One of my favorite cities on our first VISIONS Across America trip was Austin, Texas. I liked the food, the music, the architecture, the healthy culture, and the “keep Austin weird” vibe. I also liked the people! I’ve written some stories about the Iowa State folks we met in Austin, and I’ll be posting them in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, here’s a cute picture of Jim and me in front of an Austin sign, taken by Linda Wagner (’04 psychology).
I’m back in Ames with 3,067 miles on the rental car and dozens of stories to tell. Our maiden VISIONS Across America trip was a huge success.
After driving south for two days, Jim and I photographed and interviewed four alumni in Austin, Texas, all with wonderful, diverse careers and interests. (Austin is a great city, by the way.) I completely overbooked our appointments, but the stars must have been aligned because we managed to see everyone and still get to our Iowa State party that night ON TIME. The party was hosted by Mark and Kristin Gibson. Mark is a 1982 metallurgical engineering, and Kristin also attended Iowa State. Both of their kids are ISU students: Meredith is a senior in chemical engineering, and Spencer is a freshman in engineering.
Mark and Kristin were amazing hosts, opening their home up to local alumni and serving up a table full of yummy food — including cardinal and gold chips shipped by a friend from Ames! Austin ISU Club members are extremely active, with gamewatches every weekend during football season, and it was great to get to meet some of them.
Not only did the Gibsons host the party, but they also graciously allowed Jim and me to spend the night in their home, took us out to dinner, and fed us breakfast the next morning. Now that’s what I call hospitality! I feel like I have a dozen new friends in Austin.
The morning we left Austin, we drove to Houston to meet with Richard Schmidgall, a 1983 aerospace engineering graduate who works as the contracting officer’s technical rep for the Orion project at NASA/Johnson Space Center (formerly with the Space Shuttle). We were allowed into the coveted Building 9 — the building with the full-sized mock-ups of the Space Shuttle, Orion, parts of the Space Station, and other simulators. Astronauts actually train on this equipment, so it was a real thrill to see it. Richard will be featured in the VISIONS Across America issue of the magazine, so I don’t want to give away too much about him…you’ll just have to wait.
Later that evening we arranged an Iowa State party with the help of Brian Banker (’08 aerospace engineering). Brian is a liquid propulsion systems engineer at NASA, and he serves on the Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Council. He posted an invite in the JSC daily newsletter and we sent out a few emails, but I didn’t expect the great turnout that we had at Boondoggles, a bar and restaurant about five minutes from the space center. At least 20 Iowa State alumni who work for NASA turned out for the party. (Note to self: Bring name tags and write down all the names of people Jim photographs…I did a lousy job. But, in my defense, I was busy meeting everyone.) It was a very good time, and Iowa State is extremely well represented at NASA.
Our travel pace slowed down a bit after we left Houston. We spent a full day getting to New Orleans, La., our second “official” state. There we met Ann Schexnyder, a Louisiana native who came to Iowa State in the 1980s for a degree in art and design. Ann will be featured in the magazine. She gave us a fascinating tour of her home and her neighborhood in the city’s Lower Ninth Ward. Of course, no visit to New Orleans is complete without experiencing the French Quarter; we walked through the streets with Ann and ate a delicious meal of gumbo, rice and beans, and local seafood at the Gumbo Shop.
One of the nicest surprises of this trip was how much I enjoyed our next stop: Oklahoma City. Our mission there was to interview and photograph Leslie Baker, the director of marketing for the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, for the magazine. Leslie is a 1986 ag journalism graduate. We spent all afternoon and early evening with her. What a great museum! I expected history and artifacts, which it has in abundance, but the museum also features incredible Western art.
I wish we could have spent more time in this wonderful city. We walked the grounds of the botanical gardens and visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial, but there was so much more to see. The city’s tourist map lists 85 attractions, including the Bricktown entertainment district and several other museums.
Our final state on this trip was Arkansas. We met Shirley Koenen in Bella Vista. Shirley received her master’s in counseling degree from Iowa State in 1989 — the same year her daughter graduated from ISU — and spent much of her career in California. She and her husband, Leonard, recently retired to Arkansas, and they’re celebrating their 50th anniversary later this month. Shirley was full of energy and kept us entertained all afternoon. She has had a fascinating career.
So…four states down and 46 to go. I’ll be posting stories about the alumni we met in Austin soon, so check back often!
Jim and I are finally on the road! We’ve been traveling for a week now, and I thought I’d have plenty of time to blog. But as it turns out I’ve been either too busy or too dang tired to write much of anything. Next week I’ll start to post some stories, so stay tuned. We’ve met with alumni in Austin and Houston, Texas; and New Orleans, Louisiana. We’ve even had a couple of Iowa State parties. It’s been great! Tomorrow we’re in Oklahoma City, and then we travel to Bella Vista, Arkansas.
On the road 