Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
No, it's Iowa. That is how Ray Kinsella responds to Shoeless Joe Jackson's question as he magically appears from the cornfield in the movie "Field of Dreams." As we drove through miles of endless cornfields through Iowa today on our road trip back east, nobody was asking if we were in Heaven. More the opposite, I imagine. Iowa was kind of like our Oklahoma leg of the journey west, we just needed to get through it. But it would have been a long day of driving if we didn't find a stop somewhere, and for some reason, I remembered this movie and found that the cornfield, farmhouse and baseball field where the movie was filmed are still there and the site is one of the few interesting tourist stops I could find. It is in Dyersville, a town I am sure nobody has heard of except those who live there, and maybe a few rare movie buffs. So we stopped. And this booby prize of a stopover on our road trip turned out to be one of the highlights for me. To make the most of this visit, we rented the movie on Amazon and all watched it in the trailer the night before, as if it were some kind of homework assignment. Julie and I had not seen it since it came out in 1989, and the kids had never even heard of it. It was a good refresher for us grownups, and the kids liked it. It is a sweet story of an Iowa corn farmer who hears a voice one day while working in the field. "If you build it, he will come," the voice says. Without getting too much into the plot, he decides to plow under his corn crop to build a baseball field, risking losing the farm, in order to respond to this voice that he hears. If you don't know what happens next, go rent the film. So with the context of the film fresh in our mind, we drive up to the movie site to find it looking exactly like it did on screen. In fact, we were surprised that there was almost no touristy build up around it, like a visitor center, souvenir shops, theme restaurants, or even a parking lot. In fact, there isn't even an admission fee. It is just there for you to see and experience how you like. There is a small gift shop in a wood shed by the barn that looks like it was part of the farm, and you can pay for a tour of the inside of the house if you want. We didn't. We just took in the idyllic setting to reflect on the movie, have a little lunch, and, yes, play catch on the baseball field. As I reflected on the film while standing on this "field of dreams," I thought of a few parallels to our journey this summer. First, Ray decides to take a road trip to Boston and back to Iowa, and here we were in Iowa driving back to Boston. Second, his wife Annie supports Ray in his crazy endeavor, even though she does not hear the voice. Julie supported my crazy desire to drive across country in a camper, even though I know she did not hear the same voice that I heard inspiring me to do it. And third, we find out that what is driving most of the plot in the movie is Ray's need to deal with unresolved issues with his father. While I don't have any unresolved issues, I thought back to something my dad said to me just a week before he died. He told me he regretted not spending more time with my sister and I when we were growing up. Divorce has many unwanted byproducts, and I guess that was one of them. In any case, I promised myself that I did not want to have that same regret with my kids. Maybe it was my father's words that inspired my quest to plan this road trip we were on. We certainly couldn't ask for more time together this summer! At the end of the movie…nevermind, I won't spoil it for you, but let me just say, when CJ reached under his bunk in the trailer to pull out a ball and our gloves and turned to me and asked, "Hey dad, do you want to have a catch?" I got a little filled up as he took the mound and I crouched down behind home plate waiting for his pitch. I'm glad I listened to the voice in my head telling me to go on this road trip.
- comments
Tia Trish Awww! Amazingly some of my Indiana friends have also just been to Iowa’s Field of Dreams in the last week. Miss and love you ...
anna love you too. Anna