring I came back to IA, in the morning waking up, I was shocked in a very pleasant way, at all the birds chirping - even a bit before sun-up. Something I had been so used to I didn't notice before, then after having spent 6 months away, I suddenly noticed it big time.

Love the hay smell. I grew up on a small hog farm and worked for many neighboring dairy farmers also (big and small) growing up. I had bad hay fever/allergies but I was helping unload hay/straw/milk in the dustiest conditions. I almost always drop the windows to smell everything when we come back. For a little bit a least, but there is always a dead smelly something on Highway 9 that ends the fun.
 

MeanDean

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
Jan 5, 2009
14,586
20,788
113
Blue Grass IA-Jensen Beach FL
Is Rudys the taco place in Davenport down by the river?

They're a local chain. Not sure of any by the river. The oldest one I used to go to way back, when I lived in the West End, was on West 4th St in a converted movie theater. The one I usually go to is on West Kimberley road near Culvers, not far from Walmart.