May 18, 2023
by Lori Keppler, Alpine Customer Service/Marketing Manager
There are a lot of memories generated as a child, especially with your grandparents. Spending summers here in NE Iowa was an annual treat for me. Having grandparents in both Garnavillo and Clayton, made it easy to switch week to week spending time with each.
Traveling to Clayton meant going by J-Wood campground, the corner where my dad had his car accident, and reaching the top of the hill where I would get the honor of putting my grandpa’s maroon LTD in low gear. We had many winters where we needed to get a run for that hill and going down was just as scary.
Once to my grandma’s, we would park and walk across the bridge which would eventually be replaced with a culvert. That was a big summer! Along with not needing to fear for my life crossing a rickety bridge, we also got a hydrant installed. Before that my growth was measured in how much water I could put in two five-gallon buckets and carry uphill to grandma’s house. There was nothing like a cold drink of water from the stainless-steel bowl and dipper to quench a summer thirst.
Fast forward to 2023. These memories are flooding back as I work on the fiber to the home project for Clayton. Entering the addresses for our build takes me on a mental tour of the town; going to Bill’s to get potato chips and dip, playing at the old school with my cousins, smoked fish from an old refrigerator at the neighbors and pressing pennies on the railroad track.
Today I get to be part of the progress for the small town next to the river that meant so much to me as a child. My role is the same of those that helped with the progress made through history. The infrastructure we put in place today helps families make memories no matter where they are located. It allows parents to work from a modest river town while their family soaks in the sites and smells of small-town Iowa. You don’t need to choose between access to the world and nightcrawler hunting by moonlight, fresh mulberries and gooseberries picked from the garden, and waves crashing against the riverbank while you see who can skip the rock the farthest. Clayton will have it all. I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it.
Take advantage of the latest progress in Clayton and all our small towns. Let Alpine Communications help you escape to the way life should be while staying connected to the world.
