My mom sent me this from Decorah Newspapers.com (Decorah Iowa is my hometown) Mark Smeby and his wife Joanie Sheehan own a wonderful restaurant called, "La Rana":
"We were about to close and this guy came in and asked if he could get something to eat, so I made him some food," said Smeby.
"There were a few people sitting around, so after he finished he had a few drinks and just hung out with a bunch of us sitting here. He appeared to have a really good time."
The gentleman said he had just arrived in town and had already checked into the Dug Road Inn, but mentioned that he would be staying in town a few more days.
"He seemed like a nice guy, so I told him we have an extra space in our basement where we put people up from time to time, so I invited him to stay with us the rest of the time," said Smeby.
The traveler seemed thrilled by the invitation and accepted. It wasn't until the next day Smeby realized the import of the invitation.
"It turns out he was Mark Gross, the 'Frugal Traveler' from the New York Times," said Smeby.
Gross, who is on a 12-week trip from New York City to Seattle Wash., said in four weeks of travel, this was the first time anyone had taken him in. He told Smeby he chose Decorah because he had received several hits on his website encouraging him to stop here. He stayed with Smeby and Sheehan until Tuesday, when he headed west to continue his trip.
While he was in Decorah, he filed a story with National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation program, where he waxed on about Decorah for several minutes. The program aired Thursday, June 21, and is available online at www.npr.org.
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