Our first stop on our fall journey toward Petal, Mississippi was to Guttenberg, Iowa, where we spent a delightful evening with old friends of Dave’s, Mike and Kay Radl.  We meant to park in their yard and stay in our trailer but they insisted we stay in the house with them.  Mike made a delicious supper of grilled pork chops and German potato salad.  (I didn’t think I liked German potato salad until I ate this and it was delicious!!)  He followed up with a yummy omelet for breakfast the next day.  I loved meeting the Radl’s and making new friends.

For our first adventure, we wanted to visit the site of Field of Dreams.  The movie of the same name was filmed here and I am such a baseball nut that we felt we could not pass this by.  Besides, there is a bit more to the story.  The baseball field in this movie was actually set on a border between two different farms.  After the completion of the movie, one farmer decided to put his land back into corn, using the herbicide Atrazine.  His neighbor set up a booth and welcomed visitors to the site.  The other neighbor soon realized it would be smart to complete the baseball field again but grass can’t grow where Atrazine has been used.  He consulted his dealer who then consulted UAP (United Agri Products) where Dave worked at the time.  They turned to Dave who researched the problem and came up with the solution to deactivate the Atrazine.  It is because of Dave’s research that the Field of Dreams became whole again!

The house in “Field of Dreams”.

The “Field” today.

The “Field” before it was put back together.  Notice the left half of the field where the grass wouldn’t grow.