If you ever get a chance to drive out west on I-80 toward Council Bluffs, don’t. It’s barren. But if you have to, you should be sure you check out the rest stops. For some reason, the Iowa Department of Transportation decided to build extravagant, mega-rest stops heading east toward Des Moines – complete with 21st-century architecture and touristy welcome centers that contain hundreds of brochures depicting Iowa’s tourist attractions – while it left old-style rest stops that feel like an outhouse in the Yukon standing as you drive toward Nebraska.

Now some could see this as a slap in the face to Nebraskans and Western Iowans, but I think it might be part of a growing effort on Iowa’s part to attract travelers to the state. The rest stops on the way out of the state make the statement, Hey, don’t go to Nebraska, because it sucks, like these rest stops, while the super-modern rest stops scream, “Iowa is really cool – you can tell by our rest stops!”

Truthfully, it is understandable why they would make this seemingly last-ditch effort, since Iowa’s growth continues to struggle as they lose recent graduates, among others, to neighboring states.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, every state surrounding Iowa, including Nebraska, experienced population growth at a much faster rate than Iowa did from 2000 to 2006. Most of the neighboring states’ populations grew by more than 3 percent, while Iowa grew by only 1.9 percent. Not a huge difference – but with states like Texas and Arizona experiencing double-digit growth over the same time span, the problem prompted the folks in Des Moines to figure out ways to keep Iowans Iowan.

In the 2006 governor’s race, both candidates came up with a plan for keeping people grounded in the state, especially after college. Jim Nussle even proposed he would give free college to some students who promised to stay in the state for seven years.

But Iowa is not that bad, right? From personal experience, Des Moines is surprisingly entertaining in comparison to the other cities in the Midwestern region, even though it remains in the shadow of cities like Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City. This can be a problem, as they attract small-town children with big-city dreams like a vacuum.

So what is Iowa to do to thwart the problem of population growth? What can bring people to visit Iowa? You can only see the field of dreams and the bridges of Madison county so many times (one time I stopped in Winterset and I saw The Duke’s childhood home – I have to admit, it was amazing). All great questions, but what should really be asked is this; why does Iowa need to try so hard to expand its membership? Iowa – as the sign says – is the fields of opportunity, but it seems to struggle with an identity crisis. Iowa is a land of farms, ranches and education – not cities and expansive cultural opportunities. And while Des Moines has brought a good effort to the table to give small-town folks a taste of big-city life, many in Iowa know that it is Iowa’s duty to the United States of America to put food on the tables of those ungrateful, big-city slickers who cruise around in their Maybachs and live in their Manhattan high-rises. After all, about a fifth of the U.S. corn and a sixth of the annual soy crop is grown in Iowa – two of the most important and versatile crops that can be used in anything from soda pop to additives in gasoline. Additionally, about a third of the hogs and 5 percent of cattle graze in Iowa before they are slaughtered and sent to our dining room tables.

With numbers like this, it could prove to be detrimental to Iowa’s farm economy if government made any more effort to attract new citizens. Those Iowans who are in self-denial of Iowa’s status as a leading agricultural icon in the United States should check out their kitchen cabinets, their local gas station and their closest soft-drink fountain, and then find out what makes Iowa, Iowa. And then maybe they can swallow their pride, and we can use some of that money from the tourism industry to finally fix up those rest stops for those nice Nebraska folks.

– Andrew Gionnette is a senior in

mechanical engineering from

Chanhassen, Minn.