A Warm Welcome and a Wild Evening

Hi all,

We pulled into the Newton, IA, KOA campground after a harrowing drive which Spencer described. Breathing a sigh of relief, we were warmly greeted by the campground staff with exclamations of "Oh good, here is the Mark Paige family," smiles all around. Slightly mystified as we registered, a yellow-shirt clad KOA staff person emerged from a closet bearing a basket of campfire supplies -- from marshmallows/chocolate/graham crackers to firewood wrapped in red, white and blue ribbon.

To sum, Mark's long time Novozymes coworker, Joni Dean, not only hails from Newton, IA, but worked at this campground when it was known as Beacon Campground and owned by her parents, the Bishops. She arranged with her sister, still a local resident, to deliver the surprises! Thank-you, Joni!!! You made our day.

That is, until the tornado warnings hit! We were square in the red zone of The Weather Channel's doppler map. Instead of eating dinner, we took refuge in the cinder block game room of the campground's office, keeping one eye on the weather radar and the other on the swirling, strange black clouds outside. After the threat passed, the clouded sky, tinged a weird yellow-pink, looked like an upside-down tuffeted pillow.

Instead of juicy hamburgers, we gratefully ate bowls of cereal and hit our own pillows!