Hello Iowans,

Thank you for having my wife and me for 6 (nowhere near enough) days in September/October. We visited from the UK as part of a tour of the Midwest, with Iowa being one of the main reasons for the trip as we also have friends there.

TL;DR: We loved it and you guys are awesome!

About 7 months ago I made a post as I was going to be visiting Iowa in the fall, and I asked for advice on what to see, eat and do: my original Iowa travel advice post

Firstly, thank you for all the comments and advice. It was really helpful. We obviously didn't get to do everything, as we spent a decent amount of time visiting family and friends and travelling to watch Iowa v Ohio State. More on that later.

I'll miss some parts out, but we managed to see the Effigy Mounds, the Surf Ballroom, The Covered Bridges of Madison County, the John Deere factory (hey, I love tractors!), Boone Railroad and plenty more besides, including corn and lots of it! We absolutely loved it. Although we've been lucky enough to visit the US on quite a few occasions, we haven't been to the Midwest, and Iowa in particular, felt the most "American" of anywhere we had travelled: houses dressed for Halloween, popcorn stands in the streets, proper "Main Street USA" vibes.

Anyway, here are some of my random musings from our stay in Iowa.

The Good

You guys, the Iowans. Which I know is easy to say, but pretty much everyone was really, really friendly, from the cashier in Walmart who asked me to "keep talking" as she liked my accent (no idea why!), to Eric, who gave us a personalised tour of the Capitol Building in Des Moines. (Also thes staff in Iowa State Capitol are opposite end of the scale to miserable people working in Missouri's State Capitol building in Jefferson City, who looked like people who had had the jam taken out of their doughnut)

The small towns. Honestly, this was one of my favourite things. Driving into a little town, seeing the water tower, grain elevator, Main Street, local bar, immaculate lawns and houses decorated for fall/Halloween with the flag flown outside, was exactly the sort of America I wanted to see. It probably seems completely ordinary if you live there, but to us it wasn't. Going round somewhere like Winterset felt like I was in a movie. We even caught a homecoming parade, that was such a treat.

The food. I probably put on about 10 pounds during this trip and I'm choosing not to investigate further. Portion sizes remain absolutely ridiculous to a Brit, but I mean that as a compliment! Shout out to the Iowa staples of the Pork Tenderloin Sandwich and the Maid Rite. Unfortuantely for me, but not my waisteline, I didn't get chance to sample breakfast pizza from a Casey's.

The countryside. I appreciate that you don't have the Rockies, but I loved the rolling countryside and scenery. It reminded me of Norfolk/Suffolk back here. There is majesty in all of those cornfields!

Iowa Hawkeyes. Specifically, we were in Iowa to tick off a bucket-list item of mine: going to a college football game. Ohio State won (funny how the team spending all the money generally wins...), but respect to the Hawkeyes. You can tell that they are representative of local people who understand that it's not always the winning, but the community that's more important. They remind me a lot of my football (soccer) team.

The beer. American beer gets way too much hate. I'm not a big fan of many light, generic lagers, think Bud, Coors, Fosters etc., but I thought the local beer was great, specifically some of the corn based beets. I couldn't tell you the name of any of it, but that's a good sign, right?! Also I like the massive cans of beer you get in the store, is it 16 oz? Anyway we need them here.

The space. You guys have so much space. The roads are wide, the parking lots are massive, the restaurants are spacious. You never feel like you are on top of one another. I already miss that!

The cleanliness. Everywhere felt really clean and well-kept. Maybe it was just the areas we went to, but even the larger towns and cities seemed really well looked after.

Iowa State Cyclones. I'll also give a shout-out to Cyclone fans. I visited Ames, lovely downtown, and when we live in a time when so many people just want to support teams that win consistently, it's refreshing to see plenty of people representing the colours and supporting local.

The Bad

Listen, I know most of the Western world is having "issues" when it comes to governments (our situation is pretty awful) at the moment, but for the love of all that is holy, why do politicians not say what they are going to do and instead just go on and on about how bad the other person is? (this is not unquie to the US, so its a general gripe)

Additionally the amount of political attack adverts on TV is absolutely relentless, appreciate that its Mid-Terms, and some of the messaging is outright nasty. Whoever Ashley Hinson is, is not welcome round mine for a cup of tea and a slice of cake anytime soon (I'm sure she's devastated!).

The Ugly

I'm a big sports fan, and I've been lucky enough to go to different sporting events across many countries, but I can never make sense of selling tickets to opposition fans to sit amongst the home fans while selling as much alcohol as people want (and I like a drink). My experience v OSU would probably put me off bringing my wife to another game, I've followed my football team all over, home and away so I'm never shocked by any sports fans but I don't need rivals sports fan shouting and threatening each other over her head either.

I'd heard that some Ohio State fans had a bit of a reputation, and unfortunately a couple of the ones sitting near us certainly lived up to it! I don't think I've had to "politely" ask someone to "calm down" (not the actual words) at a sporting event, unless they were under the age of about 10 and a family member, for over 20 years! Cheer you team by all means, but please do it in the right way.

Also worthy of note, there was an Ohio State fan going around trying to chat up any young women, with or without boyfriends. I don't think I've ever heard "do you fancy a threesome" at a sporting event before, but there you go!

I've waffled enough, but Iowa is 10/10. I'll be back. What the state may lack in jaw-dropping scenery and blockbuster attractions, it makes up for in the friendliness of its people, your perfect looking little towns and farms, and the pride you take in your neighbourhoods, towns and cities.

Thank you for having us.

If you've got any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Edit: It probably came across as though I didn't enjoy the Football, to clear it up it was fantastic. The Marching Band spelling out IOWA, the crowd dressed in gold or black, depending on sections, waving to the childrens hospital, it was a great experience. There's now probably more Iowa Hawkeyes clothing in my house than I care to think about, and that includes a bandana for the dog!
Just a shame that the third (?) snap of the game was a fumble by the Hawks!!

Multiple people at all three state universities are reporting contact with people over the past two days posing as prospective students who have questions about a program. After gaining trust, they express interest in DEI programs or courses and ask if anything like that is available.

The right wing troll group Accuracy in Media (don’t give them clicks!) regularly runs these stings and then posts heavily edited videos, perfectly packaged for the right wing outrage machine to sell ads for gold and supplements off of.

"Mr. Turek, a state representative, blames polluted farm water runoff despite the thin evidence for his theory. 

There’s scant evidence that nitrates or pesticides are driving Iowa’s rising cancer rates. A study by the University of Iowa published last month found that behavioral and demographic factors accounted for 76% of Iowa’s higher cancer burden among adults for the state’s five most common cancers (breast, prostate, lung, colorectal and melanoma).

Iowa has higher obesity and binge-drinking rates than the U.S. as a whole."

I am voting for Josh Turek even harder now.

Around 11am, long before even the opening act speakers touch the podium (let alone Trump himself), die-hard supporters were already camped out in chairs holding their place in line.

But I noticed something -- this venue is very small compared to the large performance halls that Trump likes to self-aggrandize in. It's certainly much smaller even than his 250th rally space on the Iowa State Fairgrounds midway in 2025​. For an event where the sitting President is rallying for critical governor and senator races in a state where poll margins have been razor-thin, you'd think they'd be hoping to pack as large of a space as they could get away booking, rather than squeezing into an airport hanger. Unless...

Speaking of the senate race, Ashley Hinson's bus was already parked outside the hanger earlier this morning. You may remember this as the very same bus that Hinson was just asking supporters for money to help fuel, even while gas prices continue to climb in the wake of her seven congressional votes to allow war in the Middle East to continue.

Lastly, I was drawn to quite a bit of the merch that vendors outside were selling. Several vendors had apparel with variations on "Trump 2028," despite Trump's ineligibility to serve as either President or Vice President in the future due to the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution. In one case, there was even a line of clothes that said "TRUMP 2028 (Rewrite the Rules)". Just to be clear, that is advocating for rewriting the Constitution -- whether that is the intentional subtext or ignorance on the part of the designer, I couldn't say.

All in all, it will be interesting to see how the rally itself goes tonight.

I saw Sabato move IA-02 to “Lean D” the other day which I found surprising as there had been no polling.

Seems we just got our polling - things are looking good :)

More trouble for the Republicans in IA. Lt Governor candidate Derek Wulf's parents claim the Republican candidate owes them $275,000 Derek Wulf's parents claim the politician is two years behind on rent, owing them $275,000, and made "misrepresentations" on his balance sheet. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2026/10/22/derek-wulf-parents-money-claim-zach-lahn-election-2026/92352825007/

Says a lot when Iowa Republicans won't donate to their candidate for Governor. Approx 70% of Lahn's donations come from the Republican Governor's Association.

https://www.iowapublicradio.org/political-news/2026-10-20/zach-lahn-rob-sand-fundraising-iowa-governors-race-midterm-elections?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslocal_desmoines&stream=top&lctg=5e6961caecf12a190c49472f

Intense scrutiny at the polling place is one method. Another comes from the Republican administration. Prior to the 2024 election the Iowa Secretary of State created a list of 2000 naturalized voters, and ordered county officials to challenge them at the polls. If they voted they were required to use provisional ballots. For a provisional ballot, the vote would only be counted after providing proof of citizenship. Lawsuits were filed in October 2024. The resulting case quietly settled in February 2026. These were Americans, and legal voters. That’s where we should have our attention during this election. In a close election we all know a few votes can be important, and we know what Republicans are capable of, and they’ve shown they are certainly willing to disenfranchising large groups of voters when it suits them.

This is my third (and final!) time posting my Iowa Voter Guide here on r/Iowa.

Since early June, I have been researching candidates, following the trending topics of this election cycle, and creating this website to be the all-in-one non-partisan, fact-based voter guide for Iowans. See my About page for more background info.

A list of it's features:

• A Bio, Career, Policies, and Donor Information section for each candidate in each race.
• An alignment quiz for both the Governor and U.S. Senate races (I only did these two because they are 1) the most high profile and 2) there are solid positions from each candidate on a number of topics)
• The Amendment 1 ballot measure with an explanation, arguments for and against, and results of similar amendments in other states.
• A page to find the state legislature race in your county (If there are multiple, I have a link to the official interactive map so you can find your address and which race to look into)
• A judicial retention page that lays out the 2026 judicial performance review posted by the Iowa State Bar Association.
• My latest and most comprehensive feature is the Complete Voter Guide. You select the U.S. District you live in and there is a full, side by side comparison of every candidate on the top issues, from U.S. Senate and House to Governor and statewide offices. It's also formatted to be printable.

It's been a personal passion project of mine the past four months and I'm pretty proud of how it has turned out. I encourage you to check it out if you are at all interested, and share it with friends and family that you think would benefit from learning a bit more about each of the candidates.

TLDR: My Iowa Voter Guide is four months of political research in one place, breaking down each race and each candidate. I did my best to make it as readable, informational, and easy to navigate as possible.

Posting this article to counter the misinformation about voting: What to know about election integrity safeguards ahead of the midterms!

I’ve heard some people say that even if we enact new policies and have a change in government ASAP, we’re still fucked when it comes to the water pollution and rising cancer rates across this state. That it’s a problem that’s been building for decades, and that not a whole lot can be done at this point to reverse the damage.

Is this true? Just curious. I’ve done a little reading into the causes of the cancer rates but am by no means an expert. If it’s something that likely won’t get any better anytime soon, I’m honestly just going to try as hard as I can to get out of here.

3d printing service $2.00/hr

I am running a 3d printing service, I have a BAMBU labs x1c 3d printer and I have one ams unit which enables it to use up to 4 filament colors. I print with Petg filament. The cost is $2.00/per hour of the printer printing and shipping. The filament that I use is Petg, the type will vary depending on the color you want and what I have available, most prints will be done in Petg. If you want abs (stronger than Petg and pla) I can print that but it will cost an extra 15¢ per hour.

For more info or for a free quote,

email me at [3d.design638@gmail.com](mailto:3d.design638@gmail.com) with the model file and I will give you a free quote. The prints will typically ship within 4 days after completion of the print and once they are paid for, this does not include weekends. If you have questions feel free to email me or respond to the post. If the file you want me to print is a paid file you will have to pay for it and send me the stl, if it is a free one just send me the link to it. 

There is a $15 order minimum (before shipping costs) if you want something printed and it is less than $15 and you don’t have anything else you want printed, then you will have to pay $15 plus shipping for your item.

Here are some example ideas of what you could get printed: dragons or other toys, pieces to fix something you broke, stuff to use with your toolset, diy projects, prototypes for whatever you are designing, and almost anything else you can think of as long as it fits in a 250mm cube.

If you would rather buy it through eBay instead of PayPal, let me know and I can create an eBay listing. I can ship to any of the lower 48 states.

Here is an area where I occasionally will post models on my business account. I don’t post on it very often. https://www.instagram.com/3d_design638?igsh=MWlvMDhxMnJvNnZ6ag%3D%3D&utm_source=qr&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnV5JU2OOZKAnEpQp2XLMvuRqXunJVwfQgmGdw1kC8GDRayPL_wheKj-jCODQ_aem_tN9C5jDSuWr9SARN_M2cWQ